The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-08-29
An Inexhaustible Quarry in
Snake Canyon.
HOW THE MARBLES PROCURED
One Of the Resources OF Utah That
Must Some Day Come
to the Front.

effect that Strawberry Valley is lOnge
b. few miles than I made it, the cthe
tlat the "pots" at Midway are not law
or any other volcanic substance, but ar
sedimentary deposits. Imay have beer
astray to some extent on both PROPOSE
tions, galging the former merely BY M
pearance, which in that ethereal air il
necessarily more or less deceptive, and
IN the latter case by netting, inspecting
and comparing the composite matter o.
pot with what has been shown to me
and represented as lava, to which i
bears very striking resemblance, if II
is not the native article. If you have
ever seen a pot Of mush or paste or any
similar preparation being boiled, you
must have noticed bubbles rising to the
surface thick and fast while that pro-
cess was going on; these bubbles rise
and fall back into the source from
whence they came. Well, the aspect of
the country around Midway suggests
some such thing as that. only of course
on a trife larger scale and with the
further exception that instead of the
bubbles subsiding they harden and the
vacant spaces in them become immedi-
ately filled with water, seething and
bubbling up from the precints OF sheol;
so that il the substance is not lava, it is
50 much like it in appearance, tenacity
and gravity, that no eve but that OF the
practical geologist would be likely to
detect the difference. Be that as it
may, the remainder OF my statement on
that occasion, that the pots and the
water contained in them are the great
est ceoloeical curiosities in the Terri
tory, IS undisputed. The water, in adj
dition to their peculiar temperature.
which is neither hot nor cold but milk
warm, and being strongly impregnated
with minerals, possess also powerful
petrifying properties. such substances
as straw, tyigs, grass, small bits of
wood, etc., which have been converted
from a vegetable to mineral condition
by the action OF the fluid, being abund-
ant. Some day an enterpris1ng citizen
with the money and the disposition
necessary to make the experiment
success, will happen along there, get
purchase and erect bath houses and
other conveniences, and it is a safe pre-
diction that whoever does so will strike
good thing.
The next object of interest claiming
the tourists attention is the marble
quarry, situated in Snake Canyon about |
seven miles northwest of Midway. |
This is reached by canyon road very |
steep and very rugged, the last quarter |
of mile being SO acclivitous that it Is |
almost impracticable for a wagon and !
team to get up it. II is not at al! diff /
cult to find the quarry, no more so than |
it would be to find the temple III Salt |
Lake. When you get to the head Of |
the canyon, you are at the quarry, and |
behold an immense ledge of the white, |
glittering mass of the dimensions of a |
block in this city, very irregular in its
of course, and more o. less |
jagged III places, but there it is. But |
few men are employed now in the |
quarry, because of the lack OF sufficient |
facilities to cut marble into slabs and
otherwise arrange it fori market. No
the rock from the lap of
earth. as this would shatter it and make I
splits and cracks. thus
making it unfit for use 1t lies in LAYERS
between which are inserted wedges. and
the slabs are pried off. [ thought some
Of making an estimate OF the amount I
Of marble in sight, but on reflection
gave it up as hopeless task. might
have guessed as to how many horses
could be watered out of Utah Lake. or
how many gardens the Mississippi River
would irrigate during season and that
s as near as L could come to an esti-
mate of the inexhaustible nature of
this marble quarry; suffice it to say
there is enough and to spare, plenty to
enable all of our generation who can
afford it, the material with which to
construct marble fronts to their houses
and leave very broad margin for pos
-erity. When l speak of this, mean
The United States. not Utah merely.
large mill is being constructed four
miles from the works down the canyon,
which will be run by water power, the
water Tor the purpose being taken
rom j spring and conveyed in an aoue-
iuct around the mountain side, empty
ng into a turbine wheel of 3O-horse
power. capable OF running $50 saws.
rhis mil viii be completed in about
lhree weeks. sufficiently at least to adj
nit o. the commencement OF the work,
,he number of saws that will be actually \
1ut into operation depending entirely
m the demand for the marble. A few
ards farther down the canyon stands
more primitive apparatus which has
,een used SO far; this has but three
Jaws and consequently cuts but two
labs AZ time, but it did good work in
IS way, as specimens shown me amply
WINGED. To describe the modus oper-
lndl OF making smooth, finely proper
Toned blocks out of the rough material
AIKEN from the hand OF nature, would
equire more space than you can afford
o give me or / have time 10 spare: it |
viii do some other day The crude !
marble is claimed, by its proprietors, to !
Ne equal to any now known in the
United States as to texture, toughness
nd susceptibility OF polish, while it is
Believed that depth VIII show an article ,
ivaling that OF the famed Parian
marble. There Is nothing extravasant
n this claim, as any one will be willing
0 admit who makes q personal in
pection. 1t IS worth al the trouble ,
nd fatigue il costs to pay a visit 10 these
FORKS, beng not only Illustrative OF
what tab can do, but what she will
e. &c among the great prodUeers OF
he q eful, the beautiful ana the beneti-
IA things OF this life The proprietors v
re NeSSrs- Cook & Gianfielo., OF Salt +
AXE ffV CANAAN Nau1 Sprrftfs,.r Ia.