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The entrance to the Yule Quarry is in the distance and below is Yule Creek. The trail leading to the quarry was once open to the public and is now closed. (Special to the Reporter-Herald/Kenneth Jessen)

St. Paul's Episcopal Church was brought into the town of Marble in 1909 on a flat car from Aspen. It is now the pride of the town. (Special to the Reporter-Herald/ Kenneth Jessen)

Only this small office and the pillars that once supported the roof of the finishing house remain of what was the largest marble finishing plant in the world. (Special to the Reporter-Herald/Kenneth Jessen)

The first prospector to take note of the economic potential of the marble deposits in the Yule Creek drainage was Sylvester Richardson in 1873. He predicted that the deposits would someday support a great stone industry.

The first quarry was opened in 1884. The white stone had received a lot of publicity, but the lack of rail transportation precluded any large-scale development. The following year, marble was blasted from the cliff along Yule Creek. A block was put it on display at the World Colombian Exposition in 1893.

The first large order came in 1894 for the Colorado State Capitol. Transportation problems again plagued the full development of marble quarries in the area. Heavy slabs had to be skidded down Yule Creek during the winter nearly four miles to Marble. From there, the marble was transported by wagon 30 miles to the closest railroad at Carbondale.

Large scale quarry operations were not possible until 1906 when the Crystal River & San Juan Railroad reached Marble. The railroad was essential in hauling the heavy loads.

At the quarries, four openings were made in the steep marble cliff above Yule Creek. The marble was cut from the interior of the cliff, leaving large, open vaults. A channeling machine, mounted on rails, was used to cut vertical slots deep into the rock around a block. Wire saws, using diamond dust, cut the block free from the deposit.

The road to the quarry was widened and in 1910, an electric tramway was built. The 3.9-mile line had grades up to 14 percent, extremely steep for a standard gauge adhesion railroad. Despite its limitations, the electric railroad operated up until the quarries were closed in 1941.

Col. Channing F. Meek was the energy behind getting the quarries to a commercial operating level. During his tenure, the quarries supplied marble for over 100 structures all across the United States. In addition, the largest marble finishing mill in the world was built at the south edge of town, and it eventually measured 1,700 feet in length.

At first, Marble was a town of scattered homes, and then as business grew, the Colorado Yule Marble Co. constructed rows of identical houses. The supervisors lived in company-owned cottages considerably larger than the homes of the workers.

Quarry workers had a far better life than others in a typical Colorado mining town. At its peak, the town of Marble reached a population of about 2,000.

The largest contract in the history of the quarries was signed in 1913 for the Lincoln Memorial. The mill had to be enlarged just to fill the contract.

The statistics were staggering. For starters, the memorial required 36 columns, each one 7 feet in diameter. The columns were built in segments, and when each segment was stacked, the full height of 46 feet was obtained. The quarry also had to supply 1,800 slabs up to 30 tons each. It took over 600 railroad cars during the course of three years to get the marble to Washington D.C. to build the monument.

The Vermont Marble Co. took over the Colorado Yule Marble Co. in 1928. The company then received a contract for the largest single block of marble every quarried. Unfinished, it weighed 124 tons and required a custom-built derrick to hoist it to the surface. The 3.9-mile trip down the steep electric tram grade took four days.

The large block was sent across the United States in February 1931. It became the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arlington National Cemetery outside of Washington D.C.

As other, less expensive building material became popular, the demand for marble declined and the quarries closed in 1941. The great mill was dismantled and today, only the marble support columns for the overhead crane remain.

In 1990, work started to get the quarries back into production. The old drainage tunnel was expanded to handle haulage trucks, and the floor of the quarries was pumped dry of water. Debris was removed, and modern channel machines were brought in.

The first block of commercial marble was hauled down the old railroad grade by truck to the town in September 1990.

The quarry continues to remain active with much of its output going to sculptors.

Kenneth Jessen has been a Loveland resident since 1965. He is an author of 18 books and more than 1,300 articles. He was an engineer for Hewlett-Packard for 33 years and now works as a full-time author, lecturer and guide.

Where: Gunnison County, Crystal River drainage.

What: Town accessible via paved road; town has a post office. Occupied town; several original structures remain.

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