Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-04-07


his quarry some superiority over 9TH
ers, either In soundness or In quality:
The value of an opening depends, first,
upon the comparative amount Of white
marble; next, upon its soundness !;
and, lastly, upon the quantity of earth
and rock necessary to be removed
before good marble is reached. 1t is
not an unusual thing for quarry
man tospend 100000 in uncovering and
preparing quarry before finding blocks
good enough to pay the expense ofsaw-
ing.
In the regular order of the marble
business, the next operation to be des-
cribed is that of saving the blocks into
slabs of various thicknesses. They are
placed In the mill, under what Is called
Il "gang of saws" This gang is O
framework strongly made of timbers
from six TO eight inches square, the di-
mansions of which vary from four to
five feet in width, and from eight to
twelve feet in length. Across either
end are "head blocks, usually of iron,
In which are inserted "iron dogs" on
one side of which is "claw," which is
inserted through a hole in the end of
the saw plate, punched for this purpose
Throuph the opposite end of each "dogp
key is inserted, by which the saw is
strained tqsits proper tightness. The
saws are nothing more than plates of
soft iron, one-eighth of an inch thick,
about three inches wide, and in length
corresponding with the length of the
ttr,o, r,Ii hot yyaan tbo tel,nad blnoIr M, a
saws are Kept in their proper relative
liasitions to the sides of the gang
and. of course, TO the block of marble to
be sawed, by means of wooden gauges,
at such distances apart as the thickness
of the slabs to be saved REQUIRE. " M.
"gang" is suspended ahGve the block by
means of four chains or ropes fastened
at each corner, and wound up on wood
en- rollers above.
1t will be evident to the reader that
the object of this is to allow the gang"
to drop in the track made for the saws
as they work their way through the
block below. The gang. is kept in it's
place by upright posts, standing at Ell
ther corner, and between which it moves.
Pitmans are attached either to the sides,
in which case there are two, or at the
end of the gang" in which case only
one is used. These pitmans are attached
to pully shafts, and at every revolution
they move the gang" backward and
forward above the block. Water is now
allowed to run upon the block from a.
bove in small quantities, and sand is
thrown upon it. The saving is effect
ed by the operation of the sand wearing
the marble away as it is rolled and
pressed under the smooth, thin plates of
iron called saws. The least thickness
that can be sawed from block is about
seven-eighths of an inch. Any thick
ness above this can, of course, be saw
ed, limited only by the width Of the
gang" and the size of the block. When
the saws have gone down through the
block, the whole gang" and saws are
elevated by means of ropes and pulleys
above the block, and the slabs are now
ready to be taken out and broken or
sawed into such dimensions as are re-
quired. They can be fooled or channel
ed on the surface and broken in straight
lines when it is not over four inches In
thickness. All slabs OF greater thick
ness are sawed, as they cannot be relied
upon to break in lines. Having been
broken or sawed into such shapes and
Dimensions as is required, it is ready for
sale. The value, at the quarry, of the,
marble thus manufactured varies with
its quality and the uses to which it is
to be applied The best quality of stat
uary marble Is worth $3.50 cubic foot.
The best quality in slabs, two inches
thick, is worth ninety cents, superficial
measure. The same quality, one inch
thick, is worth sixty cents. Other quail
tiles of both kinds of marble sell at pri-
ces considerably less.
To enable the reader to judge of the
extent of the business in Rutland coun-
ty marble, l have procured from the
books of the Rutland and Washington
Railroad Company and of the Rutland
and Burlington Railroad Company the
following statement of marble shipped
on their cars during the year ending No
vember 1852
From the quarries in West Rutland,
From the mi Is in West Rutland, 49,
sawed, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 20T, 500
From the mills III Center Rutland,
sdWeQ,... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I, $50 467
From the mills in Caetleton, sawed, 9l6. 6SS
From the quarries, Brandon, blocks, Il4O09
From the mills, Brandon sawed. 49,. 526,lI3
From the sutherlands Falls. ...... l,S4l 987
1t should be remembered that the
marble sawed in Center Rutland and in
Castleton is all quarried at West Rut-
land, and is transported on the cars be-
fore it is sawed, and should be omitted
in the following calculation. If, there
fore, we reduce the block marble to su-
perflcial measure, by rules recognized by
those who are employed in this business,
we have .4s
Feet.
Add sawed in West Rutland, reduesd to '''0'0''
the same thickness, 1876 5sO
Total from six quarries in West Rutland $50. raj
Add block and sawed marble quarried in
Brandon, reduced as above. ... 2l.24e
Add block and sawed marble euarried at
sutherlands Falls, ACKNOWLEDGMENT. AZ 900
Total production from Rutland county. .el5.a5s
1t would be a reasonable estimate to
say that this marble is sold, delivered ON
the cars at the several mills, for so cents
per foot. This estimate gives ia IN
round numbers, S45S,O00, as the annual