Proctor Firm Cuts 250-Ton Block of Marble From Mountain in Danby
Preparations are being made by workers of the Vermont Marble company to carve two statues from a block of marble, recently quarried at Danby, said to be the largest stone ever quarried in the world.
The giant piece of marble weighed 250 tons. The average block quarried by the Proctor company is from 15 to 25 tons and the largest previous block weighed 65 tons. The 250-ton piece was 17 feet, 10 inches by 13 feet, eight inches by 11 feet, five inches. It came from a tunnel 700 feet into the side of Danby mountain.
Two symbolic figures will be carved from it. They will cap the buttresses on the steps of the newly constructed United States Supreme Court building in Washington. This structure is of Vermont marble.
The giant block was cut in two pieces by a rope saw as soon as it was quarried. The two pieces each weighing 125 tons, were then trimmed to the general proportions of the statues which are to be carved from them.