Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-03
VERMoNT'S MARBLE
Extent Of the Quarries and Their Prac-
teal Inexhaustibility.

From the Springfield Republican
| The Green mountains contain some of the
| largest artificial holes in the world They
! are really vast chambers which have been
excavated under ground in working the
great marble deposits. While marble is
quarried in Vermont. 1t is also actually
mined. as some openings are in the form OF
channels extending hundreds of feet under
ground. The Sheldon quarry. as 1t is called,
on the property of the Vermont Marble
Company. is the deepest quarry of its kind
in the world The bottom is nearly 300 feet
from the surface. This quarry contains
chambers more than 200 feet in height and
spacious enough to seat 5000 people with
out crowding. They form vast amphithea-
ters whose walls and ceilings. well as
noors. are solid marble. for none Of these
quarries has been worked out. in spite OF
the enormous quantities that have been
taken from them.
While marble was known to exist in the
Green mountains century ago. the quar-
rying OF 1t is one of the new industries of
New England but rapidly has it devel-
oped that Rutland county produces more
marble than all of the other beds in this
country combined. From 1T comes material
for buildings, statuary and cemetery dec
orations. The beds contain varieties SINH
lar to the Pentelic marble from which the
buildings of ancient Athens were con-
structed. Another variety is almost iden-
teal with the famous marble of Carrara-
From this the tints range all the way to
black, including blue, red and green, with
tints intermngled. Experts believe that
the beds are practically inexhaustible.
They have been traced more than fifty
miles. and all the indications point to the
existence of a deposit almost continuous
for twenty-five miles. Nearly 70O0 tons a
year are being quarried
. In obtaining the marble channeling ma
chimes, operated by steam and electric pow
err. are used. They are placed upon the top
of the deposits and make vertical cuts with
sets Of chisels which punch through the
material to the required distance. When
the channelers have completed their wora
the surface of the marble looks like field
of ice which has been blocked out for saw
ing. Holes drilled I'm the sides Of the
formation in regular rows, each hole about
six or eight Inches from the next. Then the
blocks can be easily separated by driving "A
wedge beneath them. No explosives are
used except when absolutely necessary and
the waste from this cause. which has been
such a loss in the Italian quarTies. is avoid
ed. The channeling machines require about
eight horse power each. and will cut 30 to
100 square feet OF marble daily according
to the hardness of the formation. In cut
ting away the ma rble no artificial supports
are used as in coal mining. but buttresses.
some of them 100 feet or more in height
are left here and there in the sides of the
excavation to support the weight above
The blocks. Weighing twenty to twenty
five tons each. are hoisted by derricks oper-
ated by steam power. A variety of appa-
weights. The Vermont Marble Company.
which has plants at Proctor and several
other points in Rutland county, EMPLOYS
the largest crane in the district. This will
lift fifty tons. and is used in the storage
yards 1t is operated by electric motors
and will carry block of marble from one
end of its bridge to the other, a distance
of 100 feet, and lift IL 40 feet in the air
Locomotive cranes operated by steam pow
er run on tracks in the yards at Proctor
and elsewhere. carrying blocks weighing up
to ten tons. which they load and unload by
means of a long boom attached to the truck
of the crane. Electric travelling cranes are
used in the shops for transferring marble,
while the Vermont company has a railroad
about twenty miles long for transporting
the marble from various Quarries to the
works.
All the material is sawed into proper sizes
by gangs. which consist of a series of
blades of soft iron moving back and forth
on the surface of the block, In a solution
OF sand and water. the grit in the sand be-
ing the principal cutting agent These
gangs are run night and day by water
power each set being attached to a wood
en- walking beam driven by the power
shaft After being sawed the marble
which Is to be smoothly finished, Is placed
upon revolving slabs Of metal which are
covered with sand and water or mixture
Of pumice stone. The finest marble Is fin
fshed by hand but a large quantity OF the
Is finished by buffing with special
machinery.