The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-11-05
WHERETHE MARBLEGROWS
DARK PITS wHrRE The SNOWY
ROCK rs oUARRI N.
various Kinds OF NIarbI0-Myste-
riouS Ve'ninRs that Puzzle the SCI
cntists-HONv the Rock is Cut.


VT, to the Buffalo Ne,os, the writer thus
describes visit to the various marble
quarries: There are FIVE companies here
who together produ more marble than
any other district in the world, the famous
Italian quarries included. In fact all
the marble used in the United States
comes from this region. A party of us
started out bright and carly in most
comfortable conveyance called "Glen's
Falls Blackboard, and while the clouds
otill hung over the tops of Killington
peak and Mount Pike che highest in the
Green Mountain range next to Mount
Mansfield, seventy miles north, Killing
ton being 4,200 fee high, drove up to
the office of Sheldon & Sons, the largest
company here, and alighted. Mr.. VIM.
\. Sheldon acted as cicerone to the
party.
''Our quarries are rather peculiar, said
he, as VIC passed the mouth of yawn-
ing pit, Sin that the marble strata lie in
such peculiar folds. There is belt of
quarries about three-quarters of a mile
in length, stretch ng north and south,
and in each quarry the marble es differ
emily. Here you see OF this hillside at the
surface the strata are inclined into the hill
at an angle of forty-fve degrees until a
depth of about 225 feet, when they take
q sharp bend and run almost horizontally
east and west. In other quarries the
marble strata run horizontally into the
hillside and all that is to be done is to
bore into the hill much after the Italian
method, where the marble is surface
deposit. Here, as you see, we bore down
and then under, and he pointed down
into the pit, which looked like the en-
trance to the internal regions, with
thousand gnomes delving in its murky
depths. "This," said Mr.. Sheldon, 81
consider the finest quarry in the world.
Here we get finer marble, all things con-
sidered, and more of it than in any other
quarry have ever seen or heard of.
Brandon, a place near here, has larger
deposits of statuary marble--the ency-
clopedia says the largest in the world
but it is unsound and cannot be worked,
Our Rutland marble is fine grained, but
not so hard as the Brandon, and can be
nicely worked. 1t is very white and
pretty free from blue veins. 1t lies in a
peculiar way, which nobody can explain.
We will have a layer of pure white mar
BILE and above'it another which is veined
with blue. WHY this is so no one
can tell, for it is thought that
the whiteness of the marble is due to the
complete burning of the carbon in the
limestone when the marble was formed.
Ifthat theory be true why not the veins, for
they must have been as hot as the rest2
The strata of white are very thick, how
ever, and we take out larger blocks than
any other quarry. We often get out
| blocks fifteen feet long and six feet thick,
and we can take out larger. We have
six grades of white and four of blue.
AS to amount, we ship about sixty thou
sand tons of sawed marble, and as much
more rough every year. 1t will give
you an idea of the magnitude of the in
dustry when l tell you that there are over
twenty-five hundred hands engaged in
the industry in Rutland, beside the ma
chinery used, which has reduced the nee
essary labor wonderfully. We employ
about five hundred hands ourselves of all
| nationalitles, and pay them from $1.10
to $3 and So a day, according to skill.
| But to return to the process of quarrying.
| All the blocks have to be cut out, as blast
| ing would crack them. For the cutting
there are two machines, one the ordi-
nary diamond drill and the other
what is called a channeling machine,
which has two drills working side by
side in line, and which cut channel
through the rock. The drill makes a
series of holes at short distances apart
all around the block to be taken out, and
then another set at right angles under it,
after which wedges are used to break it
off. The drill works much quicker than
the channeling machine, and it is just as
good. We are getting so deep now that
we are bothered by smoke and steam in
the pit, and so we shall put in our COM
pressor very soon. Let us look at "the
finishing house"
was pandemonium. Here were num-
Der of huge blocks of marble being
sawed into slabs of various thicknesses
and into other shapes. The saws were
nothing but long, thin plates of iron,
set parallel to each other in large rec
tangular frames, which worked back
and forth by machinery. 1--WE have
sixty-six gangs, as these frames are
called" said Mr.. Sheldon, and there are
from ten to thirty-two saws in a gang.
They saw, you see, not by any teeth,
but by the sand ard water above. A
gang will saw from one to two inches
deep an hour, according to the
number of saws in it. In that building
they are finishing a contract with the
United States government for 240, 900
head stones for soldiers graves.
ave have about three thousand ON
hand at present There are some Curious
things in the marble trade. For instance,
although there isn't one hundred tons of
real Italian marble shipped to this coun-
try year, yet our business is affected by
nearly every imaginable circumstance.
For example, the presidential election is
a serious injury to the trade. Why
can't tell tell unless it be that men bet
their money and don't lay it out in caring
for their dead relations Fashion has a