|
|
|
Home > Vermont - Quarry Links and Photographs
The following excerpt is from a paper from the First Annual Report of the Vermont State Board of Agriculture, Manufactures and Mining, for The Year 1872, by Peter Collier, Secretary of the Board Montpelier, J. & J. M., Poland’s Steam Printing Establishment, 1872, “The Marble Industry of Swanton, A paper read at the meeting of the Board of Agriculture, &C., in St. Albans, March 6th and 7th, 1872, By George Barney, Esq., Swanton.
“As yet no white marble to any extent has been discovered in northern Vermont, at least none north of Burlington. All are colored. The first to be mentioned is the ‘Dove,’ it being of a dove color, which gave it the name. Ledges of this marble crop out in intervals all the way from St. Albans Bay into Canada, almost on a line due north and south. How much farther north or south this formation may be traced, has not come to the knowledge of the writer, but he is of the opinion that the ledge worked for lime, between Winooski and Essex Junction, is of this same formation. It makes excellent lime, and is worked for that purpose by C. W. Rich, of Swanton, and also near Highgate Springs. There is a quarry, or rather a number of quarries, of this kind of marble about half a mile south of the village of Swanton falls, on the ledge known as the White Rocks. These openings were made at a very early day, and the blocks taken therefrom sawed into grave-stones, mostly, and may be seen in almost all the grave-yards in northwestern Vermont. The texture is very fine, susceptible also of a high polish, and withal very durable.
“These quarries have not been worked for many years, the chief cause of which has been that it is not as easily quarried and manufactured as other marbles. There is a rift in its make, so that it breaks or splits one way much easier than the other - a trifle like slate, though much more compact and solid. This prevents blocks being taken out in very good shape for handling or sawing to advantage, when quarried in the old way with powder, as they were when the quarry was worked. The recent improved method of quarrying by channeling could be used with good effect on these quarries, and blocks taken out sound and in good shape.
“Further remarks upon this topic will be reserved until we come to speak of manufacturing.
“The next quarry we shall speak of is of Black Marble in Canada, a few rods north of the Canada line, and is some fifty rods west of the Vermont and Canada R. R. track, where it crosses the line, on a ledge considerably above the railroad. I speak of this next in order as it was the next quarry after the Dove that was worked in this section. This marble is of fine texture, and takes a high polish; was rather expensive to quarry, and blocks were not of the best shape, but the chief objection was that it contained pyrites, a substance which when the marble was polished looked like specks of brass scattered over its surface. There has been, however, a large quantity of this marble sent to market.
“The next marble quarry worked and brought into notice was what is known as the Clark Quarry, on the east shore of Isle La Motte. This, also, was black, much like the Canada marble in texture, produced better shaped and sounder blocks and was more easily quarried and free from the brass like specks of the Canada marble. This is known among marble workers as the Isle La Motte polishing marble. It being on the shore of the lake made it accessible by boats, all which advantages were against the further working of the Canada quarry, and work there was suspended, probably never to be resumed. It was the fortune of those that opened this Clark quarry to strike a layer of marble at the first, about two feet thick, of a very superior kind, regarded fully equal to the Irish black marble in every respect, but this layer or sheet was only a few feet above the surface of the lake in high water, and as the bank rose rapidly the marble above accumulated, and this marble above was of an inferior quality, having many white specks and curls. This fine layer always bore a high price in market.
“There was a quarry known as the Hill Quarry adjoining the Clark quarry, but the marble taken from it, though black, never had a first rate reputation, the marble taken from it lying all above the fine layer heretofore spoken of.
“We next come to speak of what is known as the Fisk quarry, on west shore of Isle La Motte. This quarry is extensively known. The marble taken from it is about the same texture as that of the Clark quarry, hardly as fine, and is not susceptible of as high polish. It is of marine formation, in uniform beds or layers if different thicknesses, from six inches to four feet; these beds gradually ascend from the lake shore eastwardly, giving a gradual and even descent from all parts of the quarry to the lake. There is a very light soil overlying the marble, and sound blocks are quarried from the very surface, so that there is no waste to remove to get at good blocks. This quarry is very extensive, having at tract already worked nearly a quarter of a mile in length and about fifteen feet deep, of what is known as black marble. Below this is a layer of grey, or as has been recently named, mourning granite. Not that it is really granite, but has the appearance of granite both in color and texture. This layer at the shore is some eight feet thick, and as it recedes from the lake southeasterly, diminishes in thickness until it runs entirely out at a distance of some fifty rods, but in a northeasterly direction seems to hold its own, which goes to show that while this grey, wedge-shape layer was forming from ocean deposits, the sea bottom was gradually rising, or had already been raised at the south, which also is confirmed by all the layers of marble having a dip northward. This formation gives good evidence from its appearance of having been formed in good part of minute sea shells or perhaps encrinite. Below this is the same black marble of that above, two sheets of about two feet each in thickness, when we come to a layer of shale some six inches thick.
“This constitutes the present floor of the quarry, no marble of consequence having been taken out below this. Where these lower layers crop out, however, on the southwest, they show a grayish color, in regular layers, and as these layers are followed down, one below another, for perhaps twenty feet, we come to a layer near the lake of a marble called encrinite, being composed apparently of small shell-like particles, of nearly all colors, a dull red predominating. It takes a fine polish, and by many is regarded very beautiful as well as curious. There have been but few blocks taken from it that have been sawed, in consequence the thinness of the layer - about eight inches - and its nearness to the lake making it difficult to get, except in low water. There is a layer of considerable thickness of this kind of marble, the colors not as brilliant, however, on the opposite side of the lake, in the town of Chazy, and a number of blocks were take from it to New York some twenty years ago, but for some cause it proved a bad speculation and has not been worked since. The stone for the piers of the famous Victoria bridge were taken from the Fisk quarry.
“There is a quarry about half a mile south of the Fisk quarry, on the farm of Judge Fleury, from which a large quantity of stone has been taken in past years, mostly for Fort Montgomery, about twelve miles north of the quarry, near Canada line. This quarry affords good blocks for heavy purposes, such as forts, bridges, canal locks, &c., but is unsuited for sawing, as it is coarse in texture. The peculiarity of this quarry is that its formation consists almost entirely of minute shells, large enough, however, to be clearly perceptible to the naked eye.
“The depth of the breast of this quarry is about twelve feet, the whole depth in one solid layer and uniformly of the same material, and there is good reason to suppose this formation extends the whole width of the Island at this place, perhaps one and one-half miles. Its dip is northwardly, and if the layers continue at the same dip as at the quarry, it would carry it some forty feet probably below the Fisk quarry formation. Below this and the Fisk quarry, about equidistant, Judge Fleury has opened another quarry recently, and taken out some stone for bridges and canal (sic) in Canada. This is of dull bluish appearance, of finer texture than the quarry south, and has not yet been tested for sawing purposes. There have been in past years several other openings on this island from which stone have been taken, but they all bear a general resemblance to one or the other of those already described, and we deem it unnecessary to notice them further, as there are none worked at present except the Fisk and Fleury quarries.
“We now turn our attention to what is known as the Winooski marble, this being the name given by Mr. Hagar, our State geologist, to a red variegated formation extending from south of Burlington to Canada. but two or three places as yet have been found in this deposit that have warranted any considerable outlay in working or preparing for market. One is at Mallet’s Bay, north of Burlington. About the year 1854 a Mr. Reed made an opening at this place, and sent a block of 8 or 10 cubic feet to Swanton, to the mills of the writer, to be sawed and tested. The block was sawed and proved very hard, requiring about three times the length of time to saw it that it would any other marble that has ever been sawed in the place. Specimens were taken from the slabs of this block to the cities, and this led to sending some blocks to the cities, but it is believed the enterprise was not a paying one. Not having visited the locality, the writer cannot speak definitely with regard to it, but it is inferred that blocks can be quarried there of good size and fair quality. It is believed that none of this marble has been sawn into slabs in this section, except what was sawed at Swanton some years ago, and whatever has been sent to market has been in the block.
“The next of this kind of marble to be mentioned is that taken from the Bullard ledge, on the road from St. Albans to Swanton, near the watering-trough. People had passed and repassed this ledge for years, and no one had looked upon it as any value, except for the loose stone it afforded for underpinning fences and the like. The manner of its discovery as a marble was as follows: the writer, when returning to his home in Swanton from St. Albans, in the spring of 1859 stopped at the watering-trough near the ledge to give his horse a drink, and while the horse was drinking he observed fragments of stone near by, that had been made in getting stone for the culvert of the railroad. These fragments, and the face of the rock that had been broken, had such a peculiar appearance that he threw a fragment into his buggy and had it placed upon the rubbing bed, which disclosed to him the fact that there was marble in that ledge of superior quality. He at once got permission from the owner of the ledge to take blocks from it, and drew one to his mill and sawed it and soon after sent it with other marble by boat to New York, and it was sold to the firm if Fisher & Bird, marble dealers, in August 1859. They considered it very fine and thought it equal to the best of foreign colored marbles, and encouraged the writer to go on and extend the business. This is the first of this kind ever sent from this county to market. The marble from this ledge, though considered at that time and for some years superior to any other fancy marble, has been superseded by another variety of the same kind, discovered by the writer and the first block taken from it by him, in the month of January 1870. It is located about one-half mile west of the last mentioned, and some forty rods south of the R. R. Junction.
“This ledge is some fifty feet in perpendicular height facing westward, and seems to have been lifted from the valley below, the strata having an eastward dip of some thirty degrees, and to appearance its geological position must be some distance below the opening at the water-trough before mentioned.
“From this quarry there have been considerable quantities sawed and sent to market during the past two years. It is superior to any of this kind heretofore furnished by us, and in fact, is believed, by competent judges, to surpass anything in the line of fancy marbles in the United States. Its texture is fine and hard, the ground color of light chocolate, beautifully blended with still lighter colors, and these all intermingled with clear white spots ad veins, giving it, when polished, a very lively and beautiful appearance. Thus far there has been some difficulty to get blocks from this opening as large as is desirable, on account of the cuts in the ledge crossing diagonally; aside from those cuts the marble is very solid and sound. As yet the depth of breast is only about six feet, but the ledge shows a depth of some thirty feet, all of this kind of marble, but showing more white in its formation than where it has been worked. To this particular variety we have given the name of red-white vein, that it might be distinguished from other varieties.
“There are many varieties of the marble now generally known as the Winooski, yet it has some qualities common to all. 1st, it is very hard; 2d, of fine texture; 3d, has a reddish and variegated appearance; 4th, the lighter portions seem to have been broken and but little disturbed afterward, as the breaks all seem to be sharp and angular. The variety consists in the different colors and figures, some is of a fine reddish mottled appearance, with scarcely any white, others are of a dove-reddish brown, light and dark blended - this is the kind that the tables in St. Albans deposit are made from; others have the lighter colors predominating, and so on in almost endless variety. The Winooski marble on the Howard farm, about one mile west of St. Albans village, should have been mentioned. Large quantities of this kind of stone are brought to the village, and used for underpinning, base courses, caps, and sills, and the inferior kinds for cellar walls. There have been a few blocks taken from this ledge and sent to Boston, and the railroad company obtained two very large blocks from there, which the writer sawed for them at Swanton, and a part of the slabs, from these blocks, were used for the marble tables at the depot. The colors in these are not as bright and lively as in some other varieties of this marble, yet these tables are regarded generally as very fine. The parties having the right of sawing marble from this ledge have not as yet felt themselves warranted in quarrying there to any considerable extent, as other kinds thus far have taken the precedence in market.
“The first mills at Swanton were wholly employed in the manufacture of grave-stones from the dove marble, and this was quite extensively carried on from about the time of the war of 1812 until it gave place to the Rutland marble, about 1844. It was made, however, in diminished quantities from year to year until about the year 1850, when it was abandoned entirely, and not a block has since been taken from the quarry for sawing purposes. The reason for this was two-fold: first, the dove marble could not be manufactured into grave-stones as cheap as the Rutland - it not being as easily carved, the marble workers gave their preference to the Rutland marble; another reason is to be found in the fact that for years white marble was all the rage. For a few years past, however, there has been a growing feeling among the people, that clear white marble is not exactly the thing for work that is exposed to the weather, however much it may be valued for inside work, and the prevailing taste now is for the more or less colored marbles for monuments, grave-stones and the like; and for the few past years what is known as Mourning Granite, taken from the Fisk quarry, has taken the lead for monumental purposes in this section.
“Swanton is the only place north of Middlebury where there have been marble mills, or if so it has never come to the knowledge of the writer, except one or two small mills that were run for two or three years in Highgate, on the Canada marble.
And we now proceed to mention some of the men that have engaged in the business, which will lead us to say something of the kinds of marble manufactured as well as the markets.
“To Joseph Atkinson belongs the distinction of being the first to erect mills, and engage in the business of marble sawing in this section of the country. He created a mill at Swanton falls in 1812.
“The next mill was built by John Ferris of New York, in 1815. Both these mills made little else but grave-stones, and these uniformly two inches thick and of good length, so as to be set in the ground. Stones set in bases were not known in those days.
“We forbear to dwell upon the history of the business from this time forward for fifteen or twenty years. Suffice it to say, mills were erected and marbles from Canada and the Isle La Motte were sawed in large quantities and sent to New York market. The Glens Falls block marble being discovered during this time took the precedence in the market and had a tendency to diminish the black polishing marble business here. From 1830 to 1835 the black marble business may be said to have been in its most flourishing condition. There were then constantly in operation six mills, having in all some twenty-five gangs, which were constantly running, mostly on black marble and hearth stuff, sawing, however, dove marble grave-stone to supply the demand.
“The year 1837 was a disastrous one to the parties then engaged in the marble business at Swanton. It is believed that everyone failed, and from this time very little of the black quarry marble was taken to market.
“Some of the mills were suffered to go to decay, while others were appropriated to other kinds of business. Three only were kept running, one of these most of the time on grave-stones and the others on hearths. From this time the hearth business increased. They were used in the cities for the hearth of black Glens Falls marble mantles, and as there was comparatively very little foreign marble imported, nearly all the mantles were of black marble and required black hearths, and these were supplied from Swanton, it not being considered profitable to make them at Glens Falls.
“In the year 1840 the writer commenced the marble business by erecting and setting in operation a mill with six gangs. He confined his business at first exclusively to the manufacture of hearths saws from blocks mostly from the Fisk quarry. At that time there were three men besides himself, engaged in the business, viz: F. V. Goodrick, I. A. Vanduzee, and H. B. Farrar. We often went to market together and generally worked in harmony in selling marble.
“The custom then was and had been previously, to saw out a boat load of hearths (some ten to fifteen hundred dollars worth) and send them to New York, and then go down and sell them from the dock, which generally took from two to four weeks, depending upon the state of the market and the amount to be sold.
“In 1845 F. V. Goodrich sold his mill and interest in the marble business to E. S. Meigs, and he in turn sold the same to the writer in 1847. I. A. Vanduzee sold his mill and business to the writer in 1850, thus putting him in possession of all the marble business at Swanton except the interest of H. B. Farrar, who confined himself to the hearth business.
“In 1852 two other mills were started running on hearths, one by Daniel Platt, and the other by H. & H. M. Stone. The hearth business had already diminished to a large extent, and the increased amount thrown upon the market in consequence of starting two new mills completely broke it down. One of those mills, after running about one year, discontinued the business, and the mill was converted to other uses. The other run (sic) occasionally about a year longer, when that was shut down. Mr. Farrar continued to do something until the year 1864, when the writer bought from him the stock he had on hand, since which time one of his mills has gone to decay, and the other is converted to another use.
“The question very naturally suggests itself, why has the demand for black marble so diminished? I will answer briefly. Up to about the year 1848 nearly all, say nine out of ten, of the mantles made in New York were of black marble. The Glens Falls Company had a monopoly of the market, and so far took advantage of it as to make it oppressive to the dealers; at least they (the dealers) thought so. This contributed largely to make marble manufacturers discontented, and they encouraged the importation of the Italian marble, and mantles began to be made from it, from the cheapest to the most costly kind. The marble workers very naturally recommended it to their customers as being all the fashion, a fashion, of course, which they themselves had created, and from this time white and the lighter colored marbles became all the rage. The demand for Glens Falls marble nearly ceased, hardly any mantles being made from it, probably not one in a hundred, so that by the year 1854 nearly all demand for black marble for mantles ceased, and of course if no black mantles were made no black hearths were wanted, and this has remained so till the present day (circa 1872). Yet there have always been some black hearths used, in one way or another, but the demand is limited compared to what it was.
“It will be perceived that from the year 1864 to the present time (circa 1872), whatever of pleasure or profit there has been in the marble business at Swanton, the writer has had the full enjoyment of, and for the good reason that no one, looking at the record of the past in this line, has felt it safe to invest in the business. Yet the writer, by keeping a pretty close watch on what the market required, and supplying that demand, has been able to ‘still live,’ and has some hope, if life is prolonged, to bring the business back to its palmy days. One reason of his being able to continue the business was that when the demand for hearths diminished, he has endeavored to make the tile business take its place, and he will here narrate some of the circumstances which led to the rise of that business.
“Previous to 1846 Italian tile of light and dark blue were the only tile used for flooring. About that time the writer, with Mr. Joseph Black, a merchant at Swanton, were stopping at the Pacific hotel, which had a floor of the Italian tile. I remarked to him that our black marble ought to be used in that city for floors instead of the dead blue Italian. He replied, that is so, and you are the one to do it. This little conversation led me to talk the matter up with the marble dealers. All discouraged it on the ground that I could not make them at a price to compete successfully with the Italian. We however succeeded in getting an order of a very low figure for 2000 black 12 ½ inch tile. This was in the spring of 1848. On returning home measures were at once taken to set in operation what is known as a rubbing bed, for the purpose of rubbing the face and jointing the edges of tile, making them a perfect square and all to a gauge.
“This bed consists of a circular cast iron plate about 11 feet in diameter, which is made to revolve horizontally, and the tile are worked and finished on this with sand and water.
“In due time this order for tile was filled, which gave good satisfaction, and it was not long before they were sought for by other dealers. The demand has increased slowly but steadily from year to year, (with slight exceptions,) until they are now introduced into every principal city, and many of the villages of the United States and Canada, and are laid with Italian or Vermont white marble in most of the large hotels or other public buildings.
“The texture being fine and hard, renders them very durable. Buildings in which they have been laid for twenty years or more subject to constant use, (as in the case in the principle hotels of New York,) show very few signs of wear, but on the contrary rather improve in appearance as age and use deepen their color.
“For many years we confined ourselves to the black marble business alone, but as there was considerable inquiry for the white tile to be laid with our black, we therefore, in order to supply this want, took measures to supply ourselves with white tile from the white marble grounds south of us. But at first we made some mistakes, as we at that time did not know but one kind was about as good as another, if it looked well when finished and ready to lay. But we soon found the softer and more porous kinds were not the thing to make good tile, however, for some years avoided this kind of marble, and furnish only the harder kinds which have given good satisfaction, among which may be mentioned the Brandon, Pittsford, Sutherland Falls and Middlebury.
“We have also introduced new red-white vein marble into the tile market. This, though hard and expensive, makes, when combined with white and black, a very beautiful floor. Las year we supplied one floor of this kind, costing about $1000, and many other smaller ones of various fancy patterns. These patterns we have of various kinds to show to those that call, or send to our customers when they request it.
“Tile should be made of very even surface and perfectly square. The old process of finishing them by hand was a slow and tedious one. The writer has invented a number of machines for the purpose of lessening the labor of making them, some of which have been of much service, but not entirely satisfactory, until he with his son, then in business with him, invented and took out a patent for a machine for squaring and dressing tile, which has proved very valuable.
“The marble business in this section has a sad history. From the time of its commencement in the year 1812, for fifty years, no one that has made that their business can be said to have been successful. But this may be said of most all other kinds of business, say previous to 1850; though possibly a small per cent. have been successful. Even farmers, as may be remembered by some present, once had a hard time of it, but there is hope for the future.
“The wealth of the country is rapidly increasing, and as it increases people naturally feel that they can afford marble floors and furniture and the demand for colored marbles will gradually increase. Yet I do not look for a great demand. It never will become a staple article like the Rutland and other lighter colored marbles for the reason that, with the exception of the mourning granite, it does not stand the weather without fading, while probably nineteen twentieths, of the lighter colored marbles of Vermont are used for out of door purposes and consequently must take the lead as an article of commerce.”
“The dolomite marbles of Swanton have already been described in a general way on page 43. The quarries, opened about 1870, are about a mile S. 65° E. from Swanton, on a ridge on the south bank of Missisquoi River and rising to 165 feet above it, in Franklin County. Five openings situated at different elevations and on different beds are now in occasional use. They have working faces on the east ranging from 15 to 40 feet in height and from 50 to 100 feet or more in length. Operator, Barney Marble Co., Swanton, Vt.
“The marble beds are about 150 feet thick. The character of the beds is shown in the descriptive sections given below. Some of the beds are uniformly reddish brown and recur at irregular intervals. Others, near the top, are uniformly bluish gray. Some at the base are greenish gray, with brecciated dolomitic lenses or beds and distorted corals.
“The marbles are known commercially as “Champlain marbles.” There are five more marked varieties described in the following paragraphs.
“‘Royal red’ (specimens D, XXXI, 3, a, polished; e, rough with chloritic veinlets) is a quartzose hematitic untwinned dolomite marble of dark reddish-brown color, with irregular, slightly lighter clouds and some white streaks. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of (a) dolomite plates of irregular form, tending to rhombic outline, and of some rhombs with grain diameter of 0.02 to 0.3, mostly 0.02 to 0.12 millimeter, averaging 0.07 and thus of grade 1 (extra fine); (b) interstitial reddish-brown hematitic (kaolin), in places more abundant, forming streaks along the bedding; (c) plentiful angular quartz grains, 0.02 to 0.15 but mostly under 0.07 millimeter with rare grains of feldspar (plagioclase); (d) a few opaque particles (magnetite?); and (e) rare muscovite flakes. The dolomite plates have very minute reddish specks. The quartz grains have cavities with moving vacuoles. This marble is very sonorous, emits an argillaceous odor, effervesces very slightly with acid test, and takes a high polish. A thin section of it is shown in figure 8, page 44.
“‘Jasper’ (specimens D, XXXI, 3, g, rough; and c, polished) is a quartzose hematitic untwinned dolomite marble of bright-reddish ground containing pinkish and white irregular lenticular objects from 0.1 to 0.7 inch in width and from an inch or less to 8 inches in length, generally with the long axis parallel to bedding but in places at all angles. The white ones are highly crystalline and effervesce as little as does the ground under acid test, and some have a nucleus of milky quartz. The ground has the same composition as the “royal red” but contains magnetite grains, giving rise to hematite stain. The corals are in part coarsely crystalline twinned dolomite and in part granular dolomite. In sonorousness, effervescence, and polish this marble is like the “royal red.” A photograph of a specimen of this marble is reproduced in Plate VIII, A, c, and blocks of it are shown in Plate V, B.
“‘Lyonnaise’ (specimen D, XXXI, 3, b, polished) is a quartzose hematitic untwinned dolomite marble of brownish-red ground or of merging forms of roundish cylindrical or irregular outline in brownish red with the interspaces filled with whitish crystalline dolomite. One of these forms has crystalline quartz in the center. The ground is of the same composition and textures as the “royal red.” Some of the white twinned dolomite incloses granular dolomite. In sonorousness and effervescence of ground this marble is like the “jasper” and the “royal red.” The polished face shows some dull (kaolinic ?) streaks.
“‘Oriental’ (specimens D, XXXI, 3, h, rough; d, polished) is a quartzose hematitic and magnetitic untwinned dolomite marble with ground of dark reddish brown inclosing dark purplish-gray areas of very irregular curving outline and concentrically banded, also with some irregular spots of white calcite having a nucleus of crystalline quartz. The ground is like that of “royal red” in texture and composition. The dark purplish-gray parts abound in magnetite grains, more or less oxidized to hematite, and contain rare minute scales of biotite. The coarsely crystalline white parts appear to be part calcite and part dolomite. There are veinlets of white twinned dolomite. The sonorousness, effervescence of ground, and polish of this marble are like those of “royal red.”
“‘Olive’ (specimens D, XXXI, 3, k, l, rough; and m, polished) is a quartzose untwinned dolomite marble of light, faintly greenish-gray ground, inclosing very irregular lenses or elongated cones, more or less parallel, some of them brecciated, of light pinkish-gray color. Some of these lenses have a nucleus of white twinned dolomite surrounding crystalline quartz; most of them have a dark-brownish rim of limonite from the oxidation of pyrite. The dolomite plates of the ground carry minute dark grains. The ground also contains pyrite and grains of magnetite, mostly not oxidized to hematite. There are rare muscovite scales in the finer parts. This marble is also very sonorous, emits an argillaceous odor, and effervesces very slightly with acid test. The polish is fair but shows some dull (kaolinic?) streaks.
“The dolomite marble beds of Swanton are underlain on the west by a calcareous bed containing the brachiopod Kutorgina, of Lower Cambrian age, and are overlain on the east by the Lower Cambrian shales of St. Albans. The following sections were taken at the quarries.
“1. At the top of the hill, strike N. 30° E., dip 10° S. 60° E.: Beginning at the top, 17 feet of mottled red and white dolomite marble, 3 feet of bluish-gray dolomite, 2 feet of plain red (“royal red”), 16 feet of mottled red and white. A joint face is coated with salmon-colored calcite. The bluish-gray dolomite (specimen D, XXXI, 3, I) has a marked argillaceous odor and weathers light ocher color; its effervescence is slight. In thin section this is a quartzose untwinned dolomite with a few grains of magnetite, passing into hematite, and some light-yellow grains, probably from oxidized pyrite. Interspersed among the quartz grains are a few of feldspar (orthoclase and microcline).
“2. At the next quarry down: 12 feet of mixed dolomite beds, overlying 7 feet of hematitic and magnetitic dolomites with purplish spots (“oriental”). Some joints strike N. 35° E., stand vertical, and are spaced 5 to 18 feet; others strike N. 50° W., and are vertical to steep, and are spaced 5 to 20 feet. Some diagonal fractures are coated with chlorite and salmon-colored calcite.
“3. At a disused quarry next below: Beginning at the top, 8 feet of alternating mixed dolomite marbles, 2 feet of plain red (“royal”), 8 to 10 feet with white lenses or corals, discolored, and 2 to 3 feet plain red (“royal”). On some of the weathered surfaces of the red argillaceous hematitic cement projects above the white lenses. The brecciation of the lenses is distinct.
“4. Below the disused quarry and near the gateway, strike N. 50° E., dip 10-15° S. 40° E.: Beginning at the top, 10 feet of hematitic dolomite with light lenses and corals, rather short and mostly parallel to bed, 3 feet of plain red (“royal,” measuring 5 to 6 feet at a disused opening a little east), and 10 feet of hematitic dolomite (“jasper”), with long, narrow white corals on bright-reddish ground, the corals at all angles, some vertical, but in places mostly parallel to bed. Joints strike N. 60° W., dip 70° N. 30° E. to 90°, and are spaced 6 to 10 feet. Joints in the “royal” bed strike N. 30° -35° W. and dip 25° -30° E. or W.; some are coated with chlorite.
“5. At the west foot of the hill near the river and 60 feet above it, lower than section 4, the following series dips 15° about southeast, beginning at the top: Uncertain thickness of hematitic dolomite with white lenses, etc., 1 foot of plain red rock, 5 feet like upper bed, and 14 feet of finely laminated grayish dolomite with lenses and corals (“olive”).
“The marbles of Swanton are used for columns, wainscoting, and tiling. Their attractive and unusual coloring makes them as desirable for interior decoration as does their hardness for floor wear. This hardness is due to their dolomitic and quartzose composition and to their texture. Specimens: Columns and wainscoting in Detroit post office; columns and panels of “royal red” in numismatic room, United States Mint, Philadelphia, wainscoting and counter, Southern California Savings Bank, Los Angeles; wainscoting in Auditorium, Chicago; “olive” wainscoting in Columbus Dispatch Building, Columbus, Ohio; tiling in city hall, Indianapolis, Ind. The length of columns is limited by the joint spacing to 10 feet.”
Ibid., pg. 144 footnote: See Hitchcock, Edward, and Hager, A. D., Geology of Vermont, vol. 2, 1861, pp. 773-775. Edson, G. E., Geology of the town of Swanton: Sixth Rept. Vermont State Geologist for 1907, 1908, pp. 210-220, fig. 5, Perkins, G. H. Preliminary report on the geology of Chittendon County: Idem, pp. 224-245, Pl. XXXIX (a slab of marble from Swanton with a number of pteropods, Salterella pulchella).
Geo. & R. L. Barney, Swanton, Vt.
Marble Flooring Tiles
We Manufacture Extensively, White, Black, Red, Dove, Chocolate, Lyonaise, French-Gray, and other Marbles, into Tiles of Every Design.
We make Wainscoting and Tiling a Specialty. Descriptive Circular and Price-List Sent on Application.
(color postcard photograph; no postmark) "Oriental Red marble quarry at Swanton, Vermont, one of the many quarries belonging to the Vermont Marble Company, Proctor, Vermont." |
 |
“Vermont. - Most of the steatite of this State is found on the east side of the Green Mountains and near the eastern line of the talcose slate formation, beds of it extending nearly the entire length of the State. The rock occurs usually associated with serpentine and hornblende. The beds are not continuous and have, as a rule, a great thickness in comparison with their length. It not infrequently happens that several isolated outcrops occur on the same line of strata, sometimes several miles apart, and in many cases alternating with beds of dolomitic lime stone that are scattered along with them.
“At least sixty beds of this rock occur in the State in the towns of …Thetford….”
This quarry was “in Topsham at the west foot of Pine Mountain, roughly about 5 ½ miles west-southwest of Blue Mountain, 2 ¼ miles southeast of the Benzie quarry, and 2 ¾ miles south-southeast of Groton and 490 feet above it. The granite from the quarry was called “Pine Mountain” and is of a medium bluish-gray color with a medium texture. When the quarry was measured it was about 40 by 32 feet with a working face on the east of 20 feet high from the road and quarry level. The granite was carted about 3 miles to the railway at Groton, 490 feet lower. At the time of the inspection, the quarry was abandoned.
“Vermont. - Most of the steatite of this State is found on the east side of the Green Mountains and near the eastern line of the talcose slate formation, beds of it extending nearly the entire length of the State. The rock occurs usually associated with serpentine and hornblende. The beds are not continuous and have, as a rule, a great thickness in comparison with their length. It not infrequently happens that several isolated outcrops occur on the same line of strata, sometimes several miles apart, and in many cases alternating with beds of dolomitic lime stone that are scattered along with them.
“At least sixty beds of this rock occur in the State in the towns of…Townsend….”
“Vermont. - Most of the steatite of this State is found on the east side of the Green Mountains and near the eastern line of the talcose slate formation, beds of it extending nearly the entire length of the State. The rock occurs usually associated with serpentine and hornblende. The beds are not continuous and have, as a rule, a great thickness in comparison with their length. It not infrequently happens that several isolated outcrops occur on the same line of strata, sometimes several miles apart, and in many cases alternating with beds of dolomitic lime stone that are scattered along with them.
“At least sixty beds of this rock occur in the State in the towns of…Troy….”
“Vermont. - Most of the steatite of this State is found on the east side of the Green Mountains and near the eastern line of the talcose slate formation, beds of it extending nearly the entire length of the State. The rock occurs usually associated with serpentine and hornblende. The beds are not continuous and have, as a rule, a great thickness in comparison with their length. It not infrequently happens that several isolated outcrops occur on the same line of strata, sometimes several miles apart, and in many cases alternating with beds of dolomitic lime stone that are scattered along with them.
“At least sixty beds of this rock occur in the State in the towns of…Waitsfield….”
“Vermont. - Most of the steatite of this State is found on the east side of the Green Mountains and near the eastern line of the talcose slate formation, beds of it extending nearly the entire length of the State. The rock occurs usually associated with serpentine and hornblende. The beds are not continuous and have, as a rule, a great thickness in comparison with their length. It not infrequently happens that several isolated outcrops occur on the same line of strata, sometimes several miles apart, and in many cases alternating with beds of dolomitic lime stone that are scattered along with them.
“At least sixty beds of this rock occur in the State in the towns of…Warren….”
The following paper is an excerpt from First Annual Report of the Vermont State Board of Agriculture, Manufactures and Mining, for The Year 1872, by Peter Collier, Secretary of the Board Montpelier, J. & J. M., Poland’s Steam Printing Establishment, 1872, “Granite Quarries” (in Washington County, Vermont), A Paper Read at the Late Meeting of the State Board of Agriculture, &C., at Montpelier, Vermont, pp. 646-655.
“In speaking of the granite of Washington county, it will not be expected that I should enter upon any discussion in regard to its geological position; it is enough for our present purpose to ascertain its locality, its quantity and quality, and its commercial value, and the ease with which it may be quarried.
“The granite of this county, like that of all other localities, is composed of quartz, feldspar and mica, indiscriminately mixed together; it is coarse, or fine, according to the state of its constituent minerals; it is of every shade of color, but the most esteemed for monumental and building purposes is of a light gray shade.
“Granite is one of the lowest rocks of which the geologist is acquainted, and yet it forms the summits of the highest mountains, and is found in veins varying from a few inches in thickness to those that are several yards in width. From its crystalline structure and the position it occupies, there is no doubt that granite has been melted, and it is also certain that many varieties are the results of remelting and reconsolidation of the stratified rocks. In this way only can geologists account for the fact that, while some granites are found among the oldest rocks, others are more recent in their origin than some of the stratified formations. It is evident that the granite of Washington county is thus formed. By some convulsion, or change in nature, the mica slate formation, in which the granite of this county is found, was rent and the melted matter was forced into and filled the crevices, engulfing at the same time fragments of limestone and mica slate.
“In the northern part of this belt of granite these detached fragments are so promiscuously scattered through it, that the granite is nearly useless for building purposes. It is, furthermore, evident form the situation of these blocks of limestone, and fragments of slate, that they must have been associated with the granite while in a state of fusion.
“The granite in this county out-crops in Berlin, Barre, Plainfield, Marshfield, Calais and Woodbury. That found in Berlin is of a fine grain, and valuable for building and cemetery purposes; the amount quarried at Berlin is about 1000 cubic feet per annum.
“The granite in Plainfield, Marshfield, Calais and Woodbury is not, as I understand, quarried very much, and owing to the seams of quartz and fragments of limestone and slate, it is very little used except for underpinning. Though the granite in this town is generally of a coarse grain and imperfect in its formation, still, in many places, it is found suited for all architectural purposes.
“In Barre, granite forms two elevations estimated at 500 or 600 feet high and containing an area of about 1,000 acres. On both these out-crops of granite lies in tabular sheets, the outer edges of which have been worn by drift agency, so as to form the contour of the hills. In the emergency of the melted granite, the debris overlaying the slate was thrown together and formed a barrier between the two out-croppings; this having been removed by the action of water, a deep valley now separates the two granite hills. The space between them is not far from two miles. These quarries are also situated about two miles from Barre village. The easterly hill, known as Cobble Hill, rises abruptly on the south, while on the other sides the ascent is so gradual that large teams can be driven to its summit. The sides of the southern hill, called Millstone Hill, are of very easy ascent to its top - the form of the hill being hemispherical.
“In estimating the quantity of granite in these two localities, we run the risk of being called visionary, but we enter upon it knowing what we may say. It is admitted by all who have visited the granite quarries in Barre, that the quantity is large; but, so far as I know, no one has ever attempted to give an estimation in cubic feet, or reduce its value to dollars and cents. Passing a horizontal plane from the west parallel to the general level of the land surrounding these hills, we shall cut off from these two elevations probably not less than 8,000,000,000 cubic feet of granite. At five mills per cubic foot before it is quarried, we have $40,000,000, or forty times the whole grand list of this state; giving it a value of ten cents per cubic foot after it is quarried, we have the enormous amount of $800,000,000, or eight times the whole taxable property of Vermont. From this statement of the approximate quantity of granite in Washington county, we may infer that it is sufficient to supply any demand for such material either at the south or west for any length of time. The quantity is not only inexhaustible, but in quality surpasses all other varieties; its color is light gray, and free from iron and other ingredients that render many granites useless for building or monumental purposes. President Hitchcock says he has never met, in this or any other country, with granite of a finer granite and better adapted to architectural purposes than that found in Barre. The minerals of our granite are so finely pulverized and so compact in their combinations that it is capable of receiving a high polish; and when exposed to the action of the atmosphere, it resists so well the ‘tooth of time’ that blocks cut fifty years since, and exposed to all the changes of climate and moisture, are now as perfect as when they left the shop of the artisan one half century ago. The New Hampshire and Quincy granites have a dark and somber look that gives the buildings and monuments constructed of them a heavy and gloomy appearance. The light gray color of the granite in this county is such, that, when small dwelling houses are built of it, there is a light and sprightly aspect to the whole structure. When this same material is wrought and used for larger buildings, it gives to the edifice the look of such grandeur and stateliness, that a man by a walk of a few rods from this hall can better appreciate than I can describe. For monuments and cemetery work it cannot be equaled for beauty; the fineness of its grain and compactness of its structure give no place for the roots of lichens or mosses that one so frequently sees on the marble slabs in all the cemeteries of Vermont and elsewhere. That the granite of Washington county is admirably fitted for architectural purposes, we can not refer to a better specimen than that of which the State House is built. Few probably have ever seen a better sample of building material than is exhibited in the walls of our own Capitol. A test of fifteen years is sufficient to show that Barre granite is free from iron and other minerals that deface the walls of many public and private buildings.
“Having spoken of the location, of the quantity and the quality of the granite of Washington County, it remains for me to call attention to is commercial value, and the ease with which it may be quarried. In speaking of its value, I am aware that the price of any commodity at the place of its production depends on its quality and the facilities of transportation. The iron and coal of Pennsylvania must reach a market before they are of much value to the owners. The agricultural products of Vermont must be carried to the consumer, or otherwise they decay in the storehouses of the producer. Thirty years ago the land embracing the rich marble quarries of Rutland was sold for an old mare and her colt. The facilities of transportation were increased, and forthwith a value was given to the heretofore worthless article. Quality, without facilities of transportation, will never give any article a mercantile value.
“The granite of Washington county, like all the productions of the earth, must be valued in proportion to its usefulness and demand. Its use for architectural purposes, we have seen, is excellent, and in the opinion of President Hitchcock and other geologists, it cannot be surpassed by any rock of its kind, in this or any other country.
“Should the demand be extended and the facilities for conveying this granite to market be increased, I see not why this county has not a source of productive labor even greater than that of any other in Vermont. Notwithstanding the difficulty and expense of conveying it to a railroad station, the demand for Barre granite is increasing every year; not for from 1,000 tons, or 12,000 cubic feet, have been quarried the past season. A large part of this has been sent to western Vermont and northern New York. Orders for it, I understand, have been recently received from Ohio and Illinois. Let the same amount of money be expended and the same energy put forth for developing the granite of Washington county, as there have been in the marble enterprise of Rutland county, and no one would doubt the success of the undertaking. To quarry marble, to dig gold, to mine coal, copper or iron, and raise them to the surface of the earth, oftentimes requires an immense outlay of funds for mere preparatory work; and frequently all the efforts of the projectors of these enterprises prove abortive. To quarry the granite of Washington county there is no risk in the undertaking; the material sought is seen; enough lies above the general level of the surrounding country to supply, for hundreds of years, any reasonable demand.
“On the two hills in Barre the granite is found in nearly horizontal strata, varying in thickness from two inches to ten feet. From this some geologists suppose it to be gneiss, which rock is composed of the same minerals, and differs only from granite by having a distinctly stratified or slaty structure. ‘There are cases,’ says President Hitchcock, ‘where it is very difficult to decide whether the rock be stratified or not; even those rocks which all geologists concede to be granite, such as those at Barre, when worked evince such a disposition to split in a certain direction that the workmen generally regard them as stratified rocks; the strata correspond with the ‘rift’ or cleavage planes, and intelligent quarrymen, working upon granite, are as careful to determine the direction of the ‘rift’ as those engaged in quarrying slate.
“Granite can readily be split at right angles with that of the rift or cleavage, but not in a diagonal direction. For pillars designed to sustain great weight, the utmost care should be taken to have the length correspond with the cleavage or rift. Taking advantage of this characteristic, the quarrymen run their lines on the rift from ten to two hundred feet in length; and with the aid of half mounds and wedges, the blocks are separated from the tables of sheets. It often happens when blocks of large dimensions are wanted, that a new face or edge of a sheet must be laid open; to remove the edges of the overlying sheets, and expose a layer of suitable thickness, powder is used to throw off the upper strata. To a man who has never seen granite quarried, it seems a mystery how blocks seventy-five or a hundred feet long, six feet wide and from four to six feet thick, can be cut almost as straight as if sawed from a bed of solid rock. One block, quarried last season (circa 1872) on Cobble Hill, seventy-five feet long, contained no less than 1,500 cubic feet, and weighed not far from 125 tons.
“Granite, like all other productions of nature, requires the incorporation of human industry to give an exchangeable value. The water of the Merrimack, for thousands of years, flowed over the rapids opposite the cities of Lowell, Manchester and Lawrence, and no one sixty years ago considered it of any practical account; but directed by intelligence and human skill, it is the source of great wealth, and its loss would be felt not only at home but throughout the world.
“The timber of our forests in the place of its growth has a small commercial value, but as soon as it is combined with the labor of the lumbermen, it becomes an element of the utmost importance to the prosperity of the State.
“The inherent energy and the hidden activity of the soil, left uncontrolled by human industry and intelligence, would never spring up into the golden corn, or clothe our fields with the rich harvests of grain.
“The thousand streams of Vermont will always, as they ever have, continue to leap from rock to rock in their channels, until the men of energy and means shall direct their power to effect such changes in the raw materials of our State as shall confer upon these substances an intrinsic value that will not only enrich the producer, but in the change leave a large margin for the manufacturer.
“In like manner the granite of Washington county, to become valuable to its owners and a source of wealth to the county, needs for its development the hand of human industry and skill to give it form and direct its movements.
“Prof. Seely of Middlebury expressed great satisfaction in listening to the paper, and highly appreciated its value as giving an idea of the untold resources of Vermont. Such papers as the one we have just listened to show the vast natural resources of our State. Too often we hear the remark, ‘Vermont isn’t much.’ and it is this feeling that tends to lead so many to emigrate. In truth Vermont is one of the best states in the Union. We think too little of our State, he observed, and our young men go West, leaving one of the best states in the Union. There is abundance of room and material for the profitable employment of capital and brains here. In reference to building materials, he regarded granite as superior to marble, as our climate is pretty hard on the latter material, and it will gradually go into decomposition. The marble monuments in our cemeteries soon show decay, and if we would have lasting ones we must make them of granite.
“In response to an inquiry by Mr. Heath, Dr. Spaulding replied that there was good granite in the town of Woodbury, but he had understood it was difficult finding blocks of much size free from quartz.
“Hon. John Gregory spoke of the superior quality of the Barre granite, and stated that whilst in Albany last year, he examined the fountain of the new capital building being erected there, of Maine granite. The superintendent informed him that they were troubled to get blocks in Maine of the size required, and that they had been examining a quarry about three miles from Keene, New Hampshire, the citizens proposing to build a railroad that distance to take the granite blocks to the main line of the road. The superintendent expressed a decided preference for the Barre granite, and said it would have been used for the building could it have been reached by railroad.
“Mr. Wheelock, of Barre, was much interested in the subject, and deemed the quarries of that town of great value to agriculture, as, when worked to the extent they would be some time, they would create a larger home market for the productions of the soil. Removing the granite did not impoverish and injure the soil like taking off the forests.
“Dr. Hoskins said the information in Dr. Spaulding’s paper was interesting, and to a great extent new to him. It was bad policy, in a State so rich in resources as Vermont, to suppress the fact and say nothing about it. We were too much like the old lady, who being compelled to go to market with vegetables from her garden, as a means of livelihood, had a severe struggle to overcome her pride, and on account of this commercial weakness, meet with but poor success. She secreted herself behind a pile of lumber, and then waited for customers, who of course did not come. When aroused to more activity by a sympathizing friend, she cried, in a faint voice, ‘I hope to the Lord nobody heard me.’
“Mr. Heath had made an examination of the granite belt in this county, extending into the northwesterly portion of Orange and the southeasterly portion of Caledonia counties. It did not crop out much in Plainfield, a little too much in Marshfield for farming purposes, and still more in Woodbury. Some was to be found in the southwest part of Peacham, and in the gores, and some on the Tucker farm, in Calais. He believed the best qualities were to be found in Barre and Woodbury, where it existed in untold quantities, and would soon become marketable from the proximity of now constructing and projected railroads.”
“Tests at the new marble quarries at Washington, Vt., opened by Huntington & Clough, have shown a good quality of marble of a steel gray color for a depth of twenty-four feet. The samples already taken out finish up well, the polished and cut surfaces showing a marked contrast. It is expected that these and other quarries in the vicinity will be developed and the product put on the market for monumental purposes.”
"A marble deposit has been discovered in Washington, Orange county, Vt., which experts pronounce to equal in value any quarry at Proctor of West Rutland. The opening has been made to a depth of seven feet and is found to be a solid compact mass of marble. Expert quarrymen who have investigated the deposit agree in pronouncing the stone to be of unsurpassed quality, and its fire-proof qualities are unquestioned as well as its susceptibility to the finest Italian polish. It may prove a rival to the Rutland county marble."
“Vermont. - Most of the steatite of this State is found on the east side of the Green Mountains and near the eastern line of the talcose slate formation, beds of it extending nearly the entire length of the State. The rock occurs usually associated with serpentine and hornblende. The beds are not continuous and have, as a rule, a great thickness in comparison with their length. It not infrequently happens that several isolated outcrops occur on the same line of strata, sometimes several miles apart, and in many cases alternating with beds of dolomitic lime stone that are scattered along with them.
“At least sixty beds of this rock occur in the State in the towns of…Waterbury….”
“Vermont. - Most of the steatite of this State is found on the east side of the Green Mountains and near the eastern line of the talcose slate formation, beds of it extending nearly the entire length of the State. The rock occurs usually associated with serpentine and hornblende. The beds are not continuous and have, as a rule, a great thickness in comparison with their length. It not infrequently happens that several isolated outcrops occur on the same line of strata, sometimes several miles apart, and in many cases alternating with beds of dolomitic lime stone that are scattered along with them.
“At least sixty beds of this rock occur in the State in the towns of…Waterville….”
“Vermont. - Most of the steatite of this State is found on the east side of the Green Mountains and near the eastern line of the talcose slate formation, beds of it extending nearly the entire length of the State. The rock occurs usually associated with serpentine and hornblende. The beds are not continuous and have, as a rule, a great thickness in comparison with their length. It not infrequently happens that several isolated outcrops occur on the same line of strata, sometimes several miles apart, and in many cases alternating with beds of dolomitic lime stone that are scattered along with them.
“At least sixty beds of this rock occur in the State in the towns of Readsboro, Marlborough, Newfane, Windham, Townsend, Athens, Grafton, Andover, Chester, Cavendish, Baltimore, Ludlow, Plymouth, Bridgewater, Thetford, Bethel, Rochester, Warren, Braintree, Waitsfield, Moretown, Duxbury, Waterbury, Bolton, Stow, Cambridge, Waterville, Berkshire, Eden, Lowell, Belvidere, Johnson, Enosburgh, Westfield, Richford, Troy, and Jay.
“Of the beds named those in Grafton and Athens are stated to have been longest worked and to have produced the most stone. The beds lie in gneiss. The quarries were profitably worked as early as 1820. Another important bed is that in the town of Weathersfield. This, like that of Grafton, is situated in gneiss, but has no overlying rock, and the soap-stone occurs in inexhaustible quantities. It was first worked about 1847, and during 1859 about 800 tons of material were removed and sold….”
(* Page 360, footnote 1: Geology of Vermont, Vol. II, p. 783-91.)
"The Williams & Edwards Slate Company, of Granville, N. Y., has lease (sic) the slate interest of Mrs. M. J. Paul, in Wells, Vt."
“An important deal has been consummated whereby a large contract involving nearly half a million dollars, goes to the Lyons granite quarries at West Dummerston, Vt. The stone is for a water power company at Holyoke, Mass. Three years will be required to fill the contract.”
| Keystone View Company, copyright, 1903, by Manufacturer, B. L. Singley, Made in U.S.A. Publishers, Meadville, Pa., New York, N.Y., Portland, Oregon, London, Eng., Sydney, Aus. |  |
| Photograph taken c.1999 by Scott McGowen of New Hampshire. Click here to see more photographs showing several views of the Esperanza/ True Blue Quarry |  |
| (colorized postcard photograph 61447; Tichnor Quality Views; postmark Sept. 25, 1940) |  |
| (colorized postcard photograph, 217005; The Valentine Souvenier Co., New York; printed in U.S.A.; postmark July 28, 1914) |  |
| (colorized postcard photograph, 10; Chas. W. Hughes, Mechanicville, N. Y.; C. T. American Art; Sept. 2, 1926) |  |
| (postcard photograph #8, no postmark) |  |
| (colorized postcard photograph of view looking out from inside the quarry, The Hugh C. Leighton Co., manufacturers, Portland, ME, U.S.A.; printed in Frankfort, Germany, No. 2930) |  |
| (colorized postcard photograph; pub. exclusively for B. E. Severson, 25c. Department Store, Rutland, Vermont; no postmark date, early 1900s) |  |
| (postcard photograph; no postmark, early 1900s) |  |
| (colorized postcard photograph, 217006; published by The Leighton & Valentine Co., N.Y. City; printed in United States; postmark Aug. 22, 1913) |  |
| (colorized postcard photograph, D-32; Norcross-Eldridge Co., Rutland, Vt.; Colorcraft - made by The Dexter Press, Pearl River, N. Y.; postmark April 15, 1946) |  |
| (color postcard photograph, Vt. 568, 45616; Forward's Color Productions, Manchester, Vermont; photography by Frank L. Forward; Loppel Color Cards, Hawthorne, N.J.; no postmark) |  |
Albertson Marble Co.
Office, Quarry and Mill, West Rutland, VT.
P. O. Box 598, Rutland, Vt.
Esperanza Blue Marble - Sawed and Finished.
Best Stock. Best Workmanship. Quick Shipments.
“The Albertson quarry (formerly known as the Esperanza) is also on the east side of the West Rutland anticlinal valley, 2 ¼ miles north-northwest of West Rutland station in the township of West Rutland. (See Pls. I and IV and map of Castleton quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) The quarry measures 500 feet in a N. 17 ° W. direction by 110 feet across and 115 feet in depth. An area 150 by 110 feet at the north end is worked out as far down as a certain dolomite bed. There is a tunnel 80 to 175 feet wide and 40 feet high, on the west side, extending about 630 feet in a N. 30° W. direction and reaching a point 75 feet west of the west wall of the quarry. Operator, Vermont Marble Co., Proctor, Vt.
“The marble exposed and explored here consists of the following beds:
Section of marble beds at Albertson quarry.
Graphitic marble - 135 feet
Dolomite - 23 feet
Marble, some of it greenish - 19 feet
Dolomite - 22 feet
(Total) - 199 feet
“The marble, ‘extra dark Albertson’ (specimens D, XXXI, 26, a, b, polished), is a graphitic calcite marble of medium bluish-gray shade, with thin, minutely plicated black streaks (beds) and here and there whitish streaks of like character, both crossed at various angles of cleavage planes slightly undulating and also black. A piece of this marble is shown on Plate VIII, B, b. The texture is regular, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.62, mostly 0.17 to 0.37, millimeter, and it is thus of grade 4 (medium). It abounds in graphite, particularly along the little black beds and the planes of slip cleavage, and contains rare minute cubes of pyrite and still more muscovite scales and quartz grains. The amount of graphite in it is probably like that in the West Rutland blue (p. 40). The marble takes a high polish without dolomitic protuberances.
“The beds strike about N. 25° W. The north wall shows a syncline in cross section, and for about 400 feet south of that point the syncline pitches 10 ° about north, and then for 130 feet 5° about south. On the north face of a jog in the west face near the south end the west limb of this syncline dips 15° to 20° E. The tunnel, which makes an angle of 13° with the west wall of the quarry, follows the axis of a syncline. About 315 feet from that wall this syncline on its west side strikes N. 35° - 40° W. and dips 28° E., and its east side also dips at a low angle. The entire width of the syncline is about 200 feet and it opens northward. The beds on the east wall of the quarry are crossed by a conspicuous slip cleavage dipping 20° - 30° east and southeast. (See for general structure Pl. III, section C.)
“The marble of this quarry is used largely for monumental and electric work, but some for construction. St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church at Fall River, Mass., is made of it."
“...(The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center) is a “non-profit resource facility dedicated to the ancient art of stone carving and its relevance to the creation of contemporary art. The Studio is located in the heart of central Vermont’s historic marble district in West Rutland.”
“The Day quarry is 3 ¼ miles south-southwest of West Rutland, 1 ¼ miles southeast of the top of Mount Herrick, in the Taconic Range, on the 1,300-foot level, in the town of Ira, Rutland County. (See Pl. 1 and map of Castleton quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) The quarry is reported as having been in operation in Revolutionary times. Operator in 1900, D. D. Day, of Ira, Vt.
“The marble belongs either to the upper graphitic beds close to the base of the schist formation, or else within the schist.
“The marble is a graphitic calcite marble with fine black and grayish bands, and of very uneven texture, with grain diameter of 0.02 to 0.37, rarely 2, mostly 0.07 to 0.25 millimeter, and thus of grade 3 (fine). It contains some quartz and feldspar grains, pyrite, and much graphite in bands. In places it abounds in sections of a large gastropod, resembling Maclurea.
“The marble area is about 300 feet east to west by 800 feet northeast to southwest, and is surrounded by the Berkshire schist of the range. It either protrudes through the overlying schist in consequence of erosion, or else forms a lens within it. On the west side of the quarry a tongue of graphitic sericite schist is dovetailed in the marble and the strike of the marble appears to be nearly east to west and the dip 10° - 20° S. The strike of the schist mass east of the marble, however, is N. 30° E. and the dip 20° N. 50° W.; west of the marble the schist strikes east and west and dips at a low angle to the north. The marble seems to occur at the intersection of a minor transverse fold with the usual folds of the Taconic Range. A synclinal axis passes between the quarry and the top of Mount Herrick. The schist next the marble is slickensided, the grooves running N. 5° W. and dipping 45° E. The marble is much jointed, fractured, and veined with calcite and quartz. Vertical joints strike N. 20° E. and are coated with felty asbestos, “mountain leather” (specimen D, XIX, 259, e), indicating metamorphism subsequent to jointing.”
“The Eastman quarry is at the east foot of the Taconic Range, on the west side of the West Rutland anticline, about 0.7 mile S. 10° W. from the West Rutland station, in the township of West Rutland. (See Pls. I and IV and map of Castleton quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) The quarry, which was reopened a few years ago, now measures 126 feet north to south by 105 feet across (at the bottom) and is 135 feet deep. Operator, George P. Eastman, Rutland, Vt., or care of Tompkins-Kiel Marble Co., 505 Fifth Avenue, New York.
“The marble exposed in and west of the quarry and by core drilling on both sides of it comprises the following beds, in natural order:
Section of marble beds at Eastman quarry.
Graphitic gray marble - 57 feet.
Graphitic (?) - 6 feet
Graphitic gray marble - 22 feet
West edge of quarry - 14 feet
Graphitic gray marble
Same with some white bands - 3 feet
Cream-colored marble - 4 feet
Muscovitic (green) marble with beds of cream-colored marble in coarse plications (‘Kiel ’s green’) - 7 feet
Purplish-gray marble - 1 feet 6 inches
Muscovitic (green) marble, plicated, with slip cleavage dipping 5° to 10° E - 2 feet
Dolomite and marble mixed - 2 feet 10 inches
Cream-colored marble with faint green and yellow bands (bed H) - 4 feet 6 inches
Muscovitic (green solid) marble - 11 feet.
White marble, pure - 4 feet
Cream-colored marble with muscovitic (green) bands - 4 feet 6 inches
Muscovitic (green solid) marble - 11 feet
White marble, pure - 4 feet
Cream-colored marble with muscovitic (green) bands - 4 feet 6 inches
Muscovitic calcite marble (bed F) - 3 feet
Muscovitic plicated marble (bed BC) - 4 feet 6 inches
Cream-colored marble - 4 feet 6 inches
White marble (bed IJ) - 5 feet
Muscovitic (green) marble, plicated (bed K) - 4 feet 6 inches
White marble (bed L) - 5 feet 6 inches
White marble with small muscovitic (green) beds (bed M) - 5 feet
East edge of quarry
Gray dolomite - 3 feet
Graphitic marble - 3 feet 6 inches
White marble - 13 feet 6 inches
(Total) 196 feet 4 inches
“Eight of these marbles, the more important and typical ones, were examined microscopically.
“‘Eastman blue’ (specimens D, XXXI, 29, b, rough; r, polished), the 14-foot bed, is a graphitic calcite marble of medium bluish-gray color and of even and fine texture, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.37, mostly 0.12 to 0.25 millimeter, and thus of grade 3 (fine). The texture is peculiar in that the particles are elongate and the longer axes of the different grains are aparallel, imparting some schistosity to the marble. (See fig. 6, p. 41.) The marble contains sparse quartz and muscovite grains. The polished specimen, which was cut across the bed, shows little beds alternating more and less graphitic and in places (by the raised surface) dolomitic; all are in somewhat angular plications with a tendency to slip cleavage.
“‘Kiel’s green’ (specimens D, XXXI, 29, d, rough; 1, polished) consists of interbedded cream to flesh colored calcite marble of coarse irregular texture, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 1.5 millimeters and thus of grade 5, and of a bright greenish-gray schistose muscovitic and chloritic calcite marble of medium elongated texture, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.55, mostly 0.12 to 0.37 millimeter, and thus of grade 4. The cream-colored beds are from 0.5 to 1 inch thick and the green beds are from 0.1 to 1 inch thick. Both are acutely plicated, the limbs of the plications reaching 5 inches in length, and crossed by slip cleavage. A small polished specimen is shown in Plate VIII, A, b. Both marbles contain extremely fine black particles of uncertain nature. The light beds abound in quartz grains up to 1.87 millimeters in diameter, contain some muscovite, and show the effect of secondary strain in bent twinning planes. The green beds contain some fine grains of quartz and its calcite grains are elongated and roughly parallel. In the lower part of the 7-foot bed which furnishes this marble the light beds give place to the green ones and the marble becomes a solid greenish muscovitic calcite marble of medium texture (specimen D, XXXI, 29, g). Although the quartz of the light beds and the muscovite of the green ones interfere somewhat with the polish, the colors and designs of this marble are so unusual and attractive as to offset such imperfections.
“A slightly purplish gray marble (specimen D, XXXI, 29, f) is a sericitic calcite marble with grain diameter mostly under 0.02, rarely 0.37 millimeter, and thus between grades 1 and 2. A little of the calcite is twinned. The rock contains abundant magnetite in plates and some quartz. The schistosity is parallel to the bed, with traces of secondary minute plications transverse to it.
“‘Green-veined cream statuary,’ bed H (specimens D, XXXI, 29, k, rough; 1, polished), is a calcite marble of delicate cream color in bands up to 2 inches thick alternating with slightly plicated bands )beds of yellowish and very pale greenish tint up to 0.1 inch thick. It is even and regular in texture, with grain diameter like that of bed F, averaging about 0.2 millimeter, and is of grade 3. Exceedingly fine black specks occur sparsely throughout. The bands appear to be due to the oxidation of varying quantities of pyrite in very minute particles. The marble takes a high polish.
“The green marble of the 11-foot bed, ‘solid green’ (specimen D, XXXI, 29, e), is a muscovitic quartzose calcite marble of bright greenish-gray color and of irregular elongated parallel texture, with grain diameter of 0.02 to 0.3, mostly 0.04 to 0.09 millimeter, and thus of grade 1. The larger elongated and parallel grains are irregularly mingled with smaller ones of more or less roundish outline. Quartz is very plentiful. The muscovite is in scales and fibers.
“‘Cream statuary,’ bed F (specimens D, XXXI, 29, I, rough; m, polished), is a calcite marble of delicate cream color with very pale brown, minutely plicated beds up to 0.1 inch thick. It is even and regular in texture, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.37, mostly 0.12 to 0.25 millimeter, and is thus of grade 3. It contains rare small grains of quartz and sparse exceedingly minute black specks of uncertain nature. The stone takes a high polish.
“‘Light cipolin,’ bed BC (specimen D, XXXI, 29, o, polished), is a muscovitic calcite marble of light greenish-gray color in which the muscovite occurs in many close, fine, broadly plicated beds. In texture it belongs in grade 4. The polish is only fair because of the mica.
“‘Blanc clair,’ bed IJ (specimens D, XXXI, 29, h, rough; p. polished), is a calcite marble of milk-white to faintly clouded milk-white color and of irregular fine texture, with grain diameter of 0.04 to 0.42, mostly 0.12 to 0.25 millimeter, and thus of grade 3 (fine). It contains sparse minute black grains, rare pyrite, and quartz, and takes a high polish. Its texture is less regular and a grade coarser than that of Rutland Italian (p. 119).
“‘Dark cipolin,’ bed K (specimens D, XXXI, 29, a, rough; n. polished), is a muscovitic calcite marble of generally bright light-greenish color, with alternating more muscovitic (greenish) and more calcitic (whitish) little beds in broad plications 1 to 2 inches wide. Its texture is medium, with a grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.67, mostly 0.12 to 0.37 millimeter, and it is thus of grade 3. The grain form is elongate and also irregular. There are quartz grains up to 0.37 millimeter, muscovite in scales and fibers, and chlorite mingled with a little epidote, besides some minute nodules (possibly titanite) and a little blue-green tourmaline. The green color is due mainly to the muscovite and chlorite. The polish is only fair owning to the mica.
“The white marble with greenish bands of bed M (specimen D, XXXI, 29, j) is a calcite marble of milk-white color, with straight, parallel delicate green muscovitic beds from 0.1 to 0.4 inch wide. Its texture is regular and fine, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.5, mostly of 0.12 to 0.25 millimeter, and it is thus of grade 3. It contains rare particles of quartz and sparse minute black grains of uncertain nature. The bands are largely sericite.
“Owing to the variation in the proportion and arrangement of the accessory minerals in each bed the varieties of commercial marbles produced by this quarry are many.
“The probable structure is shown in section E, Plate III. The beds strike N. 20° W., but owing to a minor overturned fold they dip east (35° ) instead of west and are therefore in inverse order. At the bottom of the quarry, 135 feet below the surface, they begin to turn, beginning almost vertical. The dolomite at the east edge of the quarry is described on page 30.
“The product is used mainly for interior decorative work, the blocks being shipped to Astoria, N. Y., where the cutting and polishing are done. Specimens: Interior of Greenpoit Savings Bank, Brooklyn N. Y. (green beds); interior of Prudential Building, Newark, N. J. (green and cream-pink); mantels in United States Senate Office Building, Washington (cream and white); carved work border near ceiling and a large mantel, New York Public Library (cream and white); interior of Connecticut Savings Bank, New Haven, Conn. (white); interior of railroad station, Schenectady, N. Y.”
“At the McGarry quarry, a small disused opening south of the schoolhouse (see Pl. IV), graphitic marble about 10 feet thick overlies white marble, with a strike of N. 30° W. and dip of 30° N. 60° E. Back of the schoolhouse and about 225 feet northwest of the quarry is a small anticline of dolomite 5 feet thick, the axis of which appears to pass west of the beds exposed in the quarry but may really pass east of it.”
“The Morgan quarry is a few hundred feet north of the Eastman quarry. (See Pls. I and IV.) It has been recently reopened by the Vermont Marble Co. The beds are the same or very nearly the same as those at the Eastman quarry; the strike is N. 25° W. and the dip vertical, changing to east. There is a very low eastward-dipping cleavage in some of the beds. An augite camptonite dike with a N. 65° E. course cuts the beds near the quarry. (See further, p. 73.)”
“The Rutland-Florence quarry is about 300 feet north of the Umbrella, and is also out of use. It is owned by the Vermont Marble Co., Proctor, Vt. There are beds of white marble in the quarry, west of it lie 57 feet of beds covered by turf, and west of these are 70 feet of graphitic marbles. The strike in and west of the quarry is N. 15° W. and the dip 35° N. 75° E.”
The following excerpt is from a paper from the First Annual Report of the Vermont State Board of Agriculture, Manufactures and Mining, for The Year 1872, by Peter Collier, Secretary of the Board Montpelier, J. & J. M., Poland’s Steam Printing Establishment, 1872, “Rutland County Marble, with a History of the Marble Industry of Vermont, and a Statement of Comparative Value,” An address delivered before the State Board of Agriculture, &C., at Burlington, Jan. 24, 1872, By J. E. Manley, Esq., of West Rutland. (pp. 656-666). (You will find the complete history of the Rutland County Marble Quarries circa 1872 in the entry entitled: “ Rutland County, Vermont - Rutland County Marble, with a History of the Marble Industry of Vermont up through 1872 above.”)
Sheldons & Slason’s Quarry.
“In the east deposit of Sheldons & Slason’s quarries, which I am now describing, we find essentially the same principal and phenomena exhibited in all the different quarries of this rich deposit.
“The east or top layer in this quarry is now quarried to a depth of 185 feet, and dips 45 degrees at the surface and 50 degrees at the lowest depth attained; is four feet thick, 2 ½ statuary marble and 1 ½ of lime rock. In this opening, east of the general line of quarries, are embraced eight different layers, forming 31 feet of the 110 total width of known marble on this range. Two of these layers are of average and No. 2 marble, both of which form about one-fourth of the marble. While only a fifteenth part is of statuary marble, all the other layers are of No. 3, veined, blue and mottled marble. With this and other blue layers is often found white marble, distinct in color and texture. The 7th layer in this opening presents a strange phenomenon in nature, being for some distance from the surface white, and at a distance of 75 feet from the surface changing to a deep blue. This layer is nine feet thick. The 8 th or west layer is mottled blue, known as Dore blue, free from flint, and susceptible of a very fine polish. The No. 3 marbles embrace all the cheap marbles, and in the absence of better stone will not pay the expense of manufacturing.
“The west deposit embraces 79 feet of the general deposit, and contains sixteen layers of marble, and represents nearly all the quarries in successful operation at West Rutland. Dip of strata at Surface 50 degrees; at a depth of 100 feet stand at an angle of 85 degrees. The lower or east layer is of average and No. 2 marble, is 2 ½ feet thick at the surface, and at a depth of forty feet is 7 feet thick. Layer No. 2 is of statuary marble, of excellent quality and six feet thick. Statuary marble bears the highest price of any in the market, usually selling for $12 per cubic foot. The proportion found is far too small for the demand, forming, as it does, only a small proportion of the general deposit. 3d layer, average and No. 2, 4 th and 5 th, and No. 3. The 5th layer is 4 feet thick, has in the center good No. 1 and statuary about one foot thick, and here again geological science must explain the fact that where No. 1 and statuary marble are found in the center of a layer, invariably exceedingly poor, flinty and worthless marble is found upon either side.
“The 6 th layer is of brocadilla marble, green and white varied, the white predominating. Is a very durable marble for building or ornamental work, but owing to the presence of flinty particles it will not receive a high polish. Layer 7 th from the east consists of average No. 2 and No. 3 marble, four feet thick. Layer 8th is of No. 2 and average, ten feet thick, white upon one side and variegated or No. 2 upon the other, and blending so imperceptibly with the white that no dividing line is traceable. This layer at the surface was six feet thick, and increasing in thickness downward; and this is the case with all the layers in this quarry. No. 9, 10, 11, and 12 are all of No. 3 marble. of different colors and texture. No. 13, average marble, a grade between No. 1 and No. 2, or white marble denoted by the presence of color, generally of a blue cast, sometimes quite dark, and again of a greenish hue. Very little color of any grade is adduced in this grade.
“No. 14 is a layer, 3d from the west of developed layers, embracing lime rock and marble, 5 feet thick. This layer at the surface was marble, very soft, and at a depth of 80 feet from the surface is changed to lime-stone and flint. The most curious freak of nature is here exhibited that has ever been known in the history of marble quarrying, peculiarly illustrating the principle exhibited by some people in minding other people’s business. This layer, not content in changing from marble to flint, runs through the layer east of it, cutting it completely off by an off shoot from two to six inches thick. Without design, doubtless, representing the influence of people who began well in life, but without moral courage to hold out, not only defeating the original design of the creation, but thwarting the purpose of honest people. No. 15, is a layer of No. 2 and 3 marble 2 ½ feet thick. No. 16 and west layer is nearly developed and closely resembles the Italian marble in texture and color, and is therefore called the Italian layer, a water colored and variegated marble. Thus we see that from this statement nearly one-half, 35-79, of the most valuable deposits is of No. 3 or unpaying marble, whilst 44-79 is of largely paying quality, consisting of statuary, No. 1, average, and No. 2. Many people in search of the great wealth found in rich deposits of marble, often lose sight of the fact in their explorations, that unless a quarry has a certain proportion of the paying grades of marble, it will not pay to work them, although sound marble may be found under the surface of the ground.”
Sheldon & Sons,
Charles Sheldon, Chas. H. Sheldon, John A. Sheldon, Wm. K. Sheldon.
Producers and Wholesale Dealers in Rutland Marble,
Quarries and Mills at West Rutland, Vermont.
“The True Blue quarry is also on the east side of the West Rutland anticlinal valley, three-fourths of a mile north-northwest of the Albertson, and 3 miles north-northwest of West Rutland station, in West Rutland Township. (See Pls. I and IV and map of Castleton quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) the quarry is about 112 feet north to south by 100 feet east to west in its southern half and 75 feet in the northern half, and about 100 feet deep. From the south wall, at a point 75 feet below the surface, a tunnel, 50 to 75 feet wide and 30 to 40 feet high, extends 113 feet southward, to a point where its floor is about 130 feet below the surface.
The operator since May, 1911, Vermont Marble Co., Proctor, Vt.
“The marble beds exposed and explored here consist of the following:
Section of marble beds at True Blue quarry.
Schist
Graphitic marble - 30 feet
Dolomite with some graphitic marble - 20 feet
Graphitic marble of various shades - 60-65 feet
Graphitic schist - 40 feet
(Total) - 150-155 feet
“The marble, ‘True Blue’ (specimens D, XXXI, 25, c rough; 25, b, and XIX, 138, d, e, polished), is a graphitic calcite marble of medium-gray shade, with more or less finely plicated black (graphitic) bedding planes crossed at various angles by slightly flexed slip-cleavage planes, also black and graphitic. A photograph of a slab showing this feature is reproduced in Plate V, A. Its texture is even, regular, and on the fine side of medium, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0l75, mostly 0.12 to 0.37 millimeter, and thus of grade 4. It abounds in graphite in minute grains and contains a few minute cubes of pyrite and rare and small grains of quartz. It takes a high polish without dolomitic protuberances.
(Caption for Photo A, pp. 125) Plate XV. A. South wall of True Blue Quarry, West Rutland. Westward-dipping beds of graphitic calcite and dolomite marble. The upper part of the 15-foot bed, consisting of very dark dolomite veined with calcite and quartz, passes into a series of nodules. The lower part of the bed seems to have been cut off by a fault parallel to the eastward-dipping cleavage. The large nodule is 3 by 2 feet.)
“As will be seen by the geologic map, the quarry is very near a southward-pointing tongue of schist. In 1900 the north wall of the quarry was at the south end of this synclinal tongue. The structure on the north wall of the present quarry (75 feet south of the old north wall) shows four minor folds overturned toward the east in a space of about 70 feet and these folds consist of graphitic marble, dolomite, and schist about 50 feet below the rock surface. This is probably the same schist which reappears at the bottom of the tunnel and which has been core drilled to a depth of 40 feet. On the south wall (as shown in Pl. XV, A) east of the tunnel a 15-foot bed of graphitic dolomite veined with white (calcite and quartz probably) dips west, toward the tunnel, but has been partly faulted out along an eastward-dipping cleavage foliation and partly pinched out during elongation and flowage and has been transformed into a series of oblong or spherical nodules of graphitic dolomite up to 3 by 2 feet, which continue in the direction of the dip within the quarry. The approximate structure at this quarry is shown in figure 18. The general structure is shown in section D, Plate III. The pitch of this whole series here is about 15° S. and the slip cleavage in the marble dips 30° E. This structure is shown in the slab pictured in Plate V, A. The proximity of the schist tongue shows that the beds here belong to the uppermost part of the upper graphitic series, and the presence of the low schist bed shows that during the closing part of the period of calcareous deposition argillaceous sediments alternated with calcareous sediments for a time before crowding out the latter altogether. The presence of such schist beds near the top of the limestone formation is not unusual along the Taconic Range. They should not be confounded with synclinal tongues or lenses belonging to the main schist mass itself. Marble should recur below the schist bed of the True Blue quarry.
“The schist of the top of the 40-foot bed is very graphitic and contains veins and lenses of pyritiferous quartz parallel to its schistosity. The schist consists of stringers of muscovite and chlorite with graphite and quartz, rarely a grain of feldspar (plagioclase). It is a pyritiferous graphitic-calcite-quartz-muscovite-chlorite schist.
“About 300 feet south of the south wall of the quarry is a 4-foot trap dike with a N. 70° E. course, and many joints parallel to it occur in a space of 30 feet on its north side.”
“The Umbrella quarry, a disused opening belonging to the Columbian Marble Co., lies a few hundred feet north of the Morgan quarry. ( See Pl. IV.) An 8-foot bed of fine-grained marble is exposed, striking N. 5° W. and dipping 40° E.”
| (colorized postcard photograph; postmark October 9, 1919) |  |
| (real photo postcard photograph of underground quarry; genuine photograph "Groganized," Danville, Ill., made in U.S.A.; no postmark, early 1900s) |  |
| "Visit the famous Marble Exhibit at Proctor and see the displays of marble from all over the world. The Marble Exhibit is open all summer 9 to 5 (Sundays and holidays included). Admission free." (postcard photograph, Curteichcolor ® 3-D Natural Color Reproduction (Reg. U.S.A. Pat.Off.) |  |
“The West Rutland quarries of the Vermont Marble Co. lie on the east side of the West Rutland anticlinal valley, along the west foot of the synclinal schist ridge which intervenes between the Taconic Range proper and the intermediate range. (See Pls. I and IV.) There are in all 11 openings, including the disused ones: Three (Covered quarry, new opening 1906, and Upper Gilson quarry) in an eastern upper series of beds, and eight (Gilson, Ripley, Baxter, a prospect, Clement, Foster, Sherman, and Old Open quarries) in an adjoining western and lower series of beds. Inasmuch as the slope of the schist and marble ridge near West Rutland bends around to the southeast, the quarries (with the exception of the Upper Gilson), although apparently in line, are on different sets of beds. The entire line, beginning at a point about 0.4 mile north-northwest of the West Rutland station, extends 0.8 mile north-northwest. These quarries will not be described in detail, as it will suffice to bring out the general facts concerning them all. They are narrow openings along the strike and follow the dip of the beds more or less closely, with foot and head walls dipping 35° to 45° E. In some places the supporting walls between the quarries have been excavated below, leaving narrow rock bridges at the top, as shown in Plate XII. As the beds turn eastward in synclinal attitude the quarrying has followed them, and by means of an irregular distribution of the supporting piers the Gilson, Ripley, and Baxter quarries have at the turn of the syncline, at a depth of 250 feet, been so combined as to admit of a continuous electric mine railroad 1,300 feet long. In the Ripley quarry, at a depth of 225 feet, tunneling has been done in a westerly direction for a distance of 340 feet, and in the Gilson quarry the beds have been followed eastward to a point 300 feet east of the west wall of the quarry.
“The complete succession of the beds will be found in generalized form on page 86. Some of the best-known commercial marbles of these West Rutland quarries belong between the upper graphitic marble and the intermediate dolomite and occur as shown in the following section, beginning with the beds of the Upper Gilson quarry on the east in natural order:
Section of marble beds at West Rutland quarries of Vermont Marble Co.
White marble (‘top white’), about - 50 feet
Graphitic (gray) marble - 20 feet
White and graphitic (includes green bed, ‘olivo’) - 50 feet
White (includes ‘second statuary’) - 3 feet
Muscovitic, banded - 4-5 feet
White and graphitic (‘monument,’ light cloud) - 6 feet
White (‘ Rutland statuary’; only 4 feet thick east of turn in syncline) - 7-11 feet
Muscovitic (dark greenish, ‘average’) - 4 feet
White - 3-4 feet
Muscovitic, fine banded, plicated (‘light brocadillo,’ ‘brocadillo,’ ‘pavonazzo’) - 5-6 feet
White (‘mottled Smith,’ ‘best light cloud’) - 6-10 feet
Muscovite banded (‘Jackman,’ ‘light smith,’ ‘listavena’) - 4 feet
White - 1-4 feet
Muscovitic, banded (dark greenish, ‘hard layer,’ ‘verdoso’) - 2-4 feet
White - 1-3 feet
Dolomite - 1-4 feet
Muscovitic, banded (‘double belt’) - 2-3 feet
Graphitic, with abundant Maclureas in upper part (‘dark blue,’ ‘extra dark blue,’ ‘livido’) - 8-25 feet
Dolomite - 40 feet
(Totals) 220-262 feet
Graphitic marbles are worked for 300 feet west of and below this series, in the west tunnel of the Ripley quarry. Core drilling has also been done west from the west end of that tunnel, exposing the following succession:
Section of marble beds west of west tunnels of Ripley quarry.
Graphitic marble 8 feet
White marble - 11 feet
Dolomite - 10 feet
White marble - 4 feet
Muscovitic marble (light green) - 1 feet, 4 inches
White marble - 3 feet, 6 inches
Muscovitic marble (light green) - 1 foot
Graphitic marble in 12 beds aggregating 105 feet, alternating with 12 beds of dolomite aggregating 106 feet 8 inches - 211 feet, 8 inches
(Totals) 250 feet, 6 inches
“A number of the marbles have been examined microscopically with these results: “Statuary Rutland” (specimen D, XXXI, 80, b), is a calcite marble of milk-white color and of very fine, regular, somewhat even texture, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.5 mostly 0.07 to 0.25 millimeter. By the use of the Rosiwal method the average diameter was found to be exactly 0.1 millimeter and the texture is therefore of grade 2 (very fine). A camera-lucida sketch of a thin section of this marble is reproduced in figure 16. There are rare grains of quartz and plagioclase feldspar and infinitesimal opaque particles of irregular form, some of which, to judge from the effect of a magnet on the powdered marble, are magnetite. The marble takes a high polish.
“The ‘second statuary Rutland’ (specimen D, XXXI, 80, c), is a calcite marble of milk-white color with faint grayish-yellow clouds and of fine, somewhat irregular texture, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.57, mostly 0.12 to 0.25 millimeter, and thus grade 3 (fine). It contains minute sparse black particles and very rare quartz grains. The polish is high.
“‘Rutland Italian’ (specimens D, XIX, 143, b, rough; D, XXXI, 80, d, polished) is a calcite marble of faintly bluish white color with faint irregular grayish and yellow-brownish mottlings. The mottling is more pronounced than in the “second statuary.” It is somewhat irregular in texture, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.87, mostly 0.12 to 0.5 millimeter, and thus of grade 4. It contains minute black specks and some spherules of pyrite, some quartz grains, and rare scales of muscovite. The polish is high.
“‘Dark-blue Rutland ’ (specimens D, XXXI, 80, a, rough; k, polished) is a graphitic calcite marble of dark bluish-gray color mottled with white, apparently in fine plications, and with some fine black streaks. Its texture is irregular, with a grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.57, mostly 0.12 to 0.25 millimeter, and it is thus of grade 3 (fine). It contains minute grains of graphite and rare scales of muscovite. It takes a high polish. This is the bed which carries in places sections of Maclureas (see p. 22) in white calcite.
“A section of ‘extra dark blue’ obtained in 1900 is of similar irregular texture, with grain diameter of 0.025 to 0.37, mostly 0.075 to 0.175, and averaging possibly about 0.11 millimeter and thus of grade 2.
“‘Brocadillo’ (specimens D, XXXI, 80, e, polished; D, XIX, 143, c, rough) is a muscovitic calcite marble of faintly greenish-white ground, with fine greenish-gray plicated beds and straight streaks (cleavage planes?) to 0.2 inch wide. Its texture is irregular, in places elongated parallel, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.62 mostly 0.12 to 0.37 millimeter, and it is thus of grade 4 (medium). The accessory minerals, in descending order of abundance, are quartz, with some feldspar (plagioclase), up to 0.62 millimeter in diameter, muscovite in scales and fibers, epidote with a little zoisite, brownish translucent lenses (carbonate?), chlorite, minute spherules and crystals of pyrite, and still more minute opaque particles (pyrite?). The marble takes a high polish, to which the sparseness of the micaceous bands contributes.
“‘Livido,’ from the bottom “blue bed” (specimen D, XXXI, 80, I), is a slightly graphitic calcite marble of medium to delicate light bluish-gray shade, with plicated dark-gray dolomitic beds up to 0.1 inch wide. Its texture is irregular and uneven. The calcitic parts have grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.62, mostly 0.1 to 0.25 millimeter, and are thus of grade 3 (fine), but the dolomite has grains measuring 0.009 to 0.02 millimeter and is thus of grade 1 (extra fine). The dolomite is very irregularly distributed in the more graphitic little beds. No mica or quartz was detected. The polish is high.
“‘Olivo’ (specimen D, XXXI, 80, h) is a muscovitic calcite marble of light greenish-gray and pale greenish-white color, in undulating bands up to half an inch thick, and of an elongated parallel texture, with grain diameter of 0.07 to 0.75, mostly 0.12 to 0.37 millimeter, and thus of grade 4 (medium). Besides muscovite it contains plentiful quartz, rarely a grain of feldspar (plagioclase), some irregular minute, barely translucent lenses (carbonate?), and very minute black specks. This marble is more micaceous than the ‘brocadillo’ and its general color resembles that of specimens 29, n and o, from the Eastman quarry. The polish is fair but poor where mica abounds.
“The following were not studied microscopically: ‘Verdoso’ (specimen D, XXXI, 80, g) is a muscovitic calcite marble with minute plicated dark-greenish beds on a white ground. It may contain chlorite. The texture is medium and the polish poor.
“‘Rubio’ (specimen D, XXXI, 80, f) is a calcite marble of very delicate pinkish tint, with thin plicated greenish muscovitic beds. The pinkish tint proceeds presumably either from a mineral containing manganese oxide or from hematite, possibly due to oxidation of magnetite, but in either case in very minute particles. Its texture is fine and its polish good.
“‘American pavonazzo’ (specimen D, XXXI, 80, j) is a calcite marble with milk-white ground and chloritic dark blue-greenish plicated beds of irregular width and distribution. The polish is good except over the chloritic beds. The mantel and wainscoting in Plt. XIV, B, are made of this marble.
“An analysis of the graphite in the “dark blue Rutland” is given on page 40 and one of the white marble on page 12. The following analyses of the blue, white, and statuary are quoted here for reference:
“Tests of expansion made at the Watertown Arsenal in November, 1895, determined the coefficient of expansion in water per degree Fahrenheit of Rutland white marble as 0.00000312 inch; that of the mottled marble of the Proctor quarry was 0.00000550 inch, and that of a dark graphitic marble from the Shangrow quarry was 0.00000433 inch. These tests were made in water baths between temperatures of 32° and 212° F. The transverse strength was found to be greatly lowered by such treatment.
The probable general structure of the West Rutland anticline is given in sections B and F, Plate III. The quarries lie on the east limb of the anticline, the top of which has eroded, or along the west limb of a syncline of marble overlain by schist. In passing from quarry to quarry along the strike, the supports left between the walls and also between adjacent quarries show on their smoothly cut surfaces various minor undulations in the limb of the syncline, so that in a series of cross sections of the limb 200 feet apart no two would be identical. Here and there a little faulting or pinching out of small beds is also evident. Figure 17 shows the approximate character of the anticlinal or synclinal limb at the Ripley quarry. The steeper upper part of it also shown in Plate XII. At the prospect (quarry No. 7 on map, Pl. IV) a trap dike 10 inches to 6 feet wide cuts the marble beds with a N. 60° E. course and a dip ranging from steep to 30° S. 40° E. The dike has a glassy rim 0.12 inch wide, weathered whitish. The presence of many joints on the south side parallel to the dike wall probably caused the discontinuance of the quarry.
“The marbles from these quarries serve a great variety of purposes. Many of the beds are used for interior decoration panels, wainscoting, etc., some for interior or exterior carving, and others for construction. Some of the graphitic marbles are in demand for electric switch-boards. Among the more notable buildings and attractive monuments of recent date made of the marble of these quarries are the Senate office building, Washington, from West Rutland marble with some from Danby; the marble and statues of the Chamber of Commerce Building, New York, from West Rutland marble; the Wilson portrait statue at Seattle, Wash. (Pl. XIII), of ‘light Rutland Italian;’ the Taylor mausoleum, Woodlawn Cemetery, New York, of “best white Rutland building marble;” the Kimball monument at Graceland Cemetery, in Chicago (Pl. XIV, A), of “second statuary” and the mantel and wainscoting in the First National Bank, Hazleton, Pa. (Pl. XIV, B), of ‘American pavonazzo.’”
“Interior of mill for sawing marble at West Rutland, Vt.”
“Vermont. - Most of the steatite of this State is found on the east side of the Green Mountains and near the eastern line of the talcose slate formation, beds of it extending nearly the entire length of the State. The rock occurs usually associated with serpentine and hornblende. The beds are not continuous and have, as a rule, a great thickness in comparison with their length. It not infrequently happens that several isolated outcrops occur on the same line of strata, sometimes several miles apart, and in many cases alternating with beds of dolomitic lime stone that are scattered along with them.
“At least sixty beds of this rock occur in the State in the towns of…Westfield….”
“A short time ago Granite Marble & Bronze sent out a questionnaire to thousands of retail monument dealers throughout the country for information regarding the part the motor truck plays in the retail monument business….”
“Of course, the real interest in connection with this digest is in quoting what the dealers have to say about the subject, for the sayings are many and various….”
“Adams & McNichol, White River Junction, Vt.:
“‘We use two trucks, a Garford two-ton and an International one-ton. We haul everything from the shop and do not ship by railroad. For us, therefore, the truck is a great advantage over the team, for the team could not handle these long hauls. Our trucks were equipped with solid tires and we have always used them, but have no real reason for doing so. The motor truck is a great advertisement and enables a dealer to conduct his business on an altogether different plan than he could otherwise do. Of course, this applies to a business that is scattered like ours is among people living in rural communities.’”
“Vermont. - Most of the steatite of this State is found on the east side of the Green Mountains and near the eastern line of the talcose slate formation, beds of it extending nearly the entire length of the State. The rock occurs usually associated with serpentine and hornblende. The beds are not continuous and have, as a rule, a great thickness in comparison with their length. It not infrequently happens that several isolated outcrops occur on the same line of strata, sometimes several miles apart, and in many cases alternating with beds of dolomitic lime stone that are scattered along with them.
“At least sixty beds of this rock occur in the State in the towns of…Windham….”
“Windsor Granite,” or “Ascutney Green” granite when first quarried is a dark bluish-gray color. After brief exposure, the color of the granite changes to dark olive green with a medium to coarse texture.
The Mower Quarry was “on the west side of Mount Ascutney nearly 1 ¼ miles south of Brownsville and 580 feet above it, in West Windsor.” The operator was Ascutney Mountain Granite Company of Windsor, Vermont. The granite was sold under the name of “Bronze Vein Green.” The Mower Quarry was opened in 1906. In 1907 the quarry measured about 50 feet square and had an average depth of 10 feet. At the time of the study, the quarry was abandoned.
The granite from the Mower Quarry was used mainly for dies, wainscoting, and indoor columns. An example of usage of this granite is: the two monolithic sarcophagi in the McKinley mausoleum in Canton, Ohio.
“Windsor Granite,” or “Ascutney Green” granite when first quarried is a dark bluish-gray color. After brief exposure, the color of the granite changes to dark olive green with a medium to coarse texture.
The Norcross Quarry was “on the north side of Mount Ascutney on the 1,350-foot level, about 950 feet above Windsor village, a little over a mile east-southeast of Brownsville, in Windsor.” The operator was Norcross Bros. Co. of Worcester, Massachusetts. At the time of the study the quarry was abandoned, although it had been operated only occasionally. The granite was reportedly a dark bluish-gray color with medium to coarse texture. The quarry measured about 200 feet from east to west by 40 feet across. It had a working face of 60 feet high on the south “with a rugged cliff above it, making a total face of 80 to 90 feet above the quarry bottom and road.” Transport of the granite was by cart to the rail at Windsor.
Accessory minerals: Magnetite or limenite, titanite, and allanite. Secondary minerals: Kaolin.
The granite from the Norcross Quarry was used for monumental and decorative purposes in the following examples: the sixteen polished columns at the Columbia University Library in New York, the monument to general Gomez in Cuba; a die in the Bennington monument; 34 large columns in the Bank of Montreal; and the columns and die of the W.C.T.U. fountain in Orange, Massachusetts.
“The J. Ainsworth quarry, opened about 1876, is now operated by the St. Johnsbury Granite Co. The quality is good and easily worked, and takes a good polish.”
The Ainsworth Quarry was “on the northeast foot of Robeston Mountain, in Woodbury, about 1,000 feet northeast of the railroad.” The operator was Andrew A. Ainsworth of Hardwick, Vermont. At the time of the report, the quarry was abandoned.
The Drenan Quarries were “in Woodbury, on the rising land north of the east end of Robeson Mountain, about 150 feet above the north spur of the Hardwick & Woodbury Railroad.” At the time of the report, they were not in operation. The granite in the quarry was reportedly a dark bluish-gray color of a fine texture.
Accessory minerals: Pyrite, apatite, zircon. Secondary minerals: Kaolin, a white mica, calcite, zoisite.
The granite from the Drenan Quarries was a monumental granite having the same color as “Dark Barre” but having a finer texture. Reportedly it was darker than any of the other granites of Robeson Mountain.
It is reported that the Fletcher Granite Co. will soon resume the operation of its big quarries at Woodbury, Vermont.
This quarry was “on Robeson Mountain near its west-southwest end and on its southeast side, in Woodbury.” The operator was E. R. Fletcher of Woodbury, Vermont. The granite is “Woodbury gray,” a light-gray shade. Transport of the granite was by siding from the Hardwick & Woodbury Railroad, which brings the stone 8 miles to the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad.
Accessory minerals: Pyrite, titanite, zircon, apatite, rutile. Secondary minerals: Kaolin, a white mica, epidote, zoisite, calcite, limonite.
The granite from the Fletcher Quarry was used for monuments and buildings. Examples are: the base of the General Sherman monument in Washington D.C.; the Crandall monument in Crandall Park, Glens Falls, New York; the Fort Meigs monument in Toledo, Ohio (100 feet high); the Englewood National Bank in Chicago, Illinois; the Lincoln Savings Bank in Louisville, Kentucky; the Plymouth Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the Courthouse in Omaha, Nebraska; and the Old National Bank in Spokane, Washington.
The Imperial Blue Quarry was located in “on the southeast side of Buck Pond, in Woodbury Township.” The operator was Woodbury Granite Company of Hardwick, Vermont. The granite was reported to be “Imperial Blue,” with a dark bluish-gray color and fine to medium texture. The quarry had reopened in 1907 and, at the time of the report, had a working face of about 100 by 150 feet.
Accessory minerals: clear colorless potash feldspar (microcline), with inclusions of plagioclase and biotite; slightly bluish quartz; slightly milky soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), somewhat kaolinized, with oriented inclusions of muscovite; biotite; muscovite. Secondary minerals: Kaolin, carbonate.
The granite from the Imperial Blue Quarry was used entirely for monuments—tombstones and small memorials.
The Nichols Ledge Carter Quarry was located “at the northwest foot of Nichols Ledge in the east corner of the town of Woodbury.” When the report was made, the quarry was no longer in operation. The granite from this quarry was a light to medium bluish-gray color of a fine to very fine texture.
Accessory minerals: Titanite, apatite. Secondary minerals: Kaolin, epidote, calcite.
The Four Robeson Mountain Quarries were “roughly from 1,400 to 2,100 feet N. 80° E. from the Fletcher quarry, in Woodbury.” The operator was the Woodbury Granite Co. of Hardwick, Vermont. There were type types of granite in the quarries: “Woodbury gray,” a granite of medium-gray color and texture, and the second is “Woodbury Bashaw,” a granite of medium-gray shade “about like that of ‘Concord granite’ but more bluish and with more contrasts….”
Accessory minerals: Pyrite, apatite, zircon, rutile. Secondary minerals: Kaolin and zoisite.
The were four openings. In 1907 the dimensions were estimated to be as follows: “The main and western opening, made in 1880, beginning at the south foot of the ridge, extends about 500 feet along it and 400 feet northward up its side, with an average depth of 50 feet. The ‘upper quarry,’ above and north of the main one, is about 200 feet square, and its north side is at the top of the hill nearly 300 feet high than the lower edge of the main quarry. the third opening, about 800 feet east of the main one, made in 1906, is about 125 by 70 feet and from 10 to 30 feet deep. this produces the finer monumental granite, ‘Woodbury Bashaw.’ The fourth is a small opening made in 1907 about 200 feet northwest of the third.”
Granite from the Four Robeson Mountain Quarries were used in the following.
Buildings: the Pennsylvania capitol in Harrisburg; the Cook County courthouse in Chicago, Illinois; the base course and 36 interior polished columns of the Kentucky capitol in Frankfurt, Kentucky; the City Hall in Cleveland, Ohio; the Hotel Pontchartrain in Detroit, Michigan; the Mercantile Trust Co. Building in St. Louis, Missouri, the main entrance to the State Capitol in Boise, Idaho; the Mandell residence in Boston, Massachusetts, the Post Office in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Monuments: the Navy Memorial (obelisk), National Military Park, Vicksburg, Mississippi; the Soldiers and Sailors’ Monument in Bloomington, Illinois; the memorial archway in Port Huron, Michigan, and the clock on the Green in Green, Waterbury, Connecticut.
See: Woodbury, Washington County, Vermont – Ainsworth Quarry of the St. Johnsbury Granite Co. (circa 1899) above.
The Vermont White Quarry was “about midway between Robeson Mountain and Buck Pond…in Woodbury Township.” The operator was the Woodbury Granite Company of Hardwick, Vermont. The granite was reported to be “Vermont White,” of a very light cream color and medium texture. At the time of the report, the quarry face was about 500 by 200 feet.
Accessory minerals: clear colorless potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), pale smoky quartz with cavities in sheets; milk-white to cream-colored lime-soda feldspar (oligoclase), generally kaolinized, some of it altered to a white mica, some with oriented inclusions of muscovite; biotite; muscovite. Secondary minerals: Kaolin, carbonate, a white mica.
The granite from the Vermont White Quarry was used mainly for buildings. Examples are: Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the Museum of Fine Arts in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the Soldiers and Sailors’ Memorial in Wichita, Kansas; and the Bridgeport Trust Building in Bridgeport Connecticut.
The Webber Quarries in Woodbury were “in Woodbury, still farther north of Robeson Mountain, on a mass continuous with that on the southeast side of Buck Pond.” At the time of the report, the quarries were not in operation. The main opening contained a granite of a light bluish-gray color and a medium to fine texture. “It is slightly more bluish and finer textured than the gray of the main quarry of the Woodbury Granite Co. and lighter in shade than their ‘Bashaw” and a trifle darker than “light Barre.” The stone from a opening started in 1907 was a dark bluish-gray color with a fine texture.
Accessory minerals: Magnetite, rutile. Secondary minerals: Kaolin, a white mica, calcite, chlorite, epidote.
“The Woodbury Granite Co. was organized and commenced business in the fall of 1878. The members of the firm are L. W. Voodry and H. W. Town. This enterprise is under the supervision of Mr. Voodry. Their quarry is located about one and a half miles east of Woodbury Center, and one mile from the proposed railroad from Marshfield to Hardwick. Their purchase covers an area of twenty-five acres, and all solid granite, which is a choice quality of gray color, especially adapted for monumental work and building purposes. The granite contains no black knots or iron. The formation is peculiarly and especially favorable to moving enormous sized blocks. The largest ever known to have been quarried was taken out here, and was 275 feet long by fifteen feet square. Two hundred feet in length of this mammoth mass was moved a distance of forty feet by a single blast, after it was split from the quarry. The company is doing a wholesale business with manufacturers, and is sending its products to parties in this and adjacent states, and largely to the far West. The quality of the granite, and the certainty of obtaining any size and form required, insures this enterprise to become one of the great industries of Washington County.”
Commercial use of material within this site is strictly prohibited. It is not to be captured, reworked, and placed inside another web site. © . All rights reserved. Peggy B. and George (Pat) Perazzo.