THE village of West Rutland, near which the largest and most valuable quarries of marble in Rutland county are located, is a small hamlet in the west parish of Rutland, eighty-one miles north of Troy, New York. It is the centre of a fine farming community distinguished by its thrift and wealth. It is approached from Troy, New York, by the Rutland and Washington railroad, through Salem, New York, and Castleton; by the Troy and Boston, and the Western Vermont railroad, through Bennington, Manchester, and Rutland ; by the Renssellaer and Saratoga railroad, through Saratoga Springs and Whitehall, New York; and by the Rutland and Burlington railroad, from Montreal and Burlington on the north, and from Boston and Bellows Falls on the east.

This article will be confined to the marbles of Rutland county. There are other quarries of marble in Vermont, particularly in the counties of Bennington and Addison. At Middlebury, in the last named county, the first American marble offered in the market was quarried. In that town the main principle now in use in sawing marble was invented and applied.¹

It is well known that all that peculiar formation of limestone known as “marble,” which is produced in the United States, exists in the mountain range which can be traced from the vicinity of the city of New York north, through the eastern States to the line of the British provinces. To those who have examined the formation at different localities in this range, it is further known that as we go north the grain and texture of the marble increase in fineness and beauty. It is also an established fact that the finer the formation the greater is the liability to unsoundness.  The marbles of Rutland county appear to have been developed in that limit of northern latitude which has produced the finest marble with the greatest degree of perfection and soundness. Hence, as we go further north from this point, we find the fineness of formation to increase; but, at the same time, the quarries which have been opened show the marble to be so checked and “cut,” as it is called in the trade, that the working of it has proved unprofitable.

At the distance of half a mile from the depot in West Rutland, on the north side of the railroad, is a range of hills, which, in the vicinity of the quarries, rises, about, to the height of two hundred feet above the bottom-lands below. Back of this, and extending east towards the base of the Green Mountain range, is a succession of other and higher ridges. On the western slope of the ridge first referred to and near its base crops out the "Rutland Marble.”

The first opening that we reach is the quarry of Messrs. Sheldons & Slason The strike of the bed is N. 10° E., and the average dip 45° E. Marble has been taken from this quarry to the depth of 150 feet. On their premises, and near the ledge or quarry, they have a large steam mill for sawing the blocks of marble into suitable sizes and shapes for market. Their mill has twenty "gangs” of saws. Their blocks are hoisted from the ledge by the same power that moves the machinery of the mill. In quarrying, sawing, and sending the marble forward to market, they usually employ two hundred men.

North of Messrs. Sheldons & Slason, and about forty rods distant, is the quarry of Messrs. Allen & Adams.  The strike of the beds is nearly north and south, and the dip 55° E. Their blocks of marble are placed on the cars of the Rutland and Washington railroad, (a side-track from said road running the whole length of all the West Rutland quarries,) whence it is transported to their mills at Fairhaven, and there sawed into such shapes and sizes as their trade demands. Their mill has twelve “gangs” of saws, and they employ, in quarrying and sawing, one hundred men.

Connected with the opening of Allen & Adams, on the north, is the quarry lately known as that of the “Rutland Marble Company.” This property is now owned and worked by H. H. Baxter, esq. The beds are the same as in the opening of Allen & Adams. The dip of the layers at the north end of the opening is 34° B., and at the south end, or at the junction with Allen & Adams the dip is 44° B. Mr. Baxter employs two hundred men. Quite a number of blocks from this quarry are sold to the marble trade of Boston, New York, and other cities of the United States and of the Canadas; but by far the larger portion is transported by the cars to the marble-mills of William Y. Ripley, esq., and of Messrs. Clement & Son, at Centre Rutland. Both these mills are en Otter creek, the former having fourtecn and the latter twelve "gangs” of saws.  Mr. Ripley is a pioneer in the marble business in this county, having originally owned one-half of the Baxter quarry in connexion with William F. Barnes, esq., and having erected the first mill of any pretensions for sawing marble from the Rutland beds. About fifty men are employed in these two mills.

Going north from the Baxter quarry, we next come to the opening of Sherman, Adams & Langdon. The dip of the marble in this bed is 25° E., and is transported in the block, by railway, to their mills in Castleton and Hydeville, where it is sawed and prepared for market. They employ seventy-five men and operate sixteen “gangs” of saws.

North of this opening, Messrs. Sheldons & Slason have another quarry, the beds of which are somewhat curved, and have a strike N. 10° W., with a dip of from 50° to 60° E. The working statistics of this quarry are included in the account of their first quarry, already given.

The most northern opening yet made is that lately incorporated under the name of the “Vermont Marble Company.” The strike of the bed in this is N. 15° W, and the dip 70° to 85° E. A steam mill with six “gangs" of saws has been erected on the premises. Within the past year the property has changed hands and has been but little in operation.

In the north part of the town of Rutland, on the line of the Rutland and Burlington railroad, six miles north of the quarries already described, the "Sutherland’s Falls” quarry is situated. The character of the marble in this -quarry does not correspond in color or texture with the marble known in the trade as “Rutland Marble.” No white marble is taken from this quarry. The strike of the bed is different, being both east and west, and at an angle varying from 20° to 60°. The company have two small mills in operation on their premises, and have the advantage of one of the finest natural water-powers in the State. They employ forty men.

On the same side of the railroad, three miles southwest of the village of Brandon, is the quarry of Mr. E. D. Selden. Some very fine marble is taken from this quarry and sawed at his mill. He employs from forty to fifty men.

The different quarries to which I have referred comprise all the openings at present worked within the limits of Rutland county, and are, in fact, the quarries from which most of the American marble used in the United States and the British American provinces is taken.

I have described six different quarries or openings at West Rutland. They all lie upon the same slope or side hill, and from the most southern to the most northern opening the distance -is not mere than one mile. From these to the quarry at Sutherland’s Falls the distance is six miles, and from the latter quarry, north to that of Brandon, nine miles. Thus, within a distance of fifteen miles, on a northern and southern line, all the marble of Rutland county is found.

The marble in the quarries at West Rutland is usually overlaid by pure limestone rock, and is reached by blasting into the limestone and removing it from the surface of the ledge. This is carried on until a sufficient quantity is uncovered for a year’s business.

The reader will bear in mind that the marble in the quarries, especially at West Rutland, runs down snto the hill on an average angle of about 450, Also, that the ledges are made up of different layers of marble, one above another, lying together like the leaves of a book, or rather like a number of books of different thickness, one above another, on an angle corresponding with the dip of the marble in the earth. The layers vary in thickness from two to nine feet.

The limestone having been removed, the quarrying of blocks is commenced.  Suppose that the blocks to be taken out are required to be six feet in length.  A strip from the upper layer in the ledge is lined off, six feet in width, and any desired length, and all along the line thus drawn men with “churn-drills” of steel, ground to an edge and made somewhat like a crow-bar, take their position for work at distances apart convenient for working. With these “churn-drills” a channel is cut upon this line at right angles with the "lay” of the marble, and to a depth required for the thickness of the block. This depth or thickness usually reaches what is called by quarrymen a “raising bed.”  This is always a seam, or a point in the layers where the marble is known to divide or split easily. After the channel is cut, the same drill is used for making circular holes underneath the marble, on the line of the “raising bed,” the whole length of the channel above. These holes are made at distances apart and to depths depending altogether upon the difficulty of separating the block above from its bed below. These drill-holes are from one and a half to two inches in diameter. When all is ready for raising, two pieces of half round iron are inserted in each drillhole, and between them are inserted iron wedges in such a way that when they are driven in the pressure will be upward.  The drill-holes on the whole length are thus provided with keys and wedges, and the workmen commence driving in the wedges evenly and gradually, so that the upward pressure along the whole length of the channelled block will be as nearly equal as possible.  These are gradually driven in, until the pressure from below is so great that a seam is opened, and the whole block is released from its bed.  We have now a block, say, forty feet in length, and six feet in width. This is too long to be used for any purpose, and is so heavy that no machinery can handle it. The next process is to reduce this great mass to sizes which can be handled by the ordinary facilities for this purpose; and which correspond with the dimensions of the “mill gangs,” under which they must be placed for sawing. This is done by the process of again drilling and wedging. If blocks are wanted six feet long, they are broken off crosswise; if longer than six feet, they are broken the length of the main strip, and then divided the other way.

A book of any size will well represent the general form ef a block of marble taken from the quarry and ready for sawing. The grain of the marble may be said to correspond with the leaves of the book, and in sawing the marble into slabs, the block will be so placed under the saws that they will go down between, and not across, the grain of the marble. It often occurs that in the same block there is both white and colored marble. Color usually fellows the grain, and hence in sawing a block the color will be followed by the saws, because it indicates the grain. If no color appears in the block, the grain is then indicated by the bed from which it was raised.

Having described the operation of taking one block from the quarry, it will, of course, be understood that the labors of the year are but a repetition of this process.

The aggregate thickness of the different layers of marble varies in each ledge.  Each owner would doubtless claim for his quarry some superiority over others, cither in soundness or in quality. The value of an opening depends, first, upon the comparative amount of white marble; next, upon its soundness; and, lastly, upon the quantity of earth and rock necessary to be removed before good marble is reached. It is not an unusual thing for a quarryman to spend $60,000 in uncovering and preparing a quarry before find.ng blocks good enough to pay the expenses of sawing.

In the regular order of the marble business, the next operation to be described is that of sawing the blocks into slabs of various thicknesses. They are placed in the mill, under what is called a *gang of saws.” This "gang” is a frame-work strongly made of timbers from six to eight inches square, the dimensions of which vary from four to five feet in width, and from eight to twelve feet in length. Across either end are head blocks,” usually of iron, in which are inserted “iron dogs,” on one side of which is a “claw,” which is inserted through a hole in the end of the saw plate, punched for this purpose.  Through the opposite end of each “dog” a key is inserted, by which the saw is strained to its proper tightness. The saws are nothing more than plates of soft iron, one-eighth of an inch thick, about three inches wide, and in length corresponding with the length of the “gang” between the “head blocks.”  The saws are kept in their proper relative positions to the sides of the “gang,” and, of course, to the block of marble to be sawed, by means of wooden gauges, at such distances apart as the thickness of the slabs to be sawed require. The “gang” is suspended above the block by means of four chains or ropes fastened at each corner, and wound up on wooden rollers above.

It will be evident to the reader that the object of this is to allow the “gang" to drop in the track made for the saws as they work their way through the block below. The “gang” is kept in its place by upright posts, standing at either corner, and between which it moves. Pitmans are attached either to the sides, in which case there are two, or at the end of the “gang,” in which case only one is used. These pitmans are attached to pulley shafts, and at every revolution they move the “gang” backward and forward above the block.  Water is now allowed to run upon the block from above in small quantities, and sand is thrown upon it. The sawing is effected by the operation of the sand wearing the marble away as it is rolled and pressed under the smooth, thin plates of iron called saws. The least thickness that can be sawed from a block is about seven-eights of an inch. Any thickness above this can, of course, be sawed, limited only by the width of the “gang” and the size of the block. When the saws have gone down through the block, the whole "gang" and saws are elevated by means of ropes and pulleys above the block, and the slabs are now ready to be taken out and broken or sawed into such dimensions as are required. They can be tooled or channelled on the surface, and broken in straight lines when it is not over four inches in thickness. All slabs of greater thickness are sawed, as they cannot be relied upon to break in lines.  Having been broken or sawed into such shapes and dimensions as is required, it is ready for sale. The value, at the quarry, of the marble thus manufactured varies with its quality and the uses to which it is to be applied. The best quality of statuary marble is worth $5 50 a cubic foot. The best quality in slabs, two inches thick, is worth ninety cents, superficial measure. The same quality, one inch thick, is worth sixty cents., Qther qualities of both kinds of marble sell at prices considerably less.

It should be remembered that the marble sawed in Centre Rutland and in Castleton is all quarried at West Rutland, and is transported on the cars before it is sawed, and should be omitted in the following calculation. If, therefore, we reduce the block marble to superficial measure, by rules recognized by those who are employed in this business, we have—

It would be a reasonable estimate to say that this marble is sold, delivered on the cars at the several mills, for fifty cents per foot. This estimate gives us, in round numbers, $458,000, as the annual value of the business in Rutland marble. This marble, in its unwrought state, finds its way into every nook and corner of the United States and of the British American provinces. Those who are conversant with the details of finishing this vast amount of the raw material unite with me in the estimate, that when appropriated to its various uses it will show a yearly business of the aggregate value of two millions of dollars. The uses fo which Rutland marble is applied are various. In general terms they may be stated by saying that it is used for tile, mantel work, furniture tops, statuary purposes, gravestones, and monumental work, and also for building purposes.  By far the largest quantity is used in erecting enduring remembrances to the dead. As generation after generation passes away, each in succession rears to the loved ones who have gone before a record that shall withstand the dissolving touch of time, and in ages to come shall mark the spot where, “earth to earth and ashes to ashes,” the silent dead sleep on.