The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-08-01
Marble Interests OF RutIand.--NO. 9,

BILE business Of Rutland gave but o faint idea
Of this great industry. II will be our purpose
In this and succeeding articles to present some
OF the most interesting facts concerning the
production OF marble here, In such a way that
your readers may CLEAN, for the first time the
information relating thereto that will be both
Ineligible and tangible. As an example to
commence with, we will refer the readerto the
VERMONT MARBLE COMPANY.
We speak of this company first for the very
good and sufficient reason that 1t Is doing the
largest marble business of any one firm in the
world. The company IL, comparatively, new
one, but some of its quarres have been worked,
more or less, for nearly fifty years. The Yer
mont Marble Company was formed by the con-
solidation of the Rutland Marble Company and
the Sutherland Falls Marble Company Sep
TENDER 3d. 1880. The two companies thus
united had been known for years as among the
leading producers and manufacturers of mar
Bile in this section. The Rutland Marble Com
pany was organized Oct 80, 1868, and confined
its labors to the development of the quarries al
ready opened by Messrs. Barnes and Ripley,
and Baxter, as mentioned in a former article
The Sutherland Falls quarres were first worked
in 1886, by Humphrey, Ormsbee Il Co. who
however failed in '37, and but little further
was done there until 1853, when new company
was formed called the North River Mining and
Quarrying Company, which operated the bust
ness for about three years, when it fell into the
hands of the Sutherland Falls Marble Com
pany, a Massachusetts, firm, with Hon. Seneca
NJ. Dorr and John J. Myers, Esq, as prominent
owners therein. The company was finally re-
organized under the laws of the state of Yer
mont in 1865 with Ex-Governor Page and ex-
Governor Proctor as leading members Of its
board of directors. The former retained his
interest but few years, the latter remaining
as its president down to the time when 1t be-
came a part OF the Vermont Marble Company.
Thus it will be seen that this company is now
operating quarries at both West Rutland and
Sutherland Falls. 1t has seven openings in all,
employs one thousand men, and last year its
sales amounted to nearly one million dollars.
1t has two marble mills at West Rutland, two
at Sutherland Falls, two at Center Rutland, and
one at Salem, N. Y. 1t operates sixty-four
gangs Of saws at Sutherland Falls, twenty-four
at West Rutland, twenty-eight at Center Rut-
land, and eight at Salem. Sixteen stone chan
neling machines, including the Wardwell pa
tent and the diamond "gadders," are used at
the Falls and thirteen at West Rutland. The
company are now engaged in building an ad-
dition to their works at Center Rutland, which
particular point is beginning to advance rapidly
in the eye of the public as a veritable marble
center" Here the principal offices of the COM
pany are located, under the personal direction
of Superintendent SimoDs, who also has a per-
sonal superintendency over the quarries at
West Rutland, with r. w. Smith as foreman of
the mill and Micajah Odell foreman of the
quarries. AT
the superintendent for the company is H.
B. Woodbury., Esq, who has been long inter-
ested in the marble trade, and is known in it
| as r reliable man. This place is well worth a
visit to all tourists and lovers of the beautiful
| In nature. 1t is a small village situated in the
extreme northern part of Rutland, and for
beauty and wildness of scenery is unsurpassed
in all this region. Old Otter Creek, which runs
through the guch in which the village is stu
ated, makes a number of fantastic curves in
its headlong journey, and finally leaps over a
| fall one hundred and eighteen feet high, Just
| i'll sight of the marble mills. Here is one of
the best mill privileges in the state, monopo-
LIKED entire by the marble interest Just over
| the brow of the hill, on the north side of the
river, the vision is greeted by one of those
handsome meadow scenes, SO common all along
| Otter Creek, and its quiet and placid beauty is
rendered more striking by the dash and roar
Of the wild waters at our feet. Governor Proc
tor, the president of the Vermont Marble com
pany, has erected he ndsome residence on the
hill nearly midway between these two views
which in its empowered seclusion and thu
beauty of its surroundings, is picturesque il
the extreme. The principal quarry belonging
to the Vermont Marble company is located
about quarter of a mile from the railroad
station-the latter being surrounded also b,
the mills and shops of the company. At tn
quarry the science of the business is quickl,
demonstrated. Imagine an acre of ground on
hundred feet below the earth's surface ON on
side-from which towers a majestic marble
mountain, and from twenty-five to fifty fee
down on the other sides, paved, walled ant
lined with the whitest of white marble iron
whose depths is heard the incessant clatter AM
clash of the stone-cutting machines, and owe
which continues to move big derrick bringing
out the huge cakes of marble as fast as the
are loosened. These blocks are put upon tn,
cars built for the purpose and are conducts
down the slight decline on which the track i
| laid. to the mills below. simDly nv the law n
gravitation. In fact the marble here is quar-
ried, sawed and polished with no expense @
motive power except natural wear and tear O
machinery. Five hundred men are employs
by the company at this point alone The Vel
mont Marble Company's store here, hand
some building 100x40 feet is an establishment
of which any town in the state might we'll b
proud. 1t has large stock of goods of gen
eral assortment, while the store is fitted up i
the most modern style Let us now take
: look at the company's quarries at
WEST RUTLAND
Here we find an opening, at the foot of tn
mountain, three hundred feet deep. II unac
customed to such sight you will now gras
, the rail and shudder. 1t is a frightful distanc
to the bottom. and you are soon willing Il
look at something else. This opening is not a
{ large as the one at the Falls nor as deep a
some others here belonging to other compa
MES, but, as Mercutio said, at is enough!
| bSopito thO dppdIOut uduscI
work of this kind, but very few accident
occur. On each side, all around and about us
cluster marble companies and marble quarries
This is the headquarters where the "marbl
kings" make their money. Here are the prin
cipal quarries, the largest mills, and the fines
finishing rooms. The quarries begin to lool
) like the ruins of time, many of them hav
been here 80 long, and yet fortunes are bein
taken out of their depths every year. Yves
Rutland itself does not show the material pros
perity thus acquired, as does the village-th
municipality-of Rutland. The west side
is a village of about four thousand inha bitants
nearly all of whom are interested, directly o
indirectly in the marble interest. There ar
3 some few farmers, half-dozen merchants,
good hotel, and an excellent graded school.
= being some four miles from Rutland, it is en-
phatically law unto itself. 1t is improving i
the way of private residences very much
Governor Proctor, by the way, recently pre-
scented this village and Sutherland Falls eac
with handsome library of three thousan
: volumes, chosen from the best authors. Wha
gift could he have presented of more value I
the welfare and prosperity of these two con
munities? More anon. SOL.
Ganrnfo altar