Vergennes Union High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Vergennes, VT)

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12 VERGENNES HIGH SCHOOL Road to tunnels underground quarries. West Rutland, Vt. VERMONT’S MARBLE INDUSTRY Geologists claim that at one time the whole Green Mountain area, from the lower St. Lawrence to the present site of New York City, was all under water. Then it was that all the shell fish and lime-producing animals began the work of building marble beds. Ages 'afterward, when the layers of stone were well covered wth clay and mud, there came a wrinkling of the earth’s crust, which displaced the water with mountains and valleys, and gave to the Atlantic a new shore line. Thus was Vermont marble formed and buried in the earth. For centuries it lay undisturbed. Before the Revolutionary War, the first marble slab was split from Vermont ledges, and it straightway became in great demand for fireplaces. Shortly afterward, someone cut the first Vermont marble tablet and paved the way for a thriving local business. In 1870, the Vermont Marble Company was organized. When a quarry hunter finds a spot where the signs are promising, the first thing he does is to call for the coring machine. A cylinder of stone two or

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BLUE AND WHITE 11 The Welsh in Fair Haven usually speak English, but when they don’t, their language is nothing that anyone can understand. Second is its effect on the landscape. Nobody can call a pile of waste slate pretty, but to a homesick quarrier it looks comforting. Besides, on some of the older piles, adventurous birch trees and a few blades of grass manage to wrest a living from the loose rock, and eventually Vermont will have a range of low hills in addition to the Green Mountains. (Juarries also leave holes in the ground. These become filled with water, and make excellent, if dangerous swimming holes. They’re practically bottomless, and some of the larger ones have been stocked with fish. Recently people have evolved the practice of sur- VERMONT MADE Although Vermont is a great winter recreation center, it can be made a greater one. Officials predicted that Stowe could not have handled all its visitors had we had a normal winter in 1936. In 1936 Vermont collected 500 visitors per snow train on the average. Imagine 500 people suddenly barging into a town of 1600 people with two or three hundred visitors already there! And this was on a poor winter week-end. Vermont is becoming the American Switzerland to hundreds of skiers from the cities— skiers from all ages—six to sixty. If other towns with skiing possibilities and many have them—constructed runs and tows, the already overcrowded towns would be relieved of their surplus and all would be benefited at the facing dirt roads with waste slate. This is hard on tires until the stone breaks up, but it’s better than mud and gives the roads a beautiful green or blue color. Lastly I want to tell about the Pencil Mill. I his was located in the general neighborhood of Hubbardton in the days when chalk and paper were expensive luxuries. The Mill has been destroyed long since, but the site is st 11 marked by a large dummy. The Pencil Mill made pencils out of a very soft green slate that wouldn’t scratch blackboards. Imperfect ones were thrown into a pile outside and nowadays anyone who feels economical can go out there and dig himself some pencils. They are excellent for board work. Alfred Miller, ’38 RICH BY SKIERS? same time. Possibly the government could help the towns out by letting them use W. P. A. men and money to clear the runs. One part of the state, however, is decidedly unfavorable for ski resorts, namely—the Otter Creek Valley. When it is snowing in Bolton and Stowe, it is raining in the Otter Valley. Experts say that the river valleys are generally too warm for good skiing. This accounts for the lack of snow at some of the Middlebury College carnivals in recent years. All in all, Vermont already has some fine developments in some districts, but it has a large number of undeveloped sights which could be made profitable. David Smith, ’38

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BLUE AND WHITE 13 three inches in diameter may be taken out, which shows the structure and quality of the marble at that point. A varying amount of waste must usually be removed before sound marble can be reached. After a process calling for careful and systematic blasting, the marble floor is ready for the channeling machines. The channeler runs on a movable track, and as it moves over the surface of stone, it cuts an inch-wide groove. It automatically reverses itself and so it goes on eating its way downward until the groove has become several feet deep. As soon as the floor of the quarry has been lined with grooves of the required depth, the channelers are run across again at right angles to them dividing the strips of marble into cubes. The VERMONT One of Vermont’s heroines was Ann Story, who lived in Cornwall during pre-Revolutionary days. Directly across the creek from her home was a cave, the mouth of which was hidden by bushes. During the New York and Vermont dispute over the ownership of land. Ann Story hid and fed the fugitives. who were trying to escape from the New Yorkers. Many of them were Green Mountain Boys. Another heroine, who lived during Revolutionary days, was Rhoda Far-rand, whose home was in Bridport. A runner stopped at her house and told her the soldiers were without shoes and socks in Valley Forge; that their feet were bleeding and sore, and that they were hungry. After hearing about the soldiers’ plight, Rhoda Farrand did something about it. She and her son hitched oxen to a cart, and drove from house to house, over all passable roads, telling the people about the soldiers. While her son drove the oxen, Rhoda quarry blocks, or “key” blocks are thus formed. There are several ways of getting blocks out of the quarry. At Danby mountain a cable track is used, and at West Rutland both the cable and derrick are employed. When the marble is out of the quarries it is ready for the mills. The sawing is done by smooth iron bands, set in a horizontal frame and acting in conjunction with sand and water. On leaving the mills, some of the marble goes directly to the monumental shops, and some to the building departments. Not only in the United States, but in some European countries as well, is Vermont marble noted for its fineness and durability. Rolanda Turpin, ’40 WOMEN knitted socks—all the way. Soon a large supply was kntted, and sent down to Valley Forge. Rhoda Farrand’s name goes down in history as a patriot. Theodora Peck, an author living in Burlington, wrote stories that took place during the Revolution. Two present-day Vermont authors are Bertha Oppenhein and Zephine Humphrey. Two hospitals in Burlington are named for Vermont women. Fanny Allen and Mary Fletcher. Both did much for humanity. Dorothy Canfield Fisher, our much beloved author, besides having written many books, is much interested in the welfare of the people. She is on the State Board of Education, and has done a great deal for the progression of Vermont schools. We find that the influence of women has been a leading factor in the history of Vermont. Margaret Reed, '40