USA > Vermont > Rutland County > History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 50
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Opera House. - Previous to the erection of the old Ripley Music Hall, in 1869, by William Y. Ripley, the town hall was used for most of the public amusements and gatherings in the village. The loss of the Music Hall by fire in 1875 was severely felt, and in 1881 General E. H. Ripley erected the pres- ent Opera House on the site of the burned structure. The Opera House was dedicated in October, 1881. The building presents a handsome exterior, while the interior is admirably adapted to the purposes for which it was designed. It seats about 850 persons. The interior of the house was designed by and finished under the architectural direction of J. J. R. Randall, of Rutland.
THE MARBLE INTEREST OF THE TOWN.
In a preceding chapter Mr. Wardwell has treated in a thorough manner the general marble industry of the county, leaving us the task in the various town histories of merely detailing the formation, growth and present condition of the several companies and firms that are now engaged in its production. The real beginning of the marble industry in this town dates farther back than is com- monly supposed, though it did not attain prominence until about the middle of
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the century. The venerable Artemas Ward, of West Rutland, who has lived in the town eighty-five years, says he quarried marble there more than fifty years ago for grave stones, while the father of William F. Barnes (whose name was also William) and Gardner Tripp dug out flat pieces of marble as early as 1820 ; these pieces were split and hewed into tolerable shape for grave stones, and William Denison, a shoemaker and general mechanic, cut them into still more presentable form and inscribed on them the virtues of the departed. These stones were taken out near West Rutland village, where the great quar- ries of to-day resound with the blows of steam-driven quarrying machines, and also in Whipple Hollow. Many of the older stones in the ancient burying ground at West Rutland were thus obtained years before work began in the quarries for commercial purposes. Here and there a man whose circumstances would admit of it, quarried enough marble in rough blocks to make a founda- tion for his house ; others used better pieces for fire-place jambs, generally in the rough, but now and then polished. We are speaking now of a period im- mediately succeeding 1820. With the efforts of Messrs. Humphrey and Orms- bee in one locality and William F. Barnes in another, the marble industry may be said to have really begun, in a commercial sense.
Of the quarries and mills now in operation at West Rutland, those of Shel- don & Sons are the largest. This firm is composed of Charles Sheldon and his sons, John A., Charles H. and William K., and is the legitimate successor of the firm that was formed in 1850 by Charles Sheldon, Lorenzo Sheldon, David Morgan and Charles H. Slason. There was but one quarry opened then on the property purchased by them, its opening dating from 1844. The mar- ble was all hauled to Whitehall by teams and the business was necessarily lim- ited by that fact. In the spring of 1841 the firm built an eight-gang mill and with the opening of the railroad in 1851 a wonderful impetus was given to the business. The old mill ran at first only about nine months of the year and during the day-time only. In 1851 the old mill burned and on its site was erected a mill with eighteen gangs of saws. In 1857 the firm became Charles Sheldon, Lorenzo Sheldon, Henry A. Sheldon and Charles H. Slason, Mr. Morgan retiring. In 1865 another change occurred, Lorenzo and Henry A. Sheldon retiring, and the firm becoming Charles Sheldon, Charles H. Slason, John A. Sheldon and Charles H. Sheldon In 1866 their mill again burned, and one of twenty-four gangs was erected ; and in 1875 a second one of the same capacity was added. In the mean time two other quarries were opened, one in 1859 and the other in 1864. These comprise the three extensive quar- ries now in process of working by the firm. On the first of October, 1881, Mr. Slason retired from the firm, leaving the members Charles Sheldon, John A. Sheldon, Charles H. Sheldon and William K. Sheldon. In the same year a twenty-gang mill was added, with capacity for forty-eight. All of these mills are now commonly run night and day. Their finishing department was
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added in 1879-80, employing at times one hundred and twenty men in making stock for the trade; eight turning lathes are in use, six polishing lathes and three rubbing beds. During the past year the average number of men employed was four hundred and fifty. The product comprises the different varieties of the Rutland marbles, statuary, the lower grades of white, and all varieties of blue. The annual product is valued at about $450,000. The store near the quarries was built by the firm in 1865, and at the present time H. H. Brown, a former clerk, and the head of the firm of H. H. Brown & Company, is in charge of the trade; the walls of all the principal buildings belonging to these works are of marble ; numerous derricks rise against the sky ; teams of oxen and horses haul enormous blocks of marble about the grounds ; the unceasing sound of the saws is heard, and the whole presents a scene of business activity that is welcome to the practical eye.
The Vermont Marble Company now owns and operates the following quarries at Proctor : The " old quarry," so called, which has been operated for fifty years ; the Adams quarry, quarried about twenty years ; the Mountain Dark, a mile and a half north, opened five years ago ; the Changreau quarry, opened one year ago ; all opened by this company or its predecessors. It has also a very large amount of quarry property undeveloped and some quarries partly developed but which they are not now working. At West Rutland the com- pany owns nearly one-half mile in length on the marble belt, on which there are seven quarries open. Three or four of them are operated at a time by turns as they can be worked to the best advantage. The company also owns a large amount of quarry property in Clarendon, south of Clarendon Springs, recently purchased and not fully developed. At Proctor they own the " old mill," so called, of sixteen gangs, and the several new mills, built at different times within ten years but attached to each other, and having, with the old mill, seventy-four gangs at Proctor. At Center Rutland there are two mills, one at the north side of the river known as the Continental mill, with twelve gangs, and one at the south side known as the Clement mill, with twenty-six gangs. At West Rutland there is a steam mill with sixteen gangs. Four gangs of the old mill at Proctor were put in fifty years ago. Three additions have been made to it since, one of six gangs by the Sutherland Falls Company in 1869. The first section of the last mill was built by Dorr & Myers in 1868 and con- tained eight gangs. The next one of twelve gangs was built by the Suther- land Falls Marble Company in 1876. The next one of thirty gangs was built by the Sutherland Falls Marble Company in 1879 and '80, and the last one of eight gangs has been recently built. The mills at Center Rutland were orig- inally built by Charles Clement, but a new one of fourteen gangs was built by the Vermont Marble Company in 1882. The mill at West Rutland was built by the Rutland Marble Company about 1870. The Vermont Marble Company was formed by the consolidation of the Sutherland Falls Marble Company and
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the Rutland Marble Company, and was organized October 1, 1880, with its present officers. The annual value of its product is about $800,000 and from nine hundred to one thousand men are employed. It produces the white and blue marbles from the West Rutland deposit, the veined marble at Sutherland Falls and the dark marble from the Mountain Dark and Changreau quarries, embracing all the standard varieties from pure white to nearly black. It is a member of the Producers' Marble Company, having a percentage of 54.72 of the sales of that company.1
Gilson & Woodfin .- Just north of and almost adjoining the quarries and mills of the Sheldons are those of Gilson & Woodfin (E. P. Gilson and John N. Woodfin). These quarries were opened in 1845 by Joseph Adams and Ira C. Allen, of Fairhaven, for whom William F. Barnes worked by contract until 1849, when they took a lease. The product was then taken to Fairhaven to be sawed by water-power. There was for more than thirty - five years but one opening made. In 1869 the quarry was sold to Charles Clement, Farrand Par- ker and Edwin P. Gilson, who constituted the firm of Clement, Parker & Gil- son. This firm put up an eight-gang mill and otherwise increased the works until 1874, when the firm was changed to Gilson, Clement & Woodfin, com- posed of E. P. Gilson, Walter P. Clement and John N. Woodfin. In 1878 Mr. Clement retired and the firm assumed its present style. Since 1878 the works have been increased three different times ; five gangs of saws were first added and later eight more, while large additions were made to their buildings. They now operate twenty-one gangs of saws, have erected a finishing shop, coping shop and tenement houses, and employ abont one hundred and fifty men. The product comprises the white and blue Rutland marbles, and amounts to about $150,000 annually. The product is. all sold now by the Producers' Marble Company.
Ripley Sons .- The marble works now carried on under the above firm name are among the oldest in the county. The late William Ripley removed to Center Rutland from Middlebury, where had been engaged in business, about the year 1835. There he had his attention called to the marble indus- try by William F. Barnes, who was just beginning the long series of opera- tions towards the development of the quarries. Mr. Ripley foresaw the im- portance of the industry and the two men bought the valuable water-power at Center Rutland where their mills are now situated, and erected an old-fash - ioned pendulum mill of eight gangs of saws; this building is still standing. The slow but gradual development of the business continued until 1850, when the partnership was dissolved and a contract entered into by which Mr. Ripley or his assigns should be supplied with marble from the quarry delivered free of charge on his switch, for a time without limit, he to saw and market the same and divide the profits with Mr. Barnes. This arrangement continued
1 Contributed.
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until the year 1865, when William Y. Ripley retired from the business and his sons, William Y. W. Ripley and E. H. Ripley, assumed control and still retain it; the same contract is in force with the Vermont Marble Company, which has come into possession of the property (which see). The quarry from which this supply comes is known as the old Foster opening, and is north of the Gil- son & Woodfin quarries. William Y. Ripley built another mill of eight gangs in the early history of the business, and the two were operated until 1881, when a twenty-gang mill was erected. In 1877 one of the old mills was changed to a finishing shop and turning shop. In 1882 a new contract, sup- plementary to the one alluded to, was entered into with the Vermont Com- pany, by which Ripley Sons receive a supply of blue marble from West Rut- land and Sutherland's Falls marble of the dark variegated variety. Seventy- five men are employed by the firm and the annual product has a value of about $100,000. The stock of the company is sold by the Producers' Marble Company. W. T. Ripley, son of William Y. W. Ripley, constituting this firm, is inventor of the Ripley sand feed, an improvement of great utility, which was patented in 1884 ; its object is to give a more uniform and economical feed of sand to the saws, and it seems to accomplish it successfully. It is in use in many of the mills.
Columbian Marble Company .- The quarries of this company are those opened by Moses P. Humphrey and Edgar L. Ormsbee, about one and a half miles south of Sutherland Falls. The first mill at Sutherland Falls was built to saw this marble in 1837-38. The hard times of that period and other causes involved the company to some extent and it gave up the work. Work was again begun on these quarries in 1868 by the "North Rutland Marble Company." In the year 1871 the Columbian Marble Company, with nearly the same stockholders, purchased the former company's property and rights. The first officers were Dr. Timothy Gordon, president ; Rockwood Barrett, clerk and treasurer. The present officers are : Samuel J. Gordon, president ; Rockwood Barrett, clerk, treasurer and general manager. The mills of the present company are located in Rutland village near the railroad track, and contain thirteen gangs of saws, which are run night and day. Marble is also turned largely in this mill, and to Dr. Barrett is due to a great extent the credit of first employing fixed tools in turning marble ; the turning done pre- vious to 1876 was done by hand and in a small way. About one hundred and fifty men are employed by the company. The product of their quarries em- braces light clouded marble of various grades, and the dark variegated varie- ties ; they also handle the Bardillo Marble Company's goods, of Brandon, con- sisting of blue marble and a variety resembling Italian bardillo.
The Valido Marble Company's quarry is located at West Rutland adjoining that of the Esperanza Marble Company. The mills and shops are at Fair- haven and were opened in 1884 by the company. The capital stock is $300,-
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000, divided into shares of $100 each, and is chiefly owned by J. B. and G. H. Reynolds and W. H. Johnson. The marble produced at the company's quarry is, as its; name (Val-e-do) implies, exceedingly beautiful and in sound- ness is far superior to that of any quarry that has as yet been developed in the State. The company employs from seventy-five to one hundred men at the quarry and in the mills. The mills and finishing shops are run by water power.
The True Blue Marble Company .- This company was organized May 26, 1884, with the following officers: J. W. Cramton, president ; J. N. Baxter, treasurer; George B. Royce, secretary. These officers remain the same, ex- cept that E. D. Keyes is now treasurer and manager. The mill and quarry are at West Rutland, with offices both there and at Rutland village. The cap- ital of the company is $200,000. Before the organization of this company Mr. Royce, associated with nine others, who comprise the present principal stockholders, prospected about a year with the view of opening the business of manufacturing and selling blue marble, now the most fashionable variety. Upon the strength of their investigations the company was formed and four farms were bought, the one upon which the quarry is situated having been purchased of John O'Rourke for $10,000; it was secured by O'Rourke of Mr. Dwyre, who obtained of the Chatterton estate. The company's mill has eight gangs"of saws running night and day, and the product is sold as fast as pro- duced. The product embraces the finest grades of dark, extra dark veined and mottled blue marble, in block, sawed and finished stock. The marbles of this quarry it is claimed now command the highest average price of any Ver- mont marble, a fact resting largely upon the prevailing taste and fashion.
The Dorset Marble Company has its offices in Rutland. It was organized under special act of the Legislature in 1881, with a capital of $300,000, and the following officers, who still retain their respective positions : President, E. J. Hawley, of Manchester ; treasurer and clerk, J. H. Goulding. The company purchased two quarries and a mill property at East Dorset of J. B. Hollister, who had previously worked them, and subsequently a quarry and mill at West Rutland, of Carlos S. Sherman, and a mill at Hydeville, in the town of Castle- ton. The West Rutland quarry had been worked before by Mr. Sherman. The product of the East Dorset quarries is Italian or monumental marble, and of the West Rutland quarry both white and blue marble. The company have thirty-two gangs of saws running and employ about one hundred hands. The sales of the company are about $125,000 annually. The product of this com- pany is taken and sold by the Producers' Marble Company.
The Esperanza Marble Company. - This company was organized in Janu- ary, 1883, with the following officers: H. C. De Rivera, president and treasu- rer ; George F. Breed, secretary ; W. O. Sargent, superintendent. The quarry, which is in Whipple Hollow about one and one-half miles north of those of
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Sheldon & Sons, was opened in November, 1882, the product being a fine quality of blue marble, fine in grain, and susceptible of a brilliant polish. Pre- vious to the present year (1885) the product of the quarries was sold to the trade in blocks; but in the year named an eight-gang mill was erected and started in June. In September of the same year the management of the quarry and mill was placed in the hands of Andrew J. Dunton, who was with the Co- lumbian Company for thirteen years. The company have offices in New York and Boston, and the officers at the present time are P. S. J. Talbot, president ; Henry C. De Rivera, treasurer and secretary ; Andrew J. Dunton, general manager ; W. O. Sargent, superintendent.
Center Rutland Marble Company. - In the year 1880 Colonel Benjamin P. Baker, then residing in New York city, purchased what is known as the " old Griggs farm " (the birth-place of his wife), and discovered thereon a valuable deposit of marble. After finding a vein of beautiful variegated dark marble, he opened a quarry and in 1881 organized the " Center Rutland Marble Com- pany," with several of his New York friends, Horace K. Thurber, S. V. White, Edward A. Seccomb, and others, associated with him. The company ener- getically continued the work of quarrying, Colonel Baker having removed from New York and taken up his permanent residence on the farm, personally su- perintending the work. The samples obtained from the quarry and adjoining points on the farm proved eminently satisfactory, and after two years the com- pany erected an eight-gang mill adjacent to the track of the Central Vermont Railroad and convenient to their quarry. This, though not one of the largest, is one of the best and most convenient mills in the State. Although the beauty and variety of the product was all that could be desired, the heavy percentage of unsoundness in the blocks led to the abondonment of the original quarry. Colonel Baker tendered the company (just before his death in November, 1884) an interest in another opening on his private portion of the farm, called the " North Star " quarry ; this, with blocks purchased elsewhere, has enabled the company to continue the business, which, with the liberal backing of its mem- bers, has steadily grown to the present time. About fifty men are employed, and with an increased capacity to twenty gangs acquired by them through the recent possession of the property near by known as the " Albion Mill," they are enabled to turn out a large quantity of work. A new railroad station was opened in connection with the office and mill of the company in 1884, to which Colonel Baker gave the name of "Rutland Valley "; this title is now associa- ted with the neighborhood formerly known as " Double Road Crossing." The present officers of the company are Edward A. Seccomb, of Brown & Seccomb, New York, president ; Albert H. Smith, of Wells, Robeson & Smith, New York, vice-president ; Horace K. Thurber, of Thurber, Whyland & Company, New York, treasurer; Charles E. Baker, Rutland Valley, manager ; J. D. Sleeper, Rutland Valley, superintendent.
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West Rutland Marble Company. - The quarry operated by this company was opened about the year 1865 by David Morgan. The product is what comes under the descriptive title of West Rutland marble, similar in its finish- ing qualities to the Italian product and of fine texture. The company now operating the works was chartered in the fall of 1881, its first officers being E. M. Nelson, president ; William P. Manley, secretary and treasurer. The capi- tal stock was placed at $250,000 and is largely held by Massachusetts men. In April, 1883, William W. Clark succeeded Mr. Manley as secretary and treas- urer. The company has mills at West Rutland and at Salem, N. Y., the ca- pacity of which is about 250,000 feet per annum from the twelve gangs of saws running. About fifty men are employed by the company, and the busi- ness in all of its general features is constantly growing.
Standard Marble Company. - The quarry operated by this company is lo- cated at West Rutland and was opened in September, 1883. Organization as the " Standard Marble Company " was perfected in October, 1883, with N. W. Bachelder as president ; J. E. Manley, clerk, and J. D. Rogers, treasurer. Mr. Batchelder is now the president, and Mr. Manley manager. The product of the quarry at the present time is blue and variegated marble; but the deposit is said to include white marble also. The mill used by the company is part of the property known as the " American Marble Company," and is owned by a gentleman of Glens Falls.
The Producers' Marble Company. - The intelligent reader of the few preceding pages may naturally have arrived at the conclusion that in a busi- ness of the immense magnitude of the Rutland marble industry, where sev- eral large and powerful corporations are engaged, competition and opposi- tion would be likely to spring up which would tend to render the business of little profit to those engaged in it, and of little benefit to the community at large. To avoid a possibility of such results, as well as to equalize prices of marble for the benefit of workers throughout the country, the "Producers' Marble Company " was organized on the Ist of January, 1883. This company handles the entire product of five of the largest marble producing companies in the world, viz. : The Vermont Marble Company, Sheldon & Sons, the Dor- set Marble Company, Ripley Sons and Gilson & Woodfin. The entire prod- uct of these companies is put into a pool upon a basis that gives each an equit- able share in the business, and sold at uniform prices in Rutland and at their branch offices in New York, Boston and Chicago. In short, so enormous is the amount of marble handled by the company that it practically controls prices throughout the world. The kinds of marble handled by the company embrace all the best varieties - the Rutland, Sutherland Falls, East Dorset, Italian and what is termed Mountain Dark. The shipments of the company in the year 1884 reached the enormous quantity of about 6,000 car loads, and their goods are penetrating into all of the civilized countries of the world, shipments now being made into Australia and South America.
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The present officers of the company are Redfield Proctor, president ; John A. Sheldon, vice-president ; E. P. Gilson, secretary and treasurer ; general manager, D. K. Hall.
Early Marble Industry at Sutherland Falls. - At the risk of some minor repetitions of statements already given in a preceding chapter on the general marble industry of the county, we here append a brief review of the important business at this point, as furnished in some manuscript notes left by the late R. S. Humphrey. He states, upon the authority of Samuel Butler, that the first marble taken from what was first known as the Humphrey Quarry, afterward owned by the Columbian Marble Company and now by the Vermont Marble Company, was in the fall of the year 1836, and that the first saw started at the falls for sawing marble was on Monday, the 26th day of September, 1837.
In the summer of 1836 Willard and Moses Humphrey became convinced that the quarrying and sawing of marble could be made profitable. They had little capital ; there were no railroads; there was no post-office nearer than Pittsford and West Rutland, and they were entirely lacking in practical knowl- edge of the work they resolved to undertake. The first work was done in the Columbian Quarry by blasting out the blocks with gunpowder, hauling them with ropes, pulleys and rollers up an inclined plane to a wagon or sled, and thence to the falls with oxen. Several small openings were made in prospect- ing for marble, one of which was about thirty rods north of the first or Colum- bian opening; one on the Capron Farm, and one west of the Capron House, near the Back Road. But they did not begin work on what was afterwards distinguished as the Sutherland Falls Quarry until the summer of 1838. The building of the first mill, with four gangs of saws, was begun in the winter of 1836-37, previous to which date they had associated with themselves E. L. Ormsbee, of Rutland, under the firm name of Humphreys & Ormsbee. On the 26th day of September, 1837, the first saws began to swing. Up to this time not more than five or six men had ever been employed by the firm at one time. The mill was a substantial stone building, part of the walls of which helped to form the north wall of the " lower mill."
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