List of Quarries
in Vermont & Quarry
Links, Photographs and Articles
- West Rutland, Vermont – the Marble Industry in West Rutland and other areas of Vermont circa 1904 – “The Carrara of America,” by Day Allen Willey, in Scientific American, Vol. XCI, No. 10, November 5, 1904, pp. 309, 317-318.
“A Vermont Marble Quarry 200 feet Deep.”
“Fifty-Ton Electric Crane Used for Loading Cars.”
“Channeling Machine at Work, Showing Vertical and Horizonal Cuts.”
“One of the Locomotive Cranes in Use at the American Carrara.”
“View of Quarry, Showing the Method of Supporting the Sides by Leaving Buttresses of Marble in the Cut.”
“Quarry at Proctor with Gang of Electric Channeling Machines.”
“Type of Steam Drill Used in Quarrying.”
- West Rutland, Vermont – Albertson Marble Co. (Quarry and Mill) (The following advertisement is from The Monumental News, August, 1895, Vol. 7, No. 8, Chicago, Illinois, pp. 473.)
Albertson Marble Co.
Office, Quarry and Mill, West Rutland, VT.
P. O. Box 598, Rutland, Vt.
Esperanza Blue Marble - Sawed and Finished.
Best Stock. Best Workmanship. Quick Shipments.
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West Rutland (East Side), Vermont - the Albertson Marble Quarry (from Commercial Marbles of Western Vermont, Bulletin 521, by T. Nelson Dale, United States Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1912.)
“The Albertson quarry (formerly known as the Esperanza) is also on the east side of the West Rutland anticlinal valley, 2 ¼ miles north-northwest of West Rutland station in the township of West Rutland. (See Pls. I and IV and map of Castleton quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) The quarry measures 500 feet in a N. 17 ° W. direction by 110 feet across and 115 feet in depth. An area 150 by 110 feet at the north end is worked out as far down as a certain dolomite bed. There is a tunnel 80 to 175 feet wide and 40 feet high, on the west side, extending about 630 feet in a N. 30° W. direction and reaching a point 75 feet west of the west wall of the quarry. Operator, Vermont Marble Co., Proctor, Vt.
“The marble exposed and explored here consists of the following beds:
Section of marble beds at Albertson quarry.
Graphitic marble - 135 feet
Dolomite - 23 feet
Marble, some of it greenish - 19 feet
Dolomite - 22 feet
(Total) - 199 feet
“The marble, ‘extra dark Albertson’ (specimens D, XXXI, 26, a, b, polished), is a graphitic calcite marble of medium bluish-gray shade, with thin, minutely plicated black streaks (beds) and here and there whitish streaks of like character, both crossed at various angles of cleavage planes slightly undulating and also black. A piece of this marble is shown on Plate VIII, B, b. The texture is regular, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.62, mostly 0.17 to 0.37, millimeter, and it is thus of grade 4 (medium). It abounds in graphite, particularly along the little black beds and the planes of slip cleavage, and contains rare minute cubes of pyrite and still more muscovite scales and quartz grains. The amount of graphite in it is probably like that in the West Rutland blue (p. 40). The marble takes a high polish without dolomitic protuberances.
“The beds strike about N. 25° W. The north wall shows a syncline in cross section, and for about 400 feet south of that point the syncline pitches 10 ° about north, and then for 130 feet 5° about south. On the north face of a jog in the west face near the south end the west limb of this syncline dips 15° to 20° E. The tunnel, which makes an angle of 13° with the west wall of the quarry, follows the axis of a syncline. About 315 feet from that wall this syncline on its west side strikes N. 35° - 40° W. and dips 28° E., and its east side also dips at a low angle. The entire width of the syncline is about 200 feet and it opens northward. The beds on the east wall of the quarry are crossed by a conspicuous slip cleavage dipping 20° - 30° east and southeast. (See for general structure Pl. III, section C.)
“The marble of this quarry is used largely for monumental and electric work, but some for construction. St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church at Fall River, Mass., is made of it."
- West Rutland, Vermont - the Carving Studio & Sculpture Center in Vermont (The following information is from the web site.)
“...(The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center) is a “non-profit resource facility dedicated to the ancient art of stone carving and its relevance to the creation of contemporary art. The Studio is located in the heart of central Vermont’s historic marble district in West Rutland.”
- West Rutland (south-southwest of), Vermont - the Day Lime Marble Quarry (from Commercial Marbles of Western Vermont, Bulletin 521, by T. Nelson Dale, United States Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1912.)
“The Day quarry is 3 ¼ miles south-southwest of West Rutland, 1 ¼ miles southeast of the top of Mount Herrick, in the Taconic Range, on the 1,300-foot level, in the town of Ira, Rutland County. (See Pl. 1 and map of Castleton quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) The quarry is reported as having been in operation in Revolutionary times. Operator in 1900, D. D. Day, of Ira, Vt.
“The marble belongs either to the upper graphitic beds close to the base of the schist formation, or else within the schist.
“The marble is a graphitic calcite marble with fine black and grayish bands, and of very uneven texture, with grain diameter of 0.02 to 0.37, rarely 2, mostly 0.07 to 0.25 millimeter, and thus of grade 3 (fine). It contains some quartz and feldspar grains, pyrite, and much graphite in bands. In places it abounds in sections of a large gastropod, resembling Maclurea.
“The marble area is about 300 feet east to west by 800 feet northeast to southwest, and is surrounded by the Berkshire schist of the range. It either protrudes through the overlying schist in consequence of erosion, or else forms a lens within it. On the west side of the quarry a tongue of graphitic sericite schist is dovetailed in the marble and the strike of the marble appears to be nearly east to west and the dip 10° - 20° S. The strike of the schist mass east of the marble, however, is N. 30° E. and the dip 20° N. 50° W.; west of the marble the schist strikes east and west and dips at a low angle to the north. The marble seems to occur at the intersection of a minor transverse fold with the usual folds of the Taconic Range. A synclinal axis passes between the quarry and the top of Mount Herrick. The schist next the marble is slickensided, the grooves running N. 5° W. and dipping 45° E. The marble is much jointed, fractured, and veined with calcite and quartz. Vertical joints strike N. 20° E. and are coated with felty asbestos, “mountain leather” (specimen D, XIX, 259, e), indicating metamorphism subsequent to jointing.”
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West Rutland (West Side), Vermont - the Eastman Marble Prospect (from Commercial Marbles of Western Vermont, Bulletin 521, by T. Nelson Dale, United States Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1912.)
“The Eastman quarry is at the east foot of the Taconic Range, on the west side of the West Rutland anticline, about 0.7 mile S. 10° W. from the West Rutland station, in the township of West Rutland. (See Pls. I and IV and map of Castleton quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) The quarry, which was reopened a few years ago, now measures 126 feet north to south by 105 feet across (at the bottom) and is 135 feet deep. Operator, George P. Eastman, Rutland, Vt., or care of Tompkins-Kiel Marble Co., 505 Fifth Avenue, New York.
“The marble exposed in and west of the quarry and by core drilling on both sides of it comprises the following beds, in natural order:
Section of marble beds at Eastman quarry.
Graphitic gray marble - 57 feet.
Graphitic (?) - 6 feet
Graphitic gray marble - 22 feet
West edge of quarry - 14 feet
Graphitic gray marble
Same with some white bands - 3 feet
Cream-colored marble - 4 feet
Muscovitic (green) marble with beds of cream-colored marble in coarse plications (‘Kiel ’s green’) - 7 feet
Purplish-gray marble - 1 feet 6 inches
Muscovitic (green) marble, plicated, with slip cleavage dipping 5° to 10° E - 2 feet
Dolomite and marble mixed - 2 feet 10 inches
Cream-colored marble with faint green and yellow bands (bed H) - 4 feet 6 inches
Muscovitic (green solid) marble - 11 feet.
White marble, pure - 4 feet
Cream-colored marble with muscovitic (green) bands - 4 feet 6 inches
Muscovitic (green solid) marble - 11 feet
White marble, pure - 4 feet
Cream-colored marble with muscovitic (green) bands - 4 feet 6 inches
Muscovitic calcite marble (bed F) - 3 feet
Muscovitic plicated marble (bed BC) - 4 feet 6 inches
Cream-colored marble - 4 feet 6 inches
White marble (bed IJ) - 5 feet
Muscovitic (green) marble, plicated (bed K) - 4 feet 6 inches
White marble (bed L) - 5 feet 6 inches
White marble with small muscovitic (green) beds (bed M) - 5 feet
East edge of quarry
Gray dolomite - 3 feet
Graphitic marble - 3 feet 6 inches
White marble - 13 feet 6 inches
(Total) 196 feet 4 inches
“Eight of these marbles, the more important and typical ones, were examined microscopically.
“‘Eastman blue’ (specimens D, XXXI, 29, b, rough; r, polished), the 14-foot bed, is a graphitic calcite marble of medium bluish-gray color and of even and fine texture, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.37, mostly 0.12 to 0.25 millimeter, and thus of grade 3 (fine). The texture is peculiar in that the particles are elongate and the longer axes of the different grains are aparallel, imparting some schistosity to the marble. (See fig. 6, p. 41.) The marble contains sparse quartz and muscovite grains. The polished specimen, which was cut across the bed, shows little beds alternating more and less graphitic and in places (by the raised surface) dolomitic; all are in somewhat angular plications with a tendency to slip cleavage.
“‘Kiel’s green’ (specimens D, XXXI, 29, d, rough; 1, polished) consists of interbedded cream to flesh colored calcite marble of coarse irregular texture, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 1.5 millimeters and thus of grade 5, and of a bright greenish-gray schistose muscovitic and chloritic calcite marble of medium elongated texture, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.55, mostly 0.12 to 0.37 millimeter, and thus of grade 4. The cream-colored beds are from 0.5 to 1 inch thick and the green beds are from 0.1 to 1 inch thick. Both are acutely plicated, the limbs of the plications reaching 5 inches in length, and crossed by slip cleavage. A small polished specimen is shown in Plate VIII, A, b. Both marbles contain extremely fine black particles of uncertain nature. The light beds abound in quartz grains up to 1.87 millimeters in diameter, contain some muscovite, and show the effect of secondary strain in bent twinning planes. The green beds contain some fine grains of quartz and its calcite grains are elongated and roughly parallel. In the lower part of the 7-foot bed which furnishes this marble the light beds give place to the green ones and the marble becomes a solid greenish muscovitic calcite marble of medium texture (specimen D, XXXI, 29, g). Although the quartz of the light beds and the muscovite of the green ones interfere somewhat with the polish, the colors and designs of this marble are so unusual and attractive as to offset such imperfections.
“A slightly purplish gray marble (specimen D, XXXI, 29, f) is a sericitic calcite marble with grain diameter mostly under 0.02, rarely 0.37 millimeter, and thus between grades 1 and 2. A little of the calcite is twinned. The rock contains abundant magnetite in plates and some quartz. The schistosity is parallel to the bed, with traces of secondary minute plications transverse to it.
“‘Green-veined cream statuary,’ bed H (specimens D, XXXI, 29, k, rough; 1, polished), is a calcite marble of delicate cream color in bands up to 2 inches thick alternating with slightly plicated bands )beds of yellowish and very pale greenish tint up to 0.1 inch thick. It is even and regular in texture, with grain diameter like that of bed F, averaging about 0.2 millimeter, and is of grade 3. Exceedingly fine black specks occur sparsely throughout. The bands appear to be due to the oxidation of varying quantities of pyrite in very minute particles. The marble takes a high polish.
“The green marble of the 11-foot bed, ‘solid green’ (specimen D, XXXI, 29, e), is a muscovitic quartzose calcite marble of bright greenish-gray color and of irregular elongated parallel texture, with grain diameter of 0.02 to 0.3, mostly 0.04 to 0.09 millimeter, and thus of grade 1. The larger elongated and parallel grains are irregularly mingled with smaller ones of more or less roundish outline. Quartz is very plentiful. The muscovite is in scales and fibers.
“‘Cream statuary,’ bed F (specimens D, XXXI, 29, I, rough; m, polished), is a calcite marble of delicate cream color with very pale brown, minutely plicated beds up to 0.1 inch thick. It is even and regular in texture, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.37, mostly 0.12 to 0.25 millimeter, and is thus of grade 3. It contains rare small grains of quartz and sparse exceedingly minute black specks of uncertain nature. The stone takes a high polish.
“‘Light cipolin,’ bed BC (specimen D, XXXI, 29, o, polished), is a muscovitic calcite marble of light greenish-gray color in which the muscovite occurs in many close, fine, broadly plicated beds. In texture it belongs in grade 4. The polish is only fair because of the mica.
“‘Blanc clair,’ bed IJ (specimens D, XXXI, 29, h, rough; p. polished), is a calcite marble of milk-white to faintly clouded milk-white color and of irregular fine texture, with grain diameter of 0.04 to 0.42, mostly 0.12 to 0.25 millimeter, and thus of grade 3 (fine). It contains sparse minute black grains, rare pyrite, and quartz, and takes a high polish. Its texture is less regular and a grade coarser than that of Rutland Italian (p. 119).
“‘Dark cipolin,’ bed K (specimens D, XXXI, 29, a, rough; n. polished), is a muscovitic calcite marble of generally bright light-greenish color, with alternating more muscovitic (greenish) and more calcitic (whitish) little beds in broad plications 1 to 2 inches wide. Its texture is medium, with a grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.67, mostly 0.12 to 0.37 millimeter, and it is thus of grade 3. The grain form is elongate and also irregular. There are quartz grains up to 0.37 millimeter, muscovite in scales and fibers, and chlorite mingled with a little epidote, besides some minute nodules (possibly titanite) and a little blue-green tourmaline. The green color is due mainly to the muscovite and chlorite. The polish is only fair owning to the mica.
“The white marble with greenish bands of bed M (specimen D, XXXI, 29, j) is a calcite marble of milk-white color, with straight, parallel delicate green muscovitic beds from 0.1 to 0.4 inch wide. Its texture is regular and fine, with grain diameter of 0.05 to 0.5, mostly of 0.12 to 0.25 millimeter, and it is thus of grade 3. It contains rare particles of quartz and sparse minute black grains of uncertain nature. The bands are largely sericite.
“Owing to the variation in the proportion and arrangement of the accessory minerals in each bed the varieties of commercial marbles produced by this quarry are many.
“The probable structure is shown in section E, Plate III. The beds strike N. 20° W., but owing to a minor overturned fold they dip east (35° ) instead of west and are therefore in inverse order. At the bottom of the quarry, 135 feet below the surface, they begin to turn, beginning almost vertical. The dolomite at the east edge of the quarry is described on page 30.
“The product is used mainly for interior decorative work, the blocks being shipped to Astoria, N. Y., where the cutting and polishing are done. Specimens: Interior of Greenpoit Savings Bank, Brooklyn N. Y. (green beds); interior of Prudential Building, Newark, N. J. (green and cream-pink); mantels in United States Senate Office Building, Washington (cream and white); carved work border near ceiling and a large mantel, New York Public Library (cream and white); interior of Connecticut Savings Bank, New Haven, Conn. (white); interior of railroad station, Schenectady, N. Y.”
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West Rutland, Vermont – the Green Mountain Marble Corp. Quarries and Finishing Plant (“Price List of Monumental Marble,” December 21, 1946, Green Mountain Marble Corp., West Rutland, Vermont)
On the last page of the booklet, Green Mountain Marble Corp. states:
“We operate our own quarries and finishing plant and are in a position to furnish your monumental requirements, finished complete, ready to set.
“We will welcome an opportunity to furnish you with estimates made from your rubbings, sketches or duplicate Jobs that you may be in the market for.”
- West Rutland (West Side), Vermont - the McGarry Marble Quarry (from Commercial Marbles of Western Vermont, Bulletin 521, by T. Nelson Dale, United States Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1912.)
“At the McGarry quarry, a small disused opening south of the schoolhouse (see Pl. IV), graphitic marble about 10 feet thick overlies white marble, with a strike of N. 30° W. and dip of 30° N. 60° E. Back of the schoolhouse and about 225 feet northwest of the quarry is a small anticline of dolomite 5 feet thick, the axis of which appears to pass west of the beds exposed in the quarry but may really pass east of it.”
- West Rutland (West Side), Vermont - the Morgan Marble Quarry (from Commercial Marbles of Western Vermont, Bulletin 521, by T. Nelson Dale, United States Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1912.)
“The Morgan quarry is a few hundred feet north of the Eastman quarry. (See Pls. I and IV.) It has been recently reopened by the Vermont Marble Co. The beds are the same or very nearly the same as those at the Eastman quarry; the strike is N. 25° W. and the dip vertical, changing to east. There is a very low eastward-dipping cleavage in some of the beds. An augite camptonite dike with a N. 65° E. course cuts the beds near the quarry. (See further, p. 73.)”
- West Rutland (West Side), Vermont - the Rutland-Florence Marble Quarry (from Commercial Marbles of Western Vermont, Bulletin 521, by T. Nelson Dale, United States Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1912.)
“The Rutland-Florence quarry is about 300 feet north of the Umbrella, and is also out of use. It is owned by the Vermont Marble Co., Proctor, Vt. There are beds of white marble in the quarry, west of it lie 57 feet of beds covered by turf, and west of these are 70 feet of graphitic marbles. The strike in and west of the quarry is N. 15° W. and the dip 35° N. 75° E.”
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West Rutland, Rutland County, Vermont - Sheldon & Slason’s Marble Quarry History up through 1872.
The following excerpt is from a paper from the First Annual Report of the Vermont State Board of Agriculture, Manufactures and Mining, for The Year 1872, by Peter Collier, Secretary of the Board Montpelier, J. & J. M., Poland’s Steam Printing Establishment, 1872, “Rutland County Marble, with a History of the Marble Industry of Vermont, and a Statement of Comparative Value,” An address delivered before the State Board of Agriculture, &C., at Burlington, Jan. 24, 1872, By J. E. Manley, Esq., of West Rutland. (pp. 656-666). (You will find the complete history of the Rutland County Marble Quarries circa 1872 in the entry entitled: “ Rutland County, Vermont - Rutland County Marble, with a History of the Marble Industry of Vermont up through 1872 above.”)
Sheldons & Slason’s Quarry.
“In the east deposit of Sheldons & Slason’s quarries, which I am now describing, we find essentially the same principal and phenomena exhibited in all the different quarries of this rich deposit.
“The east or top layer in this quarry is now quarried to a depth of 185 feet, and dips 45 degrees at the surface and 50 degrees at the lowest depth attained; is four feet thick, 2 ½ statuary marble and 1 ½ of lime rock. In this opening, east of the general line of quarries, are embraced eight different layers, forming 31 feet of the 110 total width of known marble on this range. Two of these layers are of average and No. 2 marble, both of which form about one-fourth of the marble. While only a fifteenth part is of statuary marble, all the other layers are of No. 3, veined, blue and mottled marble. With this and other blue layers is often found white marble, distinct in color and texture. The 7th layer in this opening presents a strange phenomenon in nature, being for some distance from the surface white, and at a distance of 75 feet from the surface changing to a deep blue. This layer is nine feet thick. The 8 th or west layer is mottled blue, known as Dore blue, free from flint, and susceptible of a very fine polish. The No. 3 marbles embrace all the cheap marbles, and in the absence of better stone will not pay the expense of manufacturing.
“The west deposit embraces 79 feet of the general deposit, and contains sixteen layers of marble, and represents nearly all the quarries in successful operation at West Rutland. Dip of strata at Surface 50 degrees; at a depth of 100 feet stand at an angle of 85 degrees. The lower or east layer is of average and No. 2 marble, is 2 ½ feet thick at the surface, and at a depth of forty feet is 7 feet thick. Layer No. 2 is of statuary marble, of excellent quality and six feet thick. Statuary marble bears the highest price of any in the market, usually selling for $12 per cubic foot. The proportion found is far too small for the demand, forming, as it does, only a small proportion of the general deposit. 3d layer, average and No. 2, 4 th and 5 th, and No. 3. The 5th layer is 4 feet thick, has in the center good No. 1 and statuary about one foot thick, and here again geological science must explain the fact that where No. 1 and statuary marble are found in the center of a layer, invariably exceedingly poor, flinty and worthless marble is found upon either side.
“The 6 th layer is of brocadilla marble, green and white varied, the white predominating. Is a very durable marble for building or ornamental work, but owing to the presence of flinty particles it will not receive a high polish. Layer 7 th from the east consists of average No. 2 and No. 3 marble, four feet thick. Layer 8th is of No. 2 and average, ten feet thick, white upon one side and variegated or No. 2 upon the other, and blending so imperceptibly with the white that no dividing line is traceable. This layer at the surface was six feet thick, and increasing in thickness downward; and this is the case with all the layers in this quarry. No. 9, 10, 11, and 12 are all of No. 3 marble. of different colors and texture. No. 13, average marble, a grade between No. 1 and No. 2, or white marble denoted by the presence of color, generally of a blue cast, sometimes quite dark, and again of a greenish hue. Very little color of any grade is adduced in this grade.
“No. 14 is a layer, 3d from the west of developed layers, embracing lime rock and marble, 5 feet thick. This layer at the surface was marble, very soft, and at a depth of 80 feet from the surface is changed to lime-stone and flint. The most curious freak of nature is here exhibited that has ever been known in the history of marble quarrying, peculiarly illustrating the principle exhibited by some people in minding other people’s business. This layer, not content in changing from marble to flint, runs through the layer east of it, cutting it completely off by an off shoot from two to six inches thick. Without design, doubtless, representing the influence of people who began well in life, but without moral courage to hold out, not only defeating the original design of the creation, but thwarting the purpose of honest people. No. 15, is a layer of No. 2 and 3 marble 2 ½ feet thick. No. 16 and west layer is nearly developed and closely resembles the Italian marble in texture and color, and is therefore called the Italian layer, a water colored and variegated marble. Thus we see that from this statement nearly one-half, 35-79, of the most valuable deposits is of No. 3 or unpaying marble, whilst 44-79 is of largely paying quality, consisting of statuary, No. 1, average, and No. 2. Many people in search of the great wealth found in rich deposits of marble, often lose sight of the fact in their explorations, that unless a quarry has a certain proportion of the paying grades of marble, it will not pay to work them, although sound marble may be found under the surface of the ground.”
- West Rutland, Vermont – Sheldon & Sons (The following
advertisement is from The Reporter: Devoted To The Interests of Marble
and Granite Workers, Vol. XVII, No. 6, published by Nichols & Co., Chicago, Illinois, June, 1884, pp. 20.)
Sheldon & Sons,
Charles Sheldon, Chas. H. Sheldon, John A. Sheldon, Wm. K. Sheldon.
Producers and Wholesale Dealers in Rutland Marble,
Quarries and Mills at West Rutland, Vermont. - West Rutland, Vermont – the Vermont Marble Company Quarry at West Rutland (The following photographs are from one of the Vermont Marble Company, World’s Largest Marble Exhibit, Proctor, Vermont Postcard Folders (pdf) The photographs relating to West Rutland are below. If you would like to view the rest of the postcard photographs, click on the pdf link in the preceding sentence.)
“Quarry scenes – Vermont Marble Company – West Rutland, Vermont”
“Marble block storage – West Rutland, Vermont”
“Sawing marble with
diamond saw”“Polishing marble slab – Center Rutland, Vermont”
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Front cover of the Price List of Monumental Marble, Green Mountain Marble Corp., West Rutland, Vermont, Dec. 1946 |
Title page of of the Price List of Monumental Marble, Green Mountain Marble Corp., West Rutland, Vermont, Dec. 1946 |
Pages 2-3 of of the Price List of Monumental Marble, Green Mountain Marble Corp., Vermont, indicating use of West Rutland White marble, Vert Mont Green Marble, Clarendon White Marble, & Clarendon Blue Marble |
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