BUILDING AND ORNAMENTAL STONES. 377 



Georgia.— An important belt of marble is said to extend through the 

 counties of Cherokee, Pickens, Gilmer, and Fannin in the northern part 

 of this State, the 'material varying in color from pure white through 

 blue and variegated varieties, some of which are remarkably beautiful. 

 Variegated marbles also occur in the counties of Polk, Floyd, Whitfield, 

 Catoosa, Chattooga, Gordon, Murray, Barton, and Walker; chocolate- 

 red varieties similar to the marbles of Tennessee are said to occur in 

 abundance in Whitfield County, the bed in Red Clay Valley extending 

 in uninterrupted continuity for 10 miles, and varying from one-fourth to 

 one-half a mile in width.* Of the beds above mentioned those in Pickens 

 County are at present the most important and the only ones that have 

 been worked to any extent, quarrying having quite recently been com- 

 menced here by the Perseverance and Georgia Marble Companies. Spec- 

 imens of these marbles forwarded to the National Museum show them 

 to be of uniform texture, but coarse, much coarser than the Vermont 

 marble, which in other respects they much resemble. They are soft, 

 work readily, and acquire an excellent surface and polish. In color they 

 vary from snow white and pink to black and white mottled. The pink 

 variety is unique as well as beautiful, and there is at present nothing 

 like it produced in other parts of the country, though in color it closely 

 resembles the pink marble from Cherokee and Macon Counties, N. C, to 

 be noticed later. It is, however, coarser. 



The ready working qualities of these stones, the fact that owing to the 

 mildness of the climate the works can be in operation at all seasons of 

 the year, together with the remoteness of regions where similar marbles 

 are produced, all point to a rapid development of an extensive quarrying 

 industry in this part of the country. 



Iowa. — The calcareous rocks of Iowa are, as a rule, non-crystalline, 

 dull in color, and with few qualities that render them desirable for 

 ornamental purposes. But few of them are pure limestone, but nearly 

 all contain more or less magnesia, iron, or clayey matter ; very many of 

 them being true dolomites. 



Near Charles City, in Floyd County, on the banks of Cedar River, are 

 extensive quarries in the Devonian (Hamilton) beds of magnesian lime- 

 stones, certain strata of which furnish a coral marble at once unique 

 and beautiful. The prevailing color of the stone is light drab, but the 

 abundant fossils vary from yellowish to deep mahogany brown. These 

 last, which belong to the class of corals called Stomatophora, are very 

 abundant and of all sizes up to 18 inches in diameter. As seen on a 

 polished surface imbedded in the fine, drab, non- crystalline paste of the 

 groundmass, they present an appearance totally unlike anything quar- 

 ried elsewhere in America — an appearance at once grotesque and won- 

 derfully beautiful. The stone admits of a high polish, and would seem 

 excellently adapted for all manner of interior decorations if obtainable 

 in blocks sufficiently uniform in texture. A small amount of argilla- 

 * Commonwealth of Georgia, p. 135. 



