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Home > Vermont > Quarry Links and Photographs
Proctoriana Collection Finding Aid (in PDF format)
Proctoriana Collection, 1823-1967, Doc 126-Doc 140, MSA 186, Ms Size A, B, C
Description of the collection from the web site: “The Proctoriana Collection is research notes, photographs, and printed material on the town of Proctor, Vermont, collected by Otto T. Johnson. The collection was a bequest to the Vermont Historical Society from the Otto T. Johnson estate in 1968. Several issues of Marble Chips were added to the collection in 1993 from a donation by Sanborn Partridge. The Proctor Historical Society donated 25 more issues of Marble Chips for the period 1967-1973, in 1997 (MSA 186).”
“A large portion of the research notes are copies of legal documents such as land transfers, incorporations, and probate records. Johnson used these to describe the activities of early settlers and trace the ownership of key properties in town, especially the marble quarries. There are lists and descriptions of some of the first marble companies and general histories of the industry written by Johnson, Fred Patch, and J. E. Manley.”
| Plate IX., Marble Quarry, Proctor, Vermont |  |
“The Columbian quarry, in operation in 1900, was idle for some time prior to August, 1910, but was then about to be reopened. It is about three-fourths of a mile south-southwest of Proctor station in Proctor Township. (See Pl. I.) It is 100 feet or more in diameter and 150 feet deep. Operator, New Columbian Marble Co., State Street, Rutland, Vt.
“The marble is white clouded. The beds strike N. 10° –15° W. and dip 50° E. A complete analysis of the stone is given on page 13.
“About 100 feet north of the quarry along the strike the same beds, recently uncovered, with a glaciated surface and pothole 5 feet by 4 feet 6 inches, strike N. 20° W. and dip very steeply to the east. The marble exposed measures about 60 feet. East of it is the boundary of the dolomite series.
“The general structure on both sides of the quarry is shown in section H. Plate III.”
“Vermont is known in minerals centers for high quality ornamental stone.”
“Vt. 3 north of U.S. 4. - At Proctor, near Rutland, a marble exhibit is open to the public during the summer months. The various applications of marble are on display. Marble is quarried underground in Vermont.”
(From the web site) “Marble is an important Vermont natural resource - it has touched nearly everyone! We hope you enjoy our introduction to the exhibit. It’s your connection to the history, science and art of Vermont Marble! We have been presenting the past present and future of marble, as used in art, as building material and amazing world of everyday uses for more that 20 years!”
“The Park & Pickney prospect, tested in 1910, is 1 ½ miles north of Proctor and 1 ¾ miles south-southwest of Pittsford village, in Proctor Township. (See Pl. I.) Operators, Parker & Pinckney, Pittsford, Vt.
“The marble (specimen D, XXXI, 53, C) is a bluish-black or very dark bluish-gray graphitic dolomite marble, already described on page 46. It belongs in the basal dolomite. It takes a good polish.
“The beds explored consist, beginning on the west, of 75 feet of bluish-black dolomite, followed by 250 feet of buff dolomite and then by about 250 feet of bluish dolomite of various shades. The structural relations of these beds are not clear. The eastern and western belts probably belong at the same horizon. The strike is N. 5° W. and the dip 60° E., but this may vary, reducing the figures given for at least the larger thicknesses.”
“The Proctor quarry, in full operation in 1900 but idle since 1907 and full of water in 1910, is about 0.4 mile northwest of Proctor station, on the north side of the village, a mile north of the Columbian quarry. (See Pl. I.) It is about 200 feet square, with an offset on the east side, and in 1900 was 175 feet deep. Owner, Vermont Marble Co., Proctor, Vt.
“Marble 70 to 185 feet thick is exposed, lying between the uppermost bed of the dolomite, series on the east and the intermediate dolomite on the west.
“The marble, ‘Sutherland Falls’ (specimens D, XIX, 140, c, d), is a calcite marble of bluish-white color with thin dark-gray spots and bands, probably dolomitic, along the bedding plane. Its texture is uneven and of grade 5 (coarse). It resembles very closely the ‘Riverside; Marble, described on page 126.
“The general structure I shown in section G, Plate III. The marble beds form the eastern limb of a syncline about 150 feet in depth, but instead of curving over directly on the east to form an anticline, they turn sharply to dip at a low angle to the east for a space of 50 feet and then turn again to resume the direction of the synclinal limb. The effect of this minor fold in the anticlinal part of the fold is to double over some of the marble beds in the lower eastern part of the quarry and reduce the apparent thickness. Between 1900 and 1907 the quarry was also worked toward the east. The section on the north wall of this eastern extension shows the eastward-dipping beds of this minor and easterly overturned fold crossed by low eastward-dipping joints, along which several caves as much as 3 feet in height have been eroded by percolating water. The dolomite which overlies the marble on the west differs microscopically from that of the dolomite series which underlies it on the east. (See p. 30.)
“It is reported that the reasons for abandoning this quarry were the abundance of joints and the thinning of the beds at the turn of the syncline.”
“The recently opened Riverside quarry is 2 miles south of Proctor station, between Otter Creek on the west and the railroad on the east, in the township of Proctor. (See Pls. I and IV and map of Castleton quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.)
“Assuming that the dip of 60°, which is that of the beds exposed in the quarry, prevails throughout the 200 feet of marble which has been core drilled west of it, the marble here measures 255 feet and is close to the top of the dolomite, which crops out a little farther east. Some 100 feet of marble beds have been explored between the east edge of the quarry and the dolomite but as the dolomite and overlying marble a little to the south dip west, most of these beds are probably continuations of those in the quarry.
“The marble, ‘Riverside’ (specimens D, XXXI, 15, a, rough; b, polished), is a coarse calcite marble of translucent, slightly bluish white color, with dark-gray spots and bands at irregular intervals along the planes of bedding, and of uneven texture, with grain diameter in the white calcitic ground of 0.05 to 1.0, mostly 0.25 to 0.5 millimeter, and thus of grade 5 (coarse). The thin sections do not cross any of the dark spots. That these spots are largely dolomite is evident from their standing out in minute relief on the polished face and being easily scratched with a knife; and that they are also graphitic is evident from the nature of other similar clouded marbles. The average grain diameter in the dolomitic passages would be about 0.05 to 0.1 millimeter. The calcitic parts contain sparse quartz particles, some up to 0.32 millimeter, and also pyrite, some of which is oxidized.
“The marble beds strike N. 5° W. and dip 60° E. The dolomite along the base of the Pine Hill ridge one-fourth mile southeast of the quarry has a like strike but dips about 50° W., and the marble at an idle quarry a little south and west of the dolomite boundary strikes N. 15° W., dips about 67° W., and has an exposed thickness of 90 feet. Unless faulting intervenes a synclinal axis passes between these two quarries. The marble surface at the Riverside quarry had a glaciated surface protected by a covering of till. Glacial potholes 10 to 15 feet by 6 to 8 feet were found, and near the old quarry to the south-southeast are others 8 to 10 feet in diameter.”
“The Shangrow quarry, abandoned between 1900 and 1910, is 1 ¼ miles north-northwest of Proctor station and 1 ½ miles N. 15° W. of the Proctor quarry, in Proctor Township. (See Pl. I.) Owner, Vermont Marble Co., Proctor, Vt.
“The marble beds exposed in 1900 consisted, beginning at the top, of 32 feet of banded graphitic marble overlying 14 feet of graphitic quartzose dolomite veined with quartz, under which was an unknown thickness of banded marbles like those above it. The beds belong to the upper Graphitic series of the marble formation.
“The marble, ‘mountain dark’ (specimen D, XIX, 149, B, C, rough), is a graphitic banded calcite marble of alternating dark-gray to black and light bluish-gray bands (beds) ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 inches in width and of uneven and irregular texture, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.62, mostly 0.12 to 0.37 millimeter, and thus of grade 4 (medium); one grain seen measured 0.37 by 2.37 millimeters. In the graphitic bands the calcite grains are generally of smaller diameter, ranging from 0.05 to 0.17 millimeter. The marble contains small quartz particles, small cubes of pyrite, quartz lenses up to 0.37 millimeter in diameter, and in the dark bands abundant graphite. Some bands are muscovitic and pyritferous.”
Proctor, Vermont – Vermont Marble Company Catalog: Marble Color Plates Imported and Domestic Catalog (PDF, 6 MB), Vermont Marble Company, Proctor, Vermont, no date of publication, early-mid-1900s, 50 pp.
“Marble Colorplates: Imported & Domestic” catalog (front cover) |
List of Marble Plates in “Marble Colorplates: Imported & Domestic” |
“One of the home plants housing the Marble Exhibit, Monument & Exterior Building Shops, Proctor, Vt.” |
Below are images of the top of a box of marble samples and images of the sample stones. The box was produced by the Vermont Marble Company of Proctor, Vermont. These stone samples were used in monument shops and by traveling agents to enable their customers to choose the type of marble they wished to use for their cemetery stones. The Vermont Marble Company was one of the largest suppliers of cemetery stones across the United States.
 Lid of box of “Samples of Vermont Marble,” Vermont Marble Company |
 Marble samples inside of box of “Samples of Vermont Marble,” Vermont Marble Company |
Vermont Marble Company, Proctor, Vermont, business card from box of “Samples of Vermont Marble” |
Key to Samples: (1) Verde Antique quarried at Roxbury, Vermont. Commercially this is known as a marble, but technically it is a serpentine – a hydrous magnesium silicate rock. The serpentine forms by action of volcanic waters upon an older igneous intrusive and it is called a metamorphic rock. Used widely for both exterior and interior work. (2) Champlain Red quarried at Swanton, Vermont. This is a dolomitic limestone formed by sedimentation of calcareous sea life. Its broken shells of calcium carbonate have been replaced by dolomite and their form destroyed completely. The red color is due to the presence of iron compounds. (3) Radio Black is quarried at Isle La Motte, Vermont, in Lake Champlain. This is a dolomitic limestone formed by sedimentation of calcareous sea life. Fossils of shells are not uncommon. The black color is bitumen. A notable installation is in the NBC Building in Radio City. (4) Neshobe Gray quarried at West Rutland, Vermont. This very pure calcium carbonate rock owes its color to finely divided graphite. The shell fragments of the original limestone have been recrystallized into sparkling calcite grains. (5) Pittsford Valley quarried at Florence, Vermont. Like all the calcite marbles, it is very pure and was a limestone of sedimentary origin. The limestone was recrystallized to the marble which is a highly metamorphic rock. It is used extensively for memorials as well as for building interiors and exteriors. (6) Danby Imperial. One of several varieties quarried at Danby, Vermont. It is more highly recrystallized than either of the above varieties. This pure calcium carbonate marble has been used in many well known building exteriors – among them are the Supreme Court Building, the Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C. (7) Light Cloud. (8) Brocadillo: Two samples of different varieties of white marble, sometimes with green marking from the largest marble quarry in the world at West Rutland, Vermont. It is over 99% pure calcite and the green markings are due to traces of silicates in various forms. Many famous building interiors are finished in this marble. See the World’s Largest Marble Exhibit, Vermont Marble Company, Proctor, Vt. |
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Map of Vermont Marble Company Plants, quarries, mills & shops, & lumbering from inside of the box of marble samples “Marked in red on this map are the important Vermont plants of the Vermont Marble Company. There are quarries in Isle La Motte, Swanton, Roxbury, Florence, West Rutland and Danby – mills or shops in Proctor, Center Rutland and West Rutland – power stations in Weybridge, Beldens, Proctor and Center Rutland – lumbering operations in Grafton and Windham. “Outside the state, the Company has quarrying interest in Colorado, Missouri, Montana and Alaska. It has branches in nine American cities, one third of which are equipped with finishing plants. “The chief interest, however, centers in Proctor, because there, in addition to the long line of wonder-working shops, the visitor has free access to the largest Marble Exhibit in the world.” |
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| (This photograph is of the same quarry as shown in the postcard photographs of "New Quarry" in Proctor, Vermont postmarked 1916.) |  |
| (postcard photograph, unmailed; early 1900s) |  |
| (colorized post card postcard photograph, early 1900s) (This photograph is of the same quarry as shown in the postcard photographs of "A Vt. M Co.'s Quarry" in Proctor, Vermont postmarked 1916.) |  |
| (color postcard photograph, #8115; Eston Photo Reproductions, N.Y. 16 N.Y.) "Derrick hoisting a 15-ton block of Vermont Verde Antique marble onto quarry bank for shipment to mills and shops where it will be sawn and polished to reveal glossy dark green color with handsome white markings. This and hundreds of other marbles are displayed in many forms at the Marble Exhibit at Proctor, Vermont." |  |
"Saws without teeth -- and they cut marble! The poets and the moralists, and other students of nature and human nature, can doubtless philosophize suitably from this striking process of cutting stone by a smooth edge. Physicians who teach that the mild power cures will find their argument illustrated by this scene.
"Nature cuts rocks with drops of water and wears away the granite mountains with showers of rain. With the thunderstorm for her artillery she purposes to conquer the Rocky Mountains and carry them captive to the Gulf of Mexico.
"The pricess of sawing marble by means of a toothless strip of metal, sided by the liberal use of sand, is the invention of a Vermonter. The origin of the process is attributed to Isaac Markham, of Middlebury.
"The editor will make a suitable paragraph from this view, in which he will tell us that we shall get on better in the world if we avoid showing our teeth and use plenty of sand."
Also see: “Proctor, Vermont - the Proctor Marble Quarry - Vermont Marble Company” above.
"This, the largest marble quarry in the world, is operated by the Vermont Marble Company, which obtained the foremost rank among companies operating in marble throughout the world. Its precedence came from the masterly ability of its first president, Redfield Proctor, who greatly simplified the methods of quarrying and substituted machinery for manual labor.
"Professor Brainard, in his 'Marble Border of Western New England,' states that the marble formation of this region extends along the western borders of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont, and into New York south of Lake Champlain. These great beds are from 1,000 to 2,000 feet in thickness, though only in certain layers of the middle portion are suitable for the production of marble for building or statuary.
"The prevailing colors of Vermont marble are white and bluish; but green mottled, and blue-black, even pink and chocolate-red varieties are found in abundance.
"Marble is quarried also in other states of the Union, but most of the ornamental marbles are imported. The chief foreign marble deposits are found in Italy is famous for its white marble. The ornamental marble, of course, is worth about ten times as much as the structural kind."
| (postcard photograph; F. E. Nelson, Rutland, Vt.; no postmark, early 1900s) |  |
| (colorized postcard photograph #5132; The Hugh C. Leighton Co., Manufacturers, Portland, ME., USA; printed in Frankfort, o/Main, Germany. Card shows men working in quarry, early 1900s) |  |
| (postcard photograph, postmark February 18, 1907) |  |
| (postcard photograph, early 1900s; unmailed) |  |
| (postcard photograph; early 1900s; unmailed.) |  |
| (colorized postcard photograph, Geo. E. Chalmers Co., Inc., Rutland, VT.; postcards of Quality. The Albertype Co., Brooklyn, N.Y., no postmark, early 1900s) |  |
| (Color postcard, 1B-H471; C. W. Hughes & Co., Inc., Mechanicville, N.Y.; Genuine Curteich-Chicago "C. T. Art-Colortone" Post Card; postmark July 22, 1945.) |  |
| (colorized postcard photograph, printed by The Meriden Gravure Company, Meriden, Conn., no postmark, early 1900s) The Last Supper - carved of white Vermont marble - is on display in the Marble Exhibit at Proctor. This is the twelfth reproduction of Leonardo's great painting to be executed in the shops of the Vermont Marble Company. |  |
"The Vermont Marble Company, Proctor, Vt., is going to build a one-story marble mill at the northeast corner of Thirtieth and Walnut streets, Philadelphia. The new structure will be fully equipped and will contain marble saws and rubbing beds, and all appliances for the treatment of marble. The company's architects in Vermont are about to begin work on the plans."
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