The San Francisco call., 1908-03-29
FIND PINK MARBLE
IN NEVADA CANYON
Valuable Formation Located by
Government GeoIogist Near
Utah State Line
Distance From Railroad Only
Drawback to Commercial
Development OF Quarry

WASHINGTON. March 28--A marble
deposit in eastern Nevada was exam
ined in the fall of 1907 by N. H. Darton,
! one of the geologists of the United
States geological survey, at the request
of J. X Taylor, supervising architect
of the treasury, and report on the ex-
tent, conditions of occurrence and COM
mercial prospects of the deposit has
/ been published by the survey as an ad-
vance chapter from bulletin No. $40,
contributions to Economic Geology,
1907"
The exposures of the marble occur in
one of the numerous canyons that in
else the rocks of the Snake range in
the southeastern part of White Pine
county and open into Snake valley. The
particular canyon of the marble lies
south of some warm springs and the
! exposures begin at a point about five
miles west by south of Candy postoffice.
in Millard county, Utah. or four miles
west of the Nevada state line.
For two miles the marble constitutes
the greater part of the walls of the
main canyon and also of several of it's
| branches, lying throughout this dis
tance near or above the canyon floor,
but pitching downward at both ends of
| the exposure. The marble member is
about $50 feet thick and is included be-
tween metaphoric schists.
Inc ndTDle Is d COIupitle IeCIySldt-
Iized limestone, showing great variety
of tints of various colors. The larger
part of the deposit is a dark blush
| gray, banded or mottled with light gray
or white. A thick deposit of white
marble with slight but pleasing tinge
of cream occurs in the upper part of
the member.
In the western part of the canyon
this white marble is massively bedded
| and about So feet thick. Farther east
| it outcrops along the canyon walls at
! various elevations, and near the east
end of the canyon, where it passes be-
meath the surface it is about 80 feet
| thick and not massively bedded. In an
/ exposure on the slopes a short distance
| south of the canyon, where the marble
is brought to the surface over an area
| of few square acres, the rock is pink.
/ in part in general tone and in part in
mottlings, but the extent of the pink
marble is not revealed.
The natural weathered surface indi-
Gates that the rock would weather sat
isfactorily its crystalline structure is
so complete that it takes beautiful
polish and this character appears to
| extend throughout the entire deposit.
Darton says that the beds are fa-
! vorably situated for quarrying, as they
| lie nearly level for long distances and
/ are presented in sloping canyon walls.
| The quantity of marble is great and
| there seems to be no reason why quar-
ries properly opened should not be
/ operated successfully. The canyon has
a good road, over which the material
easily could be brought on a gentle
down grade to the main wagon road
in Snake valley. Thence. however. the
distance to the railroad is from SIS to
so miles over mountains or along val
leys. and the expense of haulage would
be great.
Physical tests of four samples of the
marble made at the structural mate
rials testing laboratories of the sur
vey at ST. Louis showed a crushing
strength ranging from approximately
| 1900 pounds per cubic foot to more
than 10000. These samples do not,
however, indicate the strength which
/ the quarry material might be expected
to have, as they were all taken either
from outcropping ledges or within a
few inches of the surface. Chemical
analyses of these four samples also
were made at the ST. Louis labora-
tories, and the results of these are
given in Darton's report copies of
which may be obtained free of charge
by applying to the director of the geo.
logical survey.