Yule Marble Quarry

The clean white marble deposits of the Yule Creek were first discovered in the late 1870’s. Minor quarrying occurred between that discovery and the early 1900s. Major development occurred in 1905, when Col. Channing Meek, with some help from the Rockefellers, raised $3 million to develop the Colorado Yule Marble Quarry. (That is $50 million in today’s dollars.) Some of the words used to describe the marble deposit were “gigantic, remarkable, flawless and immense.” Boosters proclaimed: “The marble age is here.” Dreams were big for Marble.

Soon large numbers of blocks began coming down the 3-mile long wagon road to the town of Marble. The quarry elevation is 9,500 ft, and is cut into a very steep mountainside. Mine development was not easy, and even in the present day, with newer methods and transportation, remains a challenge.

The marble fabricating mill was located in the town. It became the largest of its kind in the world. The mill had many challenges. On March 20, 1912, the Mill was completely destroyed by a huge snowslide, but by the summer of 1912 the Mill was back in business. Late in the summer of 1912 Colonel Channing Meek, the visionary quarry superintendent, was killed when he jumped from a runaway trolley as it hurtled down from the quarry. In 1913 and 1914 the large marble pillars that remain today were constructed as support for the overhead crane, which helped increase production. However, by mid-1917 many of the Italian and Austrian workers had returned to Europe to fight in World War I. On April 2, 1925, a huge fire consumed 900 lineal feet of the large structure, and was stopped by the firewall that still exists today. In 1929 concrete flooring was installed, and cement with that date is still visible.

Between 1905 and 1915, the owners made little money. The 1905 financing was done with 10-year maturity bonds. In 1916, the owners faced a huge problem – how to raise the money to renew the bonds. Glowing projections of 10 years earlier were never realized, even with the selection of the Yule Quarry marble for the Lincoln Memorial in 1916. Efforts to refinance the company failed. After the last of the Lincoln Memorial stone was shipped in 1917, the operation shrank and barely limped along until it closed in 1941.

In 1931, stone from the Yule quarry was selected for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

When the quarry closed in 1941, the infrastructure in Marble was considered obsolete. With war looming, and scrap steel prices high, quarry equipment, including trolley line, the fabricating plant and power plant was stripped of usable steel and sold for scrap. Most people moved on, and Marble became essentially a ghost town.