The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-02-03
GEORGIA MARBLE.
Some Account of the Quarries anc
How Thsy Are Worked.

Some Account of the Quarries and
How Thsy Are Worked.
WADLEY. GA, Feb. Il have been look
ing over the marble quarries in Pickens
county and examining the immense MAJ
chinery with which marble is quarried and
made ready for the market. This marble
industry is the biggest thing in the state.
Pickens county alone contains enough
marble to make every man in Georgia CON-
forta ply rich, il it could all be gotten out of
the earth at once and sold There are
millions and millions of cubic feet of it-all
kinds and colors-hidden away under the
earth in Cherokee. Pickens, Gilmer and
Fannin counties in Georgia, and Cherokee
county. North Carolina. or course, there
are plenty Of ores and minerals there, too,
but it is my intention to speak only of the
marble at present
Beginning at Holly Springs, in Cherokee
county, a few miles south of Canton, where
the first outcroppings are seen, we fluid the
beautiful green MARBLE which is very rare.
No work on a large scale is done here.
Above Canton, at Nelson, on the line Of
Cherokee and Pickens, are situated the mills
of the Blue Ridge Marble Company. This
company was organized by the late Col. J.
A. Dewar, the pioneer in the marble bust
ness In the south. The Georgia business OF
this company, which has its headq Iarters
in Cincinnati, is now managed by Harry
Dewar. This company buys most of the
marble it works, though it owns some fine
property in Fannin county and Cherokes
county, North Carolina.
At Tate, three miles above Nelson, are the
most extensive quarries and largest mills
in the south. At least So, 600 900 have been
expended here In machinery and buildinRs.
The most wonderful thing ever saw was
the pneumatic cutting machine which re-
wolves so rapidly that by looking at it you
cannot tell whether 1t is running or not.
Besides the Georgia Marble Company, we
have here extended along Long Swamp
creek, the Southern Marble Company, the
Piedmont Marble Company, the Persever-
ance Marble Company; these last two being
organized by James p Harrison of Atlanta.
Then there are the mills OF George B.Sicklts
& Co., who make a speciality of thing.
The Georgia Marble Company are work.
ing several quarrtes. Here we find all the
colors except green, from the Kennesaw.
which is almost pure white, to the Creole,
which is very dsrk. At one OF these quar-
ries Is found the delicate pink marble. But
1t is all crystalline, the most beau
tiful and durable marble in America.
The Tate generation own all the land
and marble property that is oper-
ated upon by the Georgia Marble Com
pany, and have leased it to the COM
pany for term Of ninety-nine years at a
GoOQ royalty per CUBIC IOON. consequently
the Tates are having riches absolutely
poured into their laps. and the company is
making money, too.
After the marble is cut out in huge
blocks, by means of damon d-pointed drills
and "channeling" mac lines, it is hoisted
with powerful steam derricks, which lift
blocks that weigh several tons, out from
the bottom of the quarries, some of which
are more than 100 feet deep and 60 and 100
square. The blocks are then placed under
the gang rams and cut into slabs of any de-
sired thickness, ready to be made into all
kinds of useful and Ornamental articles.
There are, | believe, sixty-four Of these
gangs In one building at the Georgia works,
all running at once, the power being furn-
ished by a monster engine Of 250-horse
power. These mills run day and night,
everything being brilliantly lighted by
electricity at night.
This Georgia marble is Ia great demand
for building purposes in almost every city
Of any consequence in the north and east,
besides the thousands Of costly and pretty
articles thnt are made from it. If Georgia Is
to be represented by display at the worlds
fair, that display will not be complete with
out building made Of Georgia marble.