New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-12-07
AMERICAN MARBLE.
rur orrARRrrs OF VERMONT.

.rd as granite, but not as handsome NJ urst' anu 'oA
fainly not wearing az we'll witness the many "'"sy
soorinx marble fronts In NcwYork, stained apparently
irourust Nearly all the marble used in building Guy
house. WINS ouarried in westchesor and transported on
the Harlem railroad. furnishing pretty large iUin
In its receipts fQS fright. The extension OF '' sn'
road y also bringing down Vermont marpic o"' VIZ.
MsAt Rutland Quarries are most intimately eon"s."
with the road to whitehall, aid thence ny caiai ~
or else by cars direct to Troy and southwark VIA
and Eagle Bridge. Passengers over 'neSo to""' "'S
always interested in Observing they leave or
pr,Isnd the immense area covered with glistennS
blocks Of white marble Nearly all that Is IN sght IL
merely the waste Of the quarres aud shops "nh mas
been piled over the adjoining fields to oep'h' III hS
places Of from 20 feet Already IL has become
crious question how to dispose OF this waste winch S
already covered many Of valuable land and Is con-
,tantv xtending its urea very intelligent superin-
tencpt of one of the large Quarres gave Ec as Ills tS
mate that onetbird Of the good marble In VEN IL
wasted in the process OF Quarryng and onconG'h VI
that ouarred is wasted in saving and preparing Inc
slabs ready for shipping.
Beside this waste of good stock there ia great guam
lily Of lying rock and earth to he removed, ana,
Also rs the quarry decpens quantity OF the common
limerick upon each side of the vcin as 1t is already
worked down into the earth, in some places about 2oo
feet deep.
The veins Of good marble nowhere broad-he best
not 20 c but they arc OF unknown depth, ana OF
Improving quality as WOrRcQ uOWn lnOuSH thtic
distances OF most excellent statuary marble having been
found pretty near the surface nowhere yet has this
been fonnd large Masses in continuous veins with
out flaw. the italian quarries 1t Is said that lhd
cations are very favorable that further north veins may
I've discovered that will obviatc all necessity OF making
further importaiuns it is well known the quality i'm
proves goes nOitbward aud some OF the recent
openings of the vein the Canada line are extremely
promising. So the deep workings at Rutland Much
nf the marble taken ont Is line ana SOUND enough
for stauary but not all white. 1t is generally nahd
soIne!y divided with black though the di'lsons are
often 40 faint TO be almost imperceptible Small
blocks for bnss and slabs for tables &c. are often seen
from the Rutland GuarIics. as purely White, ninety
grained aud highly polished any that ever came lfoui
Lady.
large portion o. the marble used for furniture and
other iue work in this country, Quarred In vermont
though owing TO the cheap labor abroad, and cheap
freight FROM Europe and high freight upon the rail-
roads the Vermont quarrymcn have hard task to put
their marble down in NewYork as cheap as the Italian
Yet the interest Is very large one-not less than NIL
lion Of dollars year for the West Rutland quarries to
Hay nothing OF the many others scattered all along tie
west base Of the Green Mountains.
AT Rutland, the iDclatiOn CT the vein is to appear
ance nearly As degrees and is worked in from the west
eide OF HILL toward the mountains that it is not
possible TO reach the vein except from the point where
crops out. There is also another difficulty in tho way OF
deep-working the vein which do not any way Of
overhanging rock and there has already been one fall
which happened when tho workmen absent, else
It would have produced such shocking calamity as
would have deferred wOrkmen in future from entering
such q dangerous Dan,rap.
There arc quarres in some other localities, situated
well the sides OF hills that the debris is easily
disposed Of and the blocks sent down inclined
plane easily than they hOised from
deep mine.
How the marble Is quarried think will be interesting
to many readers. l do not think they are generally
what slow process it has always been. In the
first place. with less labor according to crcum
stances the vein is uncovered until portion is exposed
OF sufficiently good quality for working. Then the
rock ut the sides must be blasted at least four
five feet deep, to base low enough to raise blocks
Of the desired size for saving out OF their bcd after
cutting channels OF that depth all around each The
blocks are raised 10y drilling line Of holes along the
exposed side of each block level with the bottom Of
the channels into which wedges are driven until the
block Is sp from it's base, when 1t is hoisted out and
the operation continued until all the blocks Of that
removed when the same process Is repeated,
and 70 OH ana downward, requiring in of the
deepest works powerful machinery and steam to hoist
the blocks aud waste to the surface. Whenever re-
markedly fine vein is opened 1t is great object to
follow that long holds because it is really
the finest marble only that will bear the high railroad
tariff to Ncw-YOrk at a fair profit
There thousands of great blocks thrown into the
wastc-heaps, which would be highly priced in some
localities for really highly 6nished ornamental work,
where clouded veins would not be Objectionable. Even
in the best blocks there is great waste owing to the
method Of Quar1yiDg At first powder was much used
That shattered and backened the MARBLE aud broke it
up In such irregular blocks that than half Of the
material was lost. Powder Is only used in the out
eide rock Of the marble not considered worth
saving.
The channeling was formerly all done by hand and
tedious to cut these long, Deep
channels around all the blocks which have been
hoisted out of these vast II slow pro-
cess and required many that the invention OF
machine which would 90 the channeing by steampower
was hailed with delighted acclamations This channel
Ing machine was composed Of set Of five drills fixed in
travelling frame moved by STEAM and made to cut fur
four five feot deep, and given length by
ersng back ap2 FORTH the dust being removed by at
tendant When run ut the rate Of about 100 strokes Of
the drills per minute 1t was found rapid way Of chan
Cang beating all the that could have worked at
once the same length Of cut. But, unfortunately
when the blocks into the mill to sawed up into
slabs, 1t found that this rapid motion and hard
blows Of the drills had cracked the marble upon each
side Of the two inches Deep thus making 80
great that in fine marble it proved labor losing
instead Of laborsaving machine. Still, by running 1t
slower. good deal OF this damage is Obvated; and as
some sort Of achanneng machine IL real necessity
the old machine is still extensively used. But have
great faith that another apparatus has been invented
which will supersede all others in marble quarin and
% "a n the
bed Of the quarry Of desired sze and with rapid
fty that Ia truly astonishing.
The ingenuity Of ths-machne lie only equalcd by its
simplicity and perfect adaptabity to It's work BY some
slight notifications N It's construction, which could
readily might be made 1t will be portable that two
men can place IN any desired situation in quarry and
will cut straight smooth channel leo feet long, II de-
sired by moving the machine and this either the h0ri
x0ntal or unlined bed IN the side walls the quarry
The machine which saw ut work cut bed channel one
hall inch WIDE II feet long, and four feet Deep
three hours Just smoothly the BLOCKS be
q A wi he
saw teeth being made of black diamonds" In
iron bocks which ut into Stats in long, steel plate