th.] TENNESSEE MARBLES. 369 
ire similar to the Chickamauga marbles, but usually have not such 
•ich colors, being oftenest of a gray color; and they contain more 
jhaly beds. The belts passing south of Loudon and Louisville have 
this marble more highly developed than the other belts. It has been 
quarried only in the southeastern belt, near Mountain ville, and farther 
southward at the Tellico River, and its beds are not now worked, for 
want of transportation facilities. These marbles extend a little farther 
southwest than the Holston marble. 
QUARRY LOCATIONS. 
Owing to the soluble nature of the pure marble, it is either com- 
pletely unaltered and fresh or it is entirely reduced to red clay. The 
best marbles, therefore, are nearly as solid at the surface as at great 
depths. Marbles which are shaly at the surf ace become less weathered 
in going down, and appear solid; but when these are sawed and 
exposed to the weather their inferiority appears in splits along the 
argillaceous seams and in cracks through the thicker masses. Solu- 
tion of the pure beds has produced holes and eaves down to the adja- 
cent stream levels. Through these openings the quarry men attack 
the rock more easily, but much valuable stone has been lost by 
solution. 
The available localities for quarrying are limited in part by the atti- 
tude of the marble beds. At the northeast end of the marble belt 
the best situations are those just north and northwest of Rogersville, 
where the strata dip at a high angle and there is little stripping to be 
done. Here the location of the marble, well above drainage, is an 
added advantage. In the areas north of Clinch Mountain the dip is 
such as to carry the marble beneath the surface with narrow out- 
crops, but is not steep enough to avoid considerable stripping. 
In the same belt southwest of Clinch Mountain the dip is usually 
steep, so that the amount or earth to be stripped is not great. Near 
Holston River, owing to the recent cutting of the streams, the marble 
is usually at some distance above the water level. In the more north- 
ern areas, where the streams have not cut their valleys deeply, the 
marble usually occupies the lowest portions of the valleys, being the 
most soluble of the formations, and the drainage of the quarry becomes 
an important problem. This is also the case even in areas well above 
drainage level, when springs and underground streams are encoun- 
tered, as frequently happens. 
The best situations are those in the belt immediately south of Knox- 
ville, where the strata dip at small angles and cover a greater surface. 
Most of the marble is well above the drainage level. Similar advan- 
tages of dip favor the belt 5 miles northwest of Knoxville. In most 
of the areas of marble southeast of Knoxville the beds are more folded 
and dip at greater angles, so that prolonged quarrying will necessitate 
a great deal of stripping and deep cutting. 
Bull. 213—03 24 
