The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-20
UNLIMITED DEMAND FOR
 WHITE MARBLE OF ALABAMA

Gilmore's Switch by its own railroad upon which trains are operated. The marble blocks are so heavy that It ts also found necessary to use cars and tracks and engines for hauling from the quarries to the finishing plants which are close by.
 The Daily shipments.
 From six to eight cars loaded with this Alabama marble are going out from Gantts Quarry, the name of the postofice and, the town founded ry this company. every day in tho year except Sunday. And still the company is not able to i'll It's orders. There are 200 men employed here at Gantts Quarry and in the finishing plants tIey are working night and day to prov'ce the world with the white maroie or Alabama.
 This plant of the Alabama White Marble Company Is the only plant or it's k.nd in Alabama. or in the soutn for that matter, that Is In active opera tion and shipping finished and unhn- ished white marble to the markets or inc world, Plans are making for the beginning of operations near Taiia- deea by the Talladega Marble Com nany in which diuseppi Moretti is in- terested, but until that plant begins ouarrying and finishing, this plant at Gantt's Quarry Is without competi- tor in the South. In fact.its only com petitor tn the United States are the Vermont quarries, near Rutland. which are operated by the marble trust. of which Senator Redf1eld Proc tor is the President.
 pr. Edward Can't who operated quarry here, with indifferent success. many years before the war between the States. Numerous headstones in the cemeteries of this section were taken from these auarries yearsl ago.
 In lWashfngtOn Monument.
 The block of Alabama white marble in the Washington Monument at Wash ington, placed there in 1851, bears an abiding testimony to the beauty, pur- ity and high quality of the marble Tn Gantt's Quarry for 1t was taken from these beds where Uncle Sam is now se- curing his material for decorating New York's fine custom house. For many years there was controversy as to the block of Alabama marble in the Washington Monument. Some histories have given the Governor of Alabama credit for providing the block or mar, ble and 1t has been stated and denied that the then Secretary of War, MT. Conrad. declared that the marble block was too fine to have come from Ala pama and that 1t was undoubtedly from the famous Carrara beds of Italy
 The most duLHentlC TeCOFu SHOWs that when the National Monument So- ciety solicited from all of the States a block of their best native stone to be given a place in the Washington Monument, the Grand Lodge. Free and Accepted Masons of Alabama, accepted the invitation. The first steps toward supplying the marble were taken De- cember 6, 1S49, when the Grand Lodge adopted a resolution raising commit tee of three ito procure and forward to the building committee of the Wash ington Monumental Society a block of Alabama marble four feet long, two feet high. with a depth of bed twelve inches, upon which the committee shall cause the following inscription to be made: Alabama marble. Presented by the Most worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of Alabama. to the National Monumental Society"
 Dr. Edward Can't, himself an ardent member of the Masonic Fraternity, was then operating in small way the quarries which are now owned and op- erated by the Alabama White Marble Company. At his solicitation the conn mittee of the Grand Lodge raised the block of marble from these duarries had 1t beautifully. polished, inscribed and shipped to Washington where 1t