USA > Vermont > The Lake Champlain and Lake George valleys, Vol II > Part 21
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The chief mineral of western Vermont is, of course, marble. Although this industry is centered around Rutland and Proctor there are marble deposits stretching from Bennington County northward through not only Rutland County, but also Addison, Chittenden, Frank- lin and Grand Isle (Isle LaMotte). In the marble belt the economic development of Vermonters was dominated by this industry in some- what the same way that iron influenced the lives of the people in north- ern New York.
A stranger gazing in delight at the beautiful marble produced here or contemplating the deposits at the quarries instinctively begins to wonder about it all and seeks to unlock the secrets of the past that he may know the mechanics of the Creator's art and how marble came to be. No one can tell this story better than George W. Bain:
"This region was under a sea teeming with animal life. The animals left their shells to make a thick limestone which in some places was free from mud and other places contained a great deal carried in from adjacent lands. The shells became cemented into limestone. Elevation of the country to the east raised these limestones above sea level and caused them to be folded and broken in a manner not dif- ferent to that experienced by ice when it flows down off elevated moun- tain ranges. A great plate of rocks was moved westward like a blanket to cover the sea deposits against the ravages of weather until they had become thoroughly indurated. Volcanoes broke loose along many of the fractures and distilled the living parts of the sea animals from the limestones, thereby changing the brown and gray rock to a white marble. At other places they deposited silicate minerals along their channels, just as they deposit them at Yellowstone Park today, made the veining in the stone and sealed all but the exceedingly nar- row openings in it. The mountainous country of this time began to undergo wear by the wind and running water and the ice that came on occasion and the whole region was worn down to a relatively low sur- face which divides the Green Mountain summits on one side and the
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Taconics on the other. Rivers flowed between these divides at levels only a few feet above sea level."
Then there was an irregular uplift of this area which allowed the rivers to start cutting anew through the surface rocks to expose the marble. Still later came the ice sheet which, in its turn, renovated the landscape.
The first reference to marble in Vermont was probably made in a letter written from Rutland by Nathaniel Chipman to New York's great general and industrial leader, Philip Schuyler, in 1792. In it there was a statement that, "There are also in this part of the coun- try numerous quarries of marble some of them superior quality. Machinery may easily be erected for sawing into slabs by water and in that state it might become an important article of commerce."
The first extensive quarrying of marble in Vermont was not at Rutland, however, but at Middlebury. Here, Eben W. Judd began to saw the stone in 1803. The method used was similar to that prac- ticed by the ancient Egyptians, and for this no tool was needed except a toothless saw and no materials except sand and water. About 1810 small mills were erected in the Rutland County towns of Clarendon and Middletown. Marble for the latter mill was furnished by Tin- mouth Township. An important marble enterprise was begun in 1821 in southern Tinmouth, and the finished product was hauled by horses thirty miles overland to Comstock, Washington County, on the Cham- plain Canal. An important development took place at Fair Haven in the 1840s. A mill was built here equipped with eight old style pendulum gangs. In 1851, four more gangs were added, and the pen- dulums were replaced with modern machinery of pulleys and belts. Before railroads were constructed in 1849, marble was drawn to this mill from West Rutland by ox teams and then, after sawing, it was carted again to the Champlain Canal at Whitehall.
The chief development in the marble industry, however, was in the vicinity of Rutland. The first marble quarried here, in 1836, was at Sutherland Falls, which is now called Proctor, but which was origi- nally a part of Rutland Township. The first mill was built here in 1837 and had four gangs. For three or four years this business was carried on, but the original owners then fell into financial trouble. Later the company was reorganized and continued operations for two years more, but from 1845 to 1854 the business here was at
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a complete standstill. At the end of that period another company was organized, but that went the way of its predecessors and failed in 1857. Then came the formation of the first Sutherland Marble Com- pany. This firm contracted with Dorr and Myers to saw part of its marble. When, in 1869, these two gentlemen had business differences and dissolved partnership, Colonel Redfield Proctor was appointed
(Courtesy of the Rutland Chamber of Commerce)
MARBLE COLUMNS FOR UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT BUILDING BEING FINISHED AT PROCTOR, VERMONT
receiver. In 1870 he organized a Sutherland Falls Marble Company of his own to take over the entire business.
At this same time there was considerable activity in what is now known as West Rutland. Here marble deposits were first opened in 1844. Mills were erected at both West Rutland and Center Rutland. One of the men particularly closely connected with the industry here was General Baxter, who was adjutant-general of Vermont at the
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outbreak of the Civil War. In time, however, much of the business passed into the hands of the Rutland Marble Company.
During the 1870s the way was being paved for the amalgamation of this firm with Proctor's Sutherland Falls Marble Company. The Rut- land Marble Company was a New York corporation, largely owned by bankers and financiers living in New York City. Their primary inter- est was profits, rather than the development of the industry generally. Among other things, this company held auctions at its yards in Ver- mont to sell its marble in spite of the demoralizing effect that practice was bound to have on others. On the other hand the Sutherland Falls Marble Company was a Vermont concern, vitally concerned in upbuilding and expansion in the industry. Between 1870 and 1880 it paid no dividends, its money being used either for the payment of debts or to extend business. Last, but not least, it had the untiring attention of Redfield Proctor, and this was a tremendous advantage because he was one of those great American captains of industry that so completely dominated the life of our Nation in that era. This was the day when industrial amalgamations were rapidly forming every- where. The time was ripe for the organization of the marble indus- try of Vermont, and Proctor was the man to do it. He devoted him- self to business night and day, personally selecting marble, and was often seen handling a truck or assisting in loading the cars. By 1880 the stage was all set for combination. At that time Proctor's com- pany was operating sixty-four gangs while the Rutland Marble Com- pany had a total of sixty, consisting of twenty-eight at Center Rut- land, twenty-four at West Rutland and eight at Salem, New York. Of the two, however, there was no question but that the Sutherland Falls company was by all odds the stronger.
There is an interesting story concerning how the marriage of the two companies took place. It apparently was a whirlwind courtship. Proctor, then Governor of Vermont, is supposed to have paid a visit to a friend in New York City one day in 1880. While he was in this office, Elisha Riggs, president of the Rutland Marble Com- pany, walked in and the two were introduced. After commenting upon the success of the Sutherland Falls Marble Company, and stat- ing that his own company was not succeeding in spite of good marble properties, Riggs offered Proctor the presidency of the Rutland Mar- ble Company, at the same time promising him a free hand. A meet-
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ing of the Rutland board of directors was hastily called, and Proctor was inducted into office that same day. He returned to Vermont that night and walked into the office of his chief competitor the next morn- ing with the suggestion that he would like to look over their books. For a few months he was president of both companies, but in Septem- ber, 1880, he formed the Vermont Marble Company to take over the property and business of both of the others.
This, however, was but the beginning. In 1883 he organized the Producers Marble Company, which was a partnership of five mem- bers created for the purpose of controlling the industry in general. All firms belonging to this organization ceased to sell any marble direct to the trade. Instead, they sold their entire output to the Producers Marble Company, which resold it to the trade. Each contributing company was to furnish a definite percentage of the marble sold. The Vermont Marble Company was to furnish 54.72 per cent, Sheldon & Sons 23 per cent, Dorset Marble Company 8 per cent, Ripley & Sons 7.25 per cent, and Gilson & Woodfin 7.03 per cent. All invoices were in the name of the Producers Marble Company; it made all collections ; and all branches and travelers were under its con- trol. It gave notes to member companies semi-monthly for the marble furnished, less a wholesale discount. This agreement lasted until Decem- ber 31, 1887. On that date the Producers Marble Company was dis- solved, but combination did not end. The Dorset Marble Company was already in receivership by that time. In 1889 the Vermont Marble Company purchased the property of Gilson & Woodfin and also the mill of Ripley & Sons. Finally, in 1891, the Sheldon firm was purchased, while the Dorset Marble Company also passed into its hands during the same year. These transactions left the Vermont Marble Com- pany in full control of the deposits around Rutland. Proctor's work was complete for all practical purposes when he retired in 1889 to become Secretary of War in President Harrison's cabinet. In 1891 he became a United States Senator and continued to hold that office until his death in 1908.
As late as 1850 the city of Rutland had a population of only 3,715, which was only one-half that of Burlington. By 1880, how- ever, thanks to the marble deposits plus the railroad, it had tempo- rarily passed Burlington and had a population of 12,149. Proctor was so powerful politically in 1886 and 1892 that despite popular opposi-
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tion he was able to divide the original Rutland into four parts, com- prising the three towns of Rutland, West Rutland and Proctor and the city of Rutland. It is claimed that at one time 97 per cent of the property in Proctor was controlled by the Proctor family.
At first the marble business consisted of the sale of sawed marble for monumental uses. Monumental finishing did not begin until 1876, while exterior finishing began in 1880. During the panic of 1893, due to the dire need for work the Vermont Marble Company began to devote more attention to the use of marble for interior building purposes. The result was a major development in that field. By the time the World War arrived the non-monumental business, of which interior building was the larger part, constituted 60 per cent of the company's business.
Not only did the opening of the twentieth century witness great changes in the type of product manufactured, but it also beheld a sec- ond era of expansion similar to that of the 1880's, except that it was not confined to the Rutland area. In Vermont, additional deposits were acquired in the towns of Roxbury, Swanton, Danby, Pittsford, Brandon, Middlebury and others. In 1908, the company made its first investment in Alaska. It also operates quarries in Colorado and Montana. Today Proctor is virtually the marble capital of the world.
Vermont is a small State geographically yet it produces more marble than any other State. In 1937 it produced 174,500 cubic feet for building purposes and 127,600 cubic feet for monuments. Its total value was $1,539,571. At present its quarries seem inexhaust- ible. For the most part the marble is of excellent quality. In all there are about one hundred varieties of it, ranging in color from Parian white to jet black. More than 70 per cent of the monuments of our nation came originally from the soil of Vermont. Stone from the quarries of Isle LaMotte was used in the construction of Rockefeller Center, New York City. What marble has meant to the State of Vermont is certainly tremendous. It has been an important source of wealth to its citizens, and an important factor in the economic development of a large section of the State. Primarily because of marble, both Rutland and Proctor are known throughout the world wherever these beautiful ornamental stones are used.
Regardless of what methods have been employed in sawing and finishing marble. Vermont has always kept pace with other industry.
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We have already referred to sawing with toothless saws, sand and water. Later there was the crude, pendulum construction gang saw. Still later there were other transitions "from water power with water wheels 27 feet in diameter, to steam driven mill, and now to electric drives; and from direct connection to the water wheel, to and through the line shaft and belt drive until the present popular method is the electric motor unit drive, 12 or more V belts drive and 4000 lb. balance
Main Quarry Went Rutland
(Courtesy of the Rutland Chamber of Commerce) INTERIOR WORLD'S LARGEST MARBLE QUARRY, WEST RUTLAND, VERMONT
wheel."* The only Vermont mineral product that today exceeds mar- ble in value of output is granite.
Marble deposits were also discovered in New York State, but these were in small quantity and inferior quality. One of these was found in Essex County near Port Henry, only a short distance north of the famous Cheever ore mine. A low grade of marble exists in
*F. R. Patch from "The Monument and Cemetery Review."
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Bolton, Warren County, but has never been quarried successfully. In the town of Thurman, in that same county, however, a quarry was worked for three years. Also classed as marble, sometimes, are a few varieties of limestone, such as the fossiliferous Chazy type found along Lake Champlain and the black, Trenton formation occurring on both sides of the Hudson River at Glens Falls. The latter deposits had an interesting history of their own. The stone was worked up for tiles, shelves, mantels, lintels, coping-stone, wainscoting, and billiard table tops among other things, but the leading product was mantels. Up to about 1848, nine out of ten mantels made in New York State were of black marble, and in this field the Glens Falls company had a monopoly. Naturally these black mantels required black hearths, but it was con- sidered unprofitable to make them at Glens Falls, so these were supplied from Swanton, Vermont. Thus we have the deposits of the northern end of the Green Mountain State's marble district and the Glens Falls deposits far away to the south supplementing each other. About 1848, however, the Glens Falls company apparently became overconfident of its control of the mantel market and began to charge exorbitant rates for its product. The result was not favorable, because dealers began to import Italian marble instead. This novelty became the fad or fashion, and the demand for black marble ceased almost completely by 1854.
Another extremely important mineral product is slate. Vermont has four distinct slate regions, but by far the most important one is located in the western part of Rutland County. This great slate belt runs from West Castleton on the north southward along both sides of Lake Bomoseen through New Haven, Fair Haven, Poultney, Wells, Pawlet, and finally into the northern confines of Bennington County. It is about thirty miles in length and generally about five or six miles wide. Nowhere is it more than eight or ten miles wide. The New York deposits are just over the border in Washington County, but they run farther south than do those of Vermont. They comprise a narrow belt running in a south-southwest direction, mainly through the towns of Whitehall, Hampton, Granville, Hebron and Salem.
Because of the proximity of the slate deposits of the two States, one would expect to find that their origin was a common one. Accord- ing to the geologists, however, this is not so. Although some of the quarries are within a stone's throw of each other, most of those in
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Vermont are older than those located in New York. The Rutland County slate was formed in Cambrian times, while that of Washing- ton County dates from Ordovician (Lower Silurian) time. Nor is this the only variation between the slate of the two States, for there is a startling difference in color. Although there is an assortment of colors on each side of the border, the Vermont slate tends to be sea- green, while much of that around Washington County is red. In New York there are four main veins, three of which (East Whitehall, Met- towee and Granville) are red, while the other (the Middle Granville) consists of purple, green and variegated slates. At Fair Haven, Ver- mont, where there are now fifteen slate works, we find the same colors as in the Middle Granville vein. At Poultney there is a vein of dark gray, called Poultney Gray.
Many people confuse slate and shale; but there are important differences. Slate is not formed, as is shale, by thin bedding when deposited. It "is always a rock that has to some extent been modi- fied from its original condition and the cleavage of the slate is never in the bedding and usually the slate splits at a very large angle with the plane of bedding or stratification. Shale, on the other hand, splits in planes wholly parallel with the stratification of the rock mass, indeed it has no cleavage like slate, but is simply a thinly stratified rock."*
At first the slate belt was composed chiefly of granites and gneisses. In early Cambrian times, however, the sea invaded this area. Then, there followed an erosion of the land masses resulting in the deposition of sandy and clayey sediments. Later, in Ordovician times, the deposits were not only from the granite and gneiss masses, but also from sedimentary beds, limestones, slates and quartzites. Still later there were periods of folding, cleavage, erosion, elevation and glaciation. Each variety of slate has its own individual story, every color having its peculiar ingredients. Some beds are horizontal, while more of them are inclined or folded.
Slate quarries were opened up on Scotch Hill, in Fair Haven, in 1839, but it was not until about the middle of the century that this industry began to develop in earnest. As late as 1849, only about 900 squares were manufactured in western Vermont, but in 1855 this had
*Perkins, George H .: "Report of the State Geologist on the Mineral Industries of Vermont," 1900.
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increased to 45,000 squares, or fifty times the amount produced six years before. By this time, however, the supply was considerably greater than the demand and for a few years the slate industry was depressed and prices decreased. Afterward, however, there was renewed production, and in 1892, slate sales in Vermont amounted to $1,014,000. This was the high figure for the nineteenth century in Vermont. In the meantime, slate had been worked at Granville beginning in 1850. As time passed New York production also increased. In 1889, 5,000 squares of red roofing slate were manufactured. During that year, there were sixteen quarries in New York State, producing a total, of all colors, of 17,167 squares of roofing slate. This, with slate for other purposes, had a total value of $130,603.
According to the "Minerals Year Book for 1938," Vermont pro- duced during the preceding year $1,431,798 worth of slate. Among all the States in the Union it stood second, being exceeded only by Pennsylvania. During that same year the value of slate produced in New York quarries was $360,064. Although slate is not included among the chief sources of mineral wealth in the Empire State, it is exceeded in Vermont only by the gigantic building stone quarries. This slate district, found primarily in Rutland and Washington coun- ties, furnishes the only green, purple, mottled and red slates sold in the United States.
New York State leads all other states in the Union in the produc- tion of abrasive garnet, whether we consider the quantities produced or value. Its leadership in this field is dependent upon the deposits of Warren County, which are located in the northwestern corner, in the town of Johnsburg. Here we find our country's greatest source of garnet.
This mineral is found in very old rocks, including Grenville gneisses. Warren County's garnet is the almandite variety, this being a silicate of aluminum and iron. It often occurs as good, very sym- metrical crystals with twelve or twenty-four faces or a combination of the two. Sometimes individual crystalline masses attain diameters up to a foot or more in certain hornblende gneisses near North Creek and at Thirteenth Lake. In color garnet varies from red to reddish brown. It is also very brittle with only imperfect cleavage, and is harder than quartz or flint. The chief superiority of garnet to quartz is "probably due to the fact of its ready cleavage, which enables it to
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present, as it breaks away, new and sharp-cutting edges, whereas quartz, which has no cleavage, becomes dulled by friction."* Garnet is used in the manufacture of garnet-paper, which is something like sandpaper, and it is also ground into a powder. Both the paper and the powder are used for grinding and polishing operations on metals and glass, while garnet also has been valuable in the manufacture of boots, shoes, and wood products.
The mining of garnet has evidently been as irregular as that of our other minerals, fluctuating greatly in accordance with market condi- tions, new discoveries, and new mining methods. It is recorded that for several years prior to 1893, H. H. Barton & Company mined from 800 to 1,000 tons per year. In 1893, 1,475 tons were shipped from North Creek, but only 520 tons were produced because of small demand for garnet paper and also because of the general stagnation of business at that time in our nation. In 1894, hardly any was mined, and only 294 tons were shipped from Warren County during that year. Soon, however, the garnet industry began to grow once more, and by 1906 the Adirondack area produced 4,729 short tons, valued at $159,- 298, while in 1907 these figures were increased to 5,709 short tons and $174,800 respectively. For the best description of the garnet district of that era we are indebted to D. H. Newland. +
"The North River Garnet Co., owning property at Thirteenth Lake, Warren Co., is the largest operator in the region. The company has an unlimited supply of garnet rock, which is obtained by open quarry work. The rock face now exposed measures 142 feet in height, while there is known to be an extensive body below the level of the present workings. The material is crushed and concentrated mechanically by a process specially planned for the purpose by Mr. F. C. Hooper. By the addition of another unit to the mill, the productive capacity has been raised to about 8,000 to 9,000 tons annually, which is considerably in excess of the present market requirements of the country."
During the last thirty years there has been a certain amount of fluctuation in the production of garnet, but in general it has continued to be a prosperous business. Under the direction of Mr. Hooper, Warren County's garnet deposits have become of great importance,
*Merrill : New York State Museum Bulletin : "Mineral Resources of New York State," 1895.
+"Mining and Quarry Industry of New York State" (1908), Museum Bulletin 120. C & G-41
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making New York State the leader among all the forty-eight states in the production of this mineral-a position that at present seems secure and certain.
Graphite is another mineral that is very much confined to the New York side of the Champlain Valley. At present, however, the mines are not being worked and it is close to being a dead industry.
The geologic orgin of this mineral is uncertain. Graphite was probably formed by several distinct and rather complex processes, each deposit having its own story. Certain Grenville gneisses, schists and quartzites and most of the limestones contain it in clearly visible flakes and rarely small veins of graphite have been found. It seldom appears as good crystals, but nearly always as thin, shiny-black, flex- ible flakes with one almost perfect cleavage. By composition it is pure carbon. It is opaque and leaves a black mark on paper. Graph- ite deposits are widely distributed over the Adirondack region. Min- ing operations have been carried on in the counties of Essex, Saratoga, and Warren, but it is in Warren that the greatest development has taken place.
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