The evening times., 1901-01-18
CARRARA MARBLE QUARRIES.
Seven Thousand Men Employed ii
senator Proctor-a NexY Properties.

Seven Thousand Men Employed in
Senator PrOctor's New Properties.
Senator Proctor of Vermont is reported
to have made millions out CT the marble
quarries in his State which he owns As
has been published in the newspapers. he
has lately acquired control Of the famous
Carrara quarries in Italy Mr.. Proctor
IS nIgh-tarln man and believes in the
protection Of the American wOrkingman-
rs has had. however, from time TO time
trouble with his operatives on the score of
wages Tne wages which he viii pay MS
ItdlIen employees viii be rather low as
compared 10 the scale in Vermont MIR.
Smith. the United States Consul at Leg
horn. in a communication to the State De-
partment furnishes the following schedule:
Wages per day, quarrymen. 3S TO Il cents:
mill men. SO 10 IS cents: cutters. 38 to 6S
cents; polishers. 3S TO 6S cents; carvers.
IS cents TO SLJ4 and sculptOrs, u cents
to S1.93-
Mr. Smith gives some very interesting
statements as 10 this industry. which is
now to come under the supervision OF an
American Senator. He says:
The so-caiIed 'Carrara district en-
bracing the communes Of Carrara, Massa,
Pietrasanta Seravezra StaZrema. and
Arni is the centre OF this industry. Car
Tara and Massa are the two most imDor-
tant, the former having a population in
the city itself of q, OC0 people, with an ad-
ditiOaaI 210Q0 in the mountain villages
surrounding it and forming part Of the
commune These villages are inhabited
almost entirely by the quarrymen and Ia
boring class. The commune Of Massa has
a population of about d 000- Broadly
speaking. the entire male population of
these two communities is actively engag-
ed in some branch CT the marble industry
There are at present in the district
6i1 quarries in active operation, of which
345 are at Carrara, at Massa. and the
balance distributed among the places
named above In addition to these there
are perhaps double this number which
have been Z. ened and afterward aban-
doned as beint: unproductive, or in which,
for yari0as reasons, active work has for
the time being ceased
ITO the ordinary observer, as well as
to one well informed in the practical
working OF the marble quarries in the
United States, the system of quarrying.
handling. etc, at Carrara appears exceed
ingly primitive.
a few years ago a system O. saving
the blacks out Of the quarries by the
use of an endless wire mounted on stan
daTds and puileys, similar TO those en-
ployed in some of our quarries in the
United States, was introduced. It's use,
however, is very limited. and but very
few of the quarries have adopted It, the
old method Of blasting, necessarily caus-
ing a large amount OF waste, being fol-
lowed. Months are consumed in drilling
by hand the nece ssary holes for the pow
der charges. Masses of marble often
weighing 1000 or 5,000 tons are thus
loosened and thrown out from the face
of the ciin at one discharge; then comes
the slow ana tedious process of moving
this mass into position to be sawed into
marketable sizes. This saving is done
by hand power also; single, narrow iron
! blade fitted into a large wooden frame
and operated by two men, one at each
end Of the frame. with the aid of water
and sharp sand, accomplished the work
Obviously, progress is extremely slow;
weeks and even months are consumed in
the process.
1000
Many varieties Of coIored marbles are
found on the mountains surrounding Car
rara. Two varieties of blue. doye-colored
marble, known as 'Bardiglio' and 'Payo-
nazro, are well known in the United
| States the latter especially being largely
| used and commanding a high price Some
new and very Beautiful fancy marbles
have recently been discovered near the
villages of Gragnana and Castelpoggio,
north of Carrara- IN the vicinity Of Cas-
! telpOggiO very fine variety of red marble
| is quarried. Some varieties OF the we'll
| known black and gold marble are found
| at Monte d'Arni and FOce near Carrara.
! It is similar TO that found at Porto We
| nere in the Gulf Of Spezia. having q
! densely black ground crossed in all direc-
| tions By yellow veins. Besides these col
| ored marbles some fine Cuyx has been dis
| covered at Monte G'AFni The merchants
and exporters OF Carrara also deal largely
/ in the well-known Siena yellow marble
and the various varieties Of the Numid-
| ian marbles. The latter are brought from
| the quarries back of Oran on the north
| ern coast of Algeria.
| The extent of its commerce with all
nations in its own particular line. with
| the variety, quality, and beauty Of its
marbles. justly entities Carrara TO stand
at the head of the marbIe-producing cen
| tres of the world. It has occupied this
| position for centuries and bids fair to
| continue to do so for many more to come. -