La Grande evening observer., January 29, 1927, Image 10

Saturday. January 29, 1927.
Pare Ten
LA GRANDE EVENING OBSERVER
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WHAT IS THE
BLACK MARBLE & LIME
COMPANY
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The Black Marble & Lime Company is an Oregon corporation with an author
ized capital stock of .2oO,(M)0, the shares having a par value of $100 each. The com-
any is organized for the quarrying of black marble and for the manufacture of
ime, the stockholders and officers being Union and Wallowa county citizens.
Property owned by the company includes bSO acres of mountain land five miles
southwest of Enterprise, Oregon, on which is located the black marble quarry about
which people in Eastern Oregon have read a great deal during the past year.
' It also owns a pjant site of 60 acres along the right-of-way of the Joseph branch
of the Union Pacific System and a strip of land for the construction of an aerial
tramway from the quarry has also been secured. Four kilns and complete hydrat
ing machinery for the manufacture of lime have already been purchased and are
at the plant site ready for installation this spring.
Some idea of the extent of this deposit of this black marble limestone can be
gained from the report of Henry M. Parks while State Geologist of Oregon
"the limestone quarries consisting of black marble parallel the contour of the hill
side for a distance of more than a thousand feet. The thickness of the series of
beds is known to be as much as 500 feet and it is exposed in a stream canyon for a
distance of 500 feet into the hill. . There are without doubt ten million tons now
available." On the same land is a valuable stand of timber to be used for kiln fuel.
- For fifteen years lime from this deposit has been burned in a crude and meager
way, supplying local needs. Infrequently, as a- surplus would accumulate, some of it
found its way to outside markets where its superior quality was immediately recog
nized. Many offers were sent operators of the original crude kiln to purchase
regular supplies but they could not be cared for due to limited output and lack of
capital for extending the plant.
. Users of lime say that this product is equal to the best in the entire country
and that the black marble is equal to the Belgian marble which has always com
manded a market premium.
What the Oregon Bureau of Mines and
Geology Says About These Wallowa
County Lime and Marble Deposits
' Thirteen years ago February 1914 in the monthly publication of the Oregon
Bureau of Mines and Geology an authoritative though early statement of the wealth
of black marble or limestone deposits owned by this company was printed. After
commenting on the tremendous extent of the deposit, the report says, in part:
"The striking feature of the marble is that the color of a large portion of it
is almost jet black. The black color is due to the presence of carbonaceous matter
in the original limestone, which was altered to graphite when the limestone was
metamorphosed to marble. At a depth of sixteen feet from the surface blocks of
sixty to seventy-five cubic feet can be obtained without difficulty. The face of
the outcrop has a very steep slope to the northeast and very little or no soil cover
ing except in a few places where the slope is gentle. Stripping, therefore, would
be a minimum consideration.
"The chemical composition shows the rock to be a fairly pure limestone. From
the color, one would naturally infer the presence of a considerable amount of im
purities, but among a number of samples analyzed there is less than five per cent
of insoluble matter present. The products which could be made from this deposit
of limestone are lime, marble, and building stone. Its chemical composition would
indicate that this rock would produce a good grade of lime. This 'last conclusion is
borne out by the fact that a considerable amount of lime has already been manu
factured here, and it is said to be of excellent quality. Such a limestone would
also, so far as its composition is concerned, furnish the lime for a Portland cement
mixture.
"There is a considerable demand for 'a good black marble that will take a high
polish. It is a well known fact that the Belgian black marble brings top prices in
the market. It seems highly probable that a considerable amount of building stone
might easily be made available from the lighter colored portions of the deposit to
ward the West end of the outcrop. On the whole, the stone appears to be a very
valuable one from the standpoint of quarrying. Best results financially would
probably be yielded by combining a plant that would turn out more than one of
the above suggested commercial products.' The climatic conditions in Wallowa val
ley are favorable to the operation of any one of these industries for nearly the
entire year."
( It is the development of this indust ry, described thirteen years ago by the
state geologist, in which the Black Marble & Lime Company is engaged. Recent
tests and investigations prove that the deposit is even greater in extent than thus
outlined and that the composition of the lime produced makes it equal to the finest
lime in the country selling at a market premium.
B
lack Marble & Lime Company
Enterprise, Oregon
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