See also Mineral Lease Marble is any limestone that has been changed through the action of heat far below the earth's surface making it more uniform in hardness and grain throughout so that it can be carved better than ordinary limestone. The change has also made marble harder and freed it from small cavaties and pores. All marble is composed of crystals of the minerals calcite or dolomite, which when clear are pure white. Colored marbles result from the presence of other minerals or small amounts of staining matter mixed with the calcite or dolimite. Black, gray, chocolate, pink, redish, greenish and many kinds of mottled and banded marbles can be found in areas of the world. The color of red marble is due to tiny particles of hematite between calcite and dolomite crystals. Hawkins County, Tennessee deserves the credit, not only for initiating the marble quarry industry, but also for the erection of the first marble mill in the state. Originally the product of this mill was for furniture manufacturing but soon expanded to produce other products. when different states were asked to supply blocks of their best stone for the Washington monument in 1848, two blocks were contributed from the Rogersville Marble Company founded in 1838. These blocks were floated down the Tennessee River to Chattanooga and by rail to Washington. In making a selection of marble for the interior of the National Capitol, Hawkins County marble was selected by the building committee. As a result of this decision the "Old Daugherty quarry" (sometirnes called the "National Quarry") was established nine miles southwest of Rogersville. Stone from this quarry consitiute about half the ornamental marble used in the capitol building. Over the next several years the marble industry spread to other counties of East Tennessee. The Republican Marble Company opened a quarry about one mile north of Luttrell in Union County in 1892, and a few years later merged with Ross Marble Company which began mining in Knoxville (Meade's) a decade earlier. Marble from the Luttrell area was nearly all of the dark-red or cedar variety. The only exception noted was a ledge of rather dark pink or light-red at the top of the main quarry beds. The marble of this ledge were of good quality and fairly free from erosion cracks or "cutters." The Luttrell marble quarry did not operate on a daily basis the year around, but reather a few months at a time, and some years, not at all. when the quarry closed in 1970, perhaps the owners thought it would open again in the future. This theory would explain why so much of the equiptment was left in place. A good market was established for marble from East Tennessee. A list of well-known buildings containing Tennessee marble include: The East Tennessee Historical Center (Customs House), in Knoxville, Tennessee, the Federal Building in Hartford, Connecicut, the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, the Baltimore Life Insurance Building in Baltimore; the Coca Cola Company home office building in Atlanta, Georgia, the Internal Revenue Building, the United States Supreme Court Building, the National Gallary of Art, the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institute and the Rayburn Office Building in Mashingtcn. Until recently it was not generally known that a marble quarry had operated in Big Spring Hollow in what is now known as the Central Peninsula---that portion of Union County that was purchased by TVA for the Norris Dam project. On May 9, 1992, Kelmer Reynolds and this compiler visited the site of the quarry where even today there are large slabs of red or pink marble in stacks that were abandoned following the TVA purchase. Mary Stooksbury Witt (Kelmer's grandmother) remembered the quarry was located on the Newton Hill property that joined her father's farm. She recalled the quarry began operating in 1932 and continued into 1935. She said that marble slabs were hauled out of the area by truck. Witt recalled also that Lee Yarns owned the property next to the Hill farm and traveled with representative of the marble company looking for mineral deposits. Cn July 25, 1935, Farris was in Blount County on a field trip with other workmen taking soil samples. The day was hot and the group stopped at a spring for a drink of cold water. Shortly after Farris drank he fell dead. He was 55. Harvey Bridges recalled that marble slabs were transported to Tazewell by barge after the area around the quarry began to flood. Hundreds of landowners in District 5, 6 and 7 leased land to the marble company. W. H. Ford of Union County and C. A. Harris of Kingsport (Sullivan County) formed a partnership on May 2, 1932. On June 12, 1933, Ford sold his "half interest" in an undivided partnership to George Collins of Frankfort, Kentucky for an undisclosed amount.
For more information on this article or any article or publication of the Union County Historical Society please write them at:
Union County Historical Society
P.O. Box 95
Maynardville, TN 37807
Or
E-mail the Union County Historical
Society.
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