Embedded Files
Gantry crane (2025)
In many ways, the most memorable piece of equipment and aspect of the marble industry remaining at the West Rutland site is the gantry crane; its height and span are all but human in scale. Today, the crane's yard once full of
To learn more about the function of gantry cranes, see Transporting Stone.
Postcard of early gantry crane with tracks running alongside quarries
The gantry crane and current mill adjacent sits on the site of what was once the Old Gilson Mill. Between 1910 and 1922, a long sawmill with rubbing beds at one end replaced it, with mill doors feeding into the yard of the electric traveling crane and tracks now only taking marble into the marble yard from beside the quarries but also directly into the back portion of the mill.
Old sawmill beside electric gantry crane fed by sand (1923)
This initial sawmill was expanded along with the gantry crane itself to the south, nearly reaching the Company Store and Coping Shop in the early 1930s.
This long mill remained for over fifty years, though now it remains in only its northmost and southmost parts, with the middle section having been demolished in the last 30 years.
Worker operating gantry crane transporting marble from railcars running on tracks between mills and quarries (1932)
Blacksmith Shop
Blacksmith Shop
Just adjacent to the gantry crane yard, evidence remains of what was the blacksmith and power house on the edge of Sheldon Quarry No. 3.
1922 Sanborn map on aerial imagery
1950s aerial image of blacksmith and power house
Evidence of structures and equipment (2025)
Planing tower at northern end of gantry crane mill (2025)
Interior of planing tower (2025)
Planing Tower
Planing Tower
At the north end of the mill remains the tower in which columns were "planed" or shaped.
To learn more about planing, see At The Mill.
Big Gantry Crane
Big Gantry Crane
In addition to the electric gantry crane with multiple arms along tracks running adjacent to the quarries was the massive gantry crane with one singular arm lifting marble blocks to and from railcars past the north end of the site. This crane predates the gantry crane running alongside the mill and claims at one point to have been the largest of its kind in the world.
Postcard illustrating "The Big Crane"
Side view of large gantry crane loading large marble blocks onto cars
Gantry crane car (2025)
Gantry crane yard (2025)
References
"General Condition of the Sheldon Marble Co.'s Property as leased by the Vermont Marble Co. 1892." Vermont Marble Co. Carving Studio and Sculpture Center, West Rutland, VT.
Georeferenced imagery. Google Earth. "Aerial Imagery." Color imagery, 2025. Google. 2025.
Miglorie, Catherine. Vermont’s Marble Industry. Arcadia Publishing, 2013.
Non-georeferenced imagery. Vermont Imagery. "1962 Aerial Imagery." Black and white imagery, 2019. Vermont Center for Geographic Information. 2025. https://vcgi.vermont.gov/data-release/1962-aerial-imagery-now-available-statewide-non-georeferenced.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from West Rutland, Rutland County, Vermont. Sanborn Map Company, Aug, 1910. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn08959_001/.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from West Rutland, Rutland County, Vermont. Sanborn Map Company, Jan, 1922. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn08959_002/.
State Plane. Vermont Imagery. "VT 1974-1992." Black and white imagery, 1974-1992. Vermont Open Geodata Portal. 2025. https://geodata.vermont.gov/pages/imagery?_gl=1*i137yy*_ga*NjU1NjE1MDQ4LjE3NDY5OTMwMDQ.*_ga_V9WQH77KLW*czE3NTMzNzUxODUkbzMxJGcxJHQxNzUzMzc1MjQ4JGo1OCRsMCRoMA.
State Plane. Vermont Imagery. "VT 1994-2000." Black and white imagery, 1994-2000. Vermont Open Geodata Portal. 2025. https://geodata.vermont.gov/pages/imagery?_gl=1*i137yy*_ga*NjU1NjE1MDQ4LjE3NDY5OTMwMDQ.*_ga_V9WQH77KLW*czE3NTMzNzUxODUkbzMxJGcxJHQxNzUzMzc1MjQ4JGo1OCRsMCRoMA.
Vermont Marble Company - Its Past and Future. Proctor, VT: Vermont Marble Co., 1920. Proctoriana Collection. Vermont Historical Society Leahy Library, Barre, VT.
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