132 The Winooski or Wakefield Marble of Vermont. |February, 
of the country, must be ready to wish it all success), for this 
would obviously be wholly out of place here. I think, however, 
that the possibility of obtaining at a not too great cost an abun- 
dant supply of beautiful marble which is unlike any other Amer- 
ican marble, and which is fully equal to the finest imported mar- 
ble for purposes of interior decoration, is a matter of interest to all. 
This is especially true because of the increasing rarity and costli- 
ness of imported marbles, and also because of the increasing de- 
mand for colored marbles in fine public buildings. That the Ver- 
mont variegated marble is fully equal to that which is imported is, 
so far as I know, the opinion of all experts who have examined both. 
In a pamphlet issued by the Wakefield company there are pub- 
lished letters from architects and marble workers which most 
emphatically declare this to be the fact. The late Hon. Geo. P. 
Marsh, in a letter written about a year before his death, says: “I 
have just returned from the national exposition at Florence. * * 
The brilliant reddish marbles are now very rare; and there was 
at the exposition none of the reddish class by any means equal 
to the Wakefield except in small fragments in mosaic work and 
the Sicilian jaspers.” 
The Wakefield or Winooski marble has been used in many 
public buildings in different portions of the country, notably in 
some of the corridors at the capitol at Albany as wainscoting, 
and also in the new wing of the Astor library in New York. It 
should be noticed here that while this marble is unrivaled for 
inside work it is not well adapted to situations in which it is ex- 
posed to the weather, as its colors fade and its beauty is greatly 
impaired when thus exposed. There seems to be great inequal- 
ity in this respect in blocks from different layers. At least this is 
indicated in the appearance of blocks that have been for some 
years lying about the quarries. Some of these appear to be but 
very little changed, while others have their surfaces reduced to a 
nearly uniform yellowish-red. No one need fear any change in 
the appearance of polished slabs when protected from the inclem- 
ency of the weather. 
Before attempting any description of the varieties of marble 
found in the Wakefield and other quarries, it may be well to 
notice some of the quarries themselves. The most extensive 
deposits are about the shores of Malletts bay, one of the most 
picturesque of the many lovely bays which indent the shores of 
