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Home > Vermont > Quarry Links and Photographs
| This map shows the granite centers in various parts of New England. From The Commercial Granites of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island published in 1908, page 75. (Click map to open a larger copy in a new window. Close the window to return. Map size is 201k.) |  |
| (photograph) (From The Commercial Granites of New England, Bulletin 738, 1923. Map size is 231k.) |  |
Following is a list of Vermont stone quarries that include photographs, historical, and present-day information on the quarries. Click on the photograph or name to access the photograph or link. Photographs will open in a new window. Close the window to return.
There are in this
country other deposits of limestones, some of which are now being worked
and others which will produce very largely in the future, but the quarries
lying in the neighborhood of Rutland and Proctor, Vermont, produce annually
more handsome marble many times over than is taken out in all the rest
of America. This is due to the fine quality of stone in the quarries,
the improved and efficient methods of working and the convenient transportation
facilities which enable the stone to be easily put on the market. Old-fashioned
and laborious methods of quarrying and handling the stone have been entirely
displaced by the most modern machinery. The stone is too easily cracked
and broken to allow of blasting. It is therefore cut out of the beds,
in which it lies, by machines called "channelers". These consist
of rows of long chisels, set in a strong travelling framework. This gang
of chisels is arranged so that it is worked by machinery and vibrates
up and down cutting a channel or groove in any desired direction. When
the groove is sufficiently long and deep the channeler is set at work
in another place cutting a cross channel and the bottom is also perforated.
The block can then be easily split away by means of wedges. Blocks of
marble thus dislodged are lifted by cranes and derricks worked by steam
or electricity and carried rapidly and easily to the railroad cars for
transportation. The picture shows one large block of marble being thus
lifted to the surface of the ground. The clean-cut steps in the sides
of the quarry show plainly how the machines have cut away the marble in
great blocks. In the bottom of the quarry are some portable engines which
furnish power for the quarrying machinery. A few laborers have been engaged
in cleaning away the snow. At Proctor, Vermont, there are very extensive
works where large amounts of this marble are dressed to size for building
purposes before being shipped away. Much of it is sawed into slabs and
polished for ornamental work. Vermont produces some pure white marble,
a great deal of which is somewhat bluish in color, some which is variegated
and some which is almost jet black. “Vermont. - Most of the steatite of this State is found on the east side of the Green Mountains and near the eastern line of the talcose slate formation, beds of it extending nearly the entire length of the State. The rock occurs usually associated with serpentine and hornblende. The beds are not continuous and have, as a rule, a great thickness in comparison with their length. It not infrequently happens that several isolated outcrops occur on the same line of strata, sometimes several miles apart, and in many cases alternating with beds of dolomitic lime stone that are scattered along with them.
“At least sixty beds of this rock occur in the State in the towns of…Andover….”
“Vermont. - Most of the steatite of this State is found on the east side of the Green Mountains and near the eastern line of the talcose slate formation, beds of it extending nearly the entire length of the State. The rock occurs usually associated with serpentine and hornblende. The beds are not continuous and have, as a rule, a great thickness in comparison with their length. It not infrequently happens that several isolated outcrops occur on the same line of strata, sometimes several miles apart, and in many cases alternating with beds of dolomitic lime stone that are scattered along with them.
“At least sixty beds of this rock occur in the State in the towns of…Athens….”
“Of the beds named those in Grafton and Athens are stated to have been longest worked and to have produced the most stone. The beds lie in gneiss. The quarries were profitably worked as early as 1820. Another important bed is that in the town of Weathersfield. This, like that of Grafton, is situated in gneiss, but has no overlying rock, and the soap-stone occurs in inexhaustible quantities. It was first worked about 1847, and during 1859 about 800 tons of material were removed and sold….”
“Vermont. - Most of the steatite of this State is found on the east side of the Green Mountains and near the eastern line of the talcose slate formation, beds of it extending nearly the entire length of the State. The rock occurs usually associated with serpentine and hornblende. The beds are not continuous and have, as a rule, a great thickness in comparison with their length. It not infrequently happens that several isolated outcrops occur on the same line of strata, sometimes several miles apart, and in many cases alternating with beds of dolomitic lime stone that are scattered along with them.
“At least sixty beds of this rock occur in the State in the towns of…Baltimore….”
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