List of Quarries in Vermont & Quarry
Links, Photographs and Articles

• Thetford, Vermont - Steatite/Soapstone Deposits (Excerpt from Report of the United States National Museum Under the Direction of the Smithsonian Institutions For the Year Ending June 30, 1886, Chapter entitled “The Collection of Building and Ornamental Stones In The U. S. National Museum: A Hand-book and Catalogue,” By George P. Merrill, Curator, Department Lithology and Physical Geology, pp. 285-291. “Soap-Stones of the Various States and Territories,” pp. 359-360.)

  “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….”

• Topsham, Orange County, Vermont - the Ricker Granite Quarry (from The Commercial Granites of New England, Bulletin 738, by T. Nelson Dale, Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1923.)

  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.

• Townsend, Vermont - Steatite/Soapstone Deposits (Excerpt from Report of the United States National Museum Under the Direction of the Smithsonian Institutions For the Year Ending June 30, 1886, Chapter entitled “The Collection of Building and Ornamental Stones In The U. S. National Museum: A Hand-book and Catalogue,” By George P. Merrill, Curator, Department Lithology and Physical Geology, pp. 285-291. “Soap-Stones of the Various States and Territories,” pp. 359-360.)

  “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….”

• Transportation in Vermont, the national Register of Historoic Places (includes transporting granite)
• Troy, Vermont - Steatite/Soapstone Deposits (Excerpt from Report of the United States National Museum Under the Direction of the Smithsonian Institutions For the Year Ending June 30, 1886, Chapter entitled “The Collection of Building and Ornamental Stones In The U. S. National Museum: A Hand-book and Catalogue,” By George P. Merrill, Curator, Department Lithology and Physical Geology, pp. 285-291. “Soap-Stones of the Various States and Territories,” pp. 359-360.)

  “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 Marble Exhibit, Proctor, Vermont.
• Vermont's Quarry Industry - "Rock Steady," by Craig Bailey (granite, marble and slate industries)
• Waitsfield, Vermont - Steatite/Soapstone Deposits (Excerpt from Report of the United States National Museum Under the Direction of the Smithsonian Institutions For the Year Ending June 30, 1886, Chapter entitled “The Collection of Building and Ornamental Stones In The U. S. National Museum: A Hand-book and Catalogue,” By George P. Merrill, Curator, Department Lithology and Physical Geology, pp. 285-291. “Soap-Stones of the Various States and Territories,” pp. 359-360.)

  “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….”

• Warren, Vermont - Steatite/Soapstone Deposits (Excerpt from Report of the United States National Museum Under the Direction of the Smithsonian Institutions For the Year Ending June 30, 1886, Chapter entitled “The Collection of Building and Ornamental Stones In The U. S. National Museum: A Hand-book and Catalogue,” By George P. Merrill, Curator, Department Lithology and Physical Geology, pp. 285-291. “Soap-Stones of the Various States and Territories,” pp. 359-360.)

  “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….”

• Washington County, Vermont - Granite Quarries History in Washington County up through 1872.

  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.”

• Washington, Vermont - Huntington & Clough Marble Quarries. The following information is from The Monumental News, “Quarry Notes” section, August, 1895, Vol. 7, No. 8, Chicago, Illinois, pp. 504.

  “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.”

• Washington, Orange County, Vermont – Marble Deposit Discovery ca. 1895 (From Stone: An Illustrated Magazine, Vol. XII, No. 1, December, 1895, "Notes From Quarry and Shop" section, Stone Publishing Co., New York, pp. 80.)

  "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."

• Waterbury, Vermont – Cooley-Wright Manufacturing Company  (Advertisement from Granite Marble & Bronze, Vol. 30, No. 10, October 1920, pp. 52)

  Cooley-Wright Manufacturing Co., Waterbury, Vt.

  Wright Broken Scroll Ironing Wheel:  We are the originators of the Broken Scroll Ironing Wheel and have made them for years.  Experience is a big teacher, it has perfected our wheels.  For polishing Granite, Marble and Stone.  Sizes 7 in. to 60 in. diameter.  Emery Rings, Buffers and Supplies.

Cooley-Wright Manufacturing Co., Waterbury, Vt. – Wright Broken Scroll Ironing Wheel advertisement from Granite Marble & Bronze, October 1920, pp. 52.

• Waterbury, Vermont – the Drew Daniels Granite Company, Wholesale Manufacturers – A Plant and Its Product, circa 1910  (A Vermont quarry researcher wrote that: “Perry was still active in Waterbury in 1930. The company then used the name ‘Perry Granite Co.’  In 1930 Rock of Ages acquired the plant and operated it into the early 1940s (probably…).” (You can read the booklet using the preceding link.  The photographs below are from this book.)

Front cover of A Plant and Its Product, published by the Drew Daniels Granite Co., Waterbury, Vermont ( circa 1910)	The Drew Daniels Granite Co. stone yard, looking north, Waterbury, Vermont (circa 1910)	The Drew Daniels Granite Co. stone yard, looking south, Waterbury, Vermont (circa 1910)
The Drew Daniels Granite Co. Shed No. 2, Waterbury, Vt., in A Plant and Its Product, (circa 1910)	The Heald cemetery memorial design in A Plant and Its Product, published by the Drew Daniels Granite Co., Waterbury, Vt. ( circa 1910)	The Maer cemetery memorial design in A Plant and Its Product, published by the Drew Daniels Granite Co., Waterbury, Vt. ( circa 1910)

Logo on the back cover of A Plant and Its Product, published by the Drew Daniels Granite Co., Waterbury, Vermont ( circa 1910)

• Waterbury, Vermont – the Drew Daniels Granite Company (Advertisement selling Boutwell, Milne & Varnum Best Dark stock from The Monumental News, Vol. XXXI, No. 9, September 1919, pp. 608)
  

  The Drew Daniels Granite Co., Waterbury, Vermont
  W. H. B. Perry, Manager

  Boutwell, Milne & Varnum Best Dark Stock Polished in the Way It should be polished.

Drew Daniels Granite Company Waterbury, Vermont, Advertisement selling Boutwell, Milne & Varnum Best Dark stock from The Monumental News, September 1919, pp. 608. Boutwell, Milne & Varnum Best Dark Stock Polished in the Way It should be polished.  (photo captions in ad)  “Our famous circular saw in operation, Barre Granite sawed and polished in the head grain.”  & “One of our practical designs.”

• Waterbury, Vermont – the Drew Daniels Granite Company  (Advertisement from Granite Marble & Bronze, Vol. 30, No. 10, October 1920, pp. 61)

  The Drew Daniels Granite Co., Waterbury, Vermont
  W. H. B. Perry, treasurer – Robert B. Perry
  Western Representatives:  F. X. Gosselin & Co., Great Northern Building, Chicago, Illinois

  The Drew Daniels Granite Co.’s Sand Carved Memorials:  Sand carved memorials are winning their way in the monument world.  It is so much easier to retain the fine delicate outlines and produce a clean sharp contrast on the polished surface than by any other method.  Drew Daniels Barre Granite Sawed and Polished on the Head Grain, carved and lettered by our sand carving process, means a monument of artistic quality and exquisite finish.

Drew Daniels Granite Co., Waterbury, Vermont – Monument advertisement from Granite Marble & Bronze, October 1920, pp. 61.

• Waterbury, Vermont - Steatite/Soapstone Deposits (Excerpt from Report of the United States National Museum Under the Direction of the Smithsonian Institutions For the Year Ending June 30, 1886, Chapter entitled “The Collection of Building and Ornamental Stones In The U. S. National Museum: A Hand-book and Catalogue,” By George P. Merrill, Curator, Department Lithology and Physical Geology, pp. 285-291. “Soap-Stones of the Various States and Territories,” pp. 359-360.)

“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….”

• Waterville, Vermont - Steatite/Soapstone Deposits (Excerpt from Report of the United States National Museum Under the Direction of the Smithsonian Institutions For the Year Ending June 30, 1886, Chapter entitled “The Collection of Building and Ornamental Stones In The U. S. National Museum: A Hand-book and Catalogue,” By George P. Merrill, Curator, Department Lithology and Physical Geology, pp. 285-291. “Soap-Stones of the Various States and Territories,” pp. 359-360.)

  “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….”

• Weathersfield, Vermont - Steatite/Soapstone Deposits (Excerpt from Report of the United States National Museum Under the Direction of the Smithsonian Institutions For the Year Ending June 30, 1886, Chapter entitled “The Collection of Building and Ornamental Stones In The U. S. National Museum: A Hand-book and Catalogue,” By George P. Merrill, Curator, Department Lithology and Physical Geology, pp. 285-291. “Soap-Stones of the Various States and Territories,” pp. 359-360.)

  “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.)

• Websterville, Vermont – Stone Mountain Grit Co. – StoneMo Grit for Poultry  (history & advertisement) “Granite Poultry Grit:  Barre Aids the ‘Food For Victory’ Program” (pdf), by Paul Wood, Vermont Granite Museum, April 2012.

  Stone Mountain (StoneMo) Grit Co., Lithonia, Georgia, & Websterville, Vermont, Advertisement

• Websterville, Vermont – Wells Lamson Co. Quarry – “At the J. K. Pirie Estate Quarry 1924”  (postcard photo; 1924; unmailed) (I’ve been told by a Vermont quarry researcher that this Wells Lamson Co. quarry was located in Websterville.)
  

• Websterville, Vermont – the Wells-Lamson Granite Quarry, Jones Brothers Company, Producers of Guardian Memorials of Everlasting Beauty”  (Visit…The Home of Guardian Memorials, Barre, Vermont, undated brochure/mid-1900s)  The following is an excerpt from the brochure:

  “Don’t miss one of the most spectacular sights in New England, the Wells-Lamson Granite Quarry.  This is the oldest working quarry in the state of Vermont…this year marks its 141st anniversary.  Granite has been quarried on the site of the Wells-Lamson quarry ever since 1825, and probably before that.

  “You’ll see huge blocks of granite being lifted to the surface by 115-ft. derricks which rim the gigantic quarry.  You’ll watch solid granite being cut with a white-hot jet flame…and see hardy Vermont quarrymen at work.  Immense grout (waste) piles tell the story of careful selection…less than 15% of the granite quarried can be used for memorials.

  “The Wells-Lamson quarry is in Websterville, Vermont, just 4 miles from Barre.  The ride to the quarry and the 400-ft. deep quarry itself is a must for camera enthusiasts….”

Wells-Lamson Granite Quarry, Jones Bros. Co. brochure (mid-1900s)

• Websterville, Vermont – the Wells-Lamson Granite Quarry

  For a historical and geological description of the Wells-Lamson granite quarry and other local quarries in the Barre, Vermont area, see:  Barre Granite Quarries, Barre, Vermont, Dorothy A. Richter, Hager-Richter Geoscience, Inc., Geological Society of America Centennial Field Guide – Northeastern Section, 1987.

• Wells, Vermont – the Williams & Edwards Slate Company (The following information is from the "Slate and Pencil" section in Stone: An Illustrated Magazine, Vol. XI, No. 6, November, 1895, the "Slate and Pencil" section, Frank W. Hoyt, Publisher, New York, pp. 530.)

"The Williams & Edwards Slate Company, of Granville, N. Y., has lease (sic) the slate interest of Mrs. M. J. Paul, in Wells, Vt."

• West Dummerston, Vermont - Lyons Granite Quarries. The following information is from The Monumental News, “Quarry Notes” section, August, 1895, Vol. 7, No. 8, Chicago, Illinois, pp. 504.

  “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.”

• West Castleton (abandoned), Vermont See: Bomoseen State Park, Vermont.
• West Pawlet, Vermont, Slate Quarry Photographs on the Slate Valley Museum web site, by Neil Rappaport (1942-1998), who was a resident of West Pawlet, Vermont, a photography professor at Bennington College, Vermont, and a well-known photographer. Some of Neil Rappaport’s photographs of the slate quarries are available on the Slate Valley Museum web site.

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