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Early summer, in the mountains of North Georgia,
a time when the Earth has already begun
the cycle of yearly renewal,
a time when the beauty and abundance of
the region's resources are clearly
reflected across its lush hills and valleys.
Each year, thousands of people are
attracted by the natural beauty of dramatic vistas,
clear mountain lakes and streams,
and clean air guaranteed to
relax even the most harried traveler,.
But we are here for a different reason.
For it is here, in these mountains,
that a treasure is buried,
a treasure that is as beautiful as
the mountains that hold it,
a treasure that is the basis of
a great industrial story that touches the lives
of the people who live here
and people all over the world
in hundreds of beneficial ways.
The treasure, rich deposits of the stone
that the ancient Greeks believed was a gift of the gods,
called [inaudible] marble,
the stone that sparkles.
The company, the Georgia Marble Company,
standing at the top of the industry as
the largest marble and stone company in the world.
The history of this amazing mineral
that has been such an integral part of man's own history
began 500 million years ago.
Meandering rivers and streams
carrying dissolved calcium minerals
flowed into shallow subtropical seas,
becoming food
for trillions of tiny sea creatures and plants.
Through the ages,
layer upon layer of shell and plant remains
accumulated on the sea floor,
forming gigantic reefs of pure calcium carbonate
that, under pressure, solidified into limestone rock.
Cataclysmic changes in climate and geography
lifted and folded the reef
under extreme pressure and heat,
changing the molecular structure
of the limestone into pure crystalline marble.
Mountains of marble
that reach deep into the valleys below
remain hidden until mankind would make
the evolutionary climb and have a need for such a stone.
The Greeks are generally recognized as
the first people to master the subtleties of working
what artisans of the period referred to
as the Living Stone,
but in these hills, 500 years ago,
a Native American artisan would be the first
and create a mystery that is unexplained to this day.
Who he was has been lost in time,
but it is known that he was
a member of the Ottawa Indian tribe,
a people who left a fascinating record of their culture
in great earthen mounds
next to a river that bears their name.
Archaeologists theorized
that the largest of three mounds in the Ottawa group
functioned as a temple platform
where the chief priest presided over
important ceremonies dedicated to the sun.
To the southwest of the temple mound,
a smaller burial mound
has been completely excavated and restored.
Five hundred burials and the artifacts with them
tell much about
the life patterns and ceremonial practices
that were a part of Ottawa life.
It was here, buried at the bottom of the mound,
that the now famous marble figures were found.
The figures represent the primal pair,
the Indians' Adam and Eve,
who came from the sun and
brought with them the knowledge of fire.
A stonecutter's know-how and tools
are necessary to produce
even rudimentary statuary from a medium
the hardness of marble,
yet no other marble objects nor
tools to work the marble have ever been found.
European colonization of the New World brought
the craftsman necessary to retrieve and work the stone.
In 1835, an Irish stonecutter by trade
named Henry T. Fitzsimmons,
making his way along a newly-cut road
through an area called Long Swamp Valley,
would chance upon what he recognized
as a marble of singularly fine quality and
a distinctive pure white color.
The marble that Henry found is unique.
It is crystalline and
provides a denser, more durable kind of marble
than any other known in America.
The large, tightly grouped crystals provide
an almost impenetrable barrier
against moisture, dirt, and discoloration.
Because it is composed of
over 98% pure calcium carbonate,
it is free of agents that can work from within
to distain or discolor.
Henry didn't know it, but he was the first to tap
one of the richest veins of marble in the world.
The marble industry of Georgia had been born.
The first marble works,
primitive affairs done by hand,
specializing in memorial stone,
were successful from the beginning,
and soon attracted others.
Men who would learn the stonecutter's trade
and form the fundamental pool of talent
required to keep pace
with a young nation growing and dying
at an unprecedented rate.
Cutting the stone by hand was abandoned as too slow,
and waterwheel-driven mills working as many as
four big gang saws were implemented
to keep up with the increasing demand.
But the industry would remain localized
for the next 50 years because of its inability
to move stone of significant size or amount
out of the valley, over the mountains,
using the transportation of the day, horse-drawn wagons.
May 1884, Chester A. Arthur is
the 21st president of the United States.
A room with mills cost about four bits.
Steam power as driving industry,
and a newly-formed company,
christened the Georgia Marble Company,
acquires 7,000 acres of mountain real estate
and rides the Industrial Revolution
into Pickens County on rail.
The first company-owned branch railroad
connecting the quarries to the main line of
the Marietta & North Georgia Railroad would
give the company the means to haul much larger stone,
important to entering the
burgeoning building stone market
while expanding the memorial stone trade
from local to national.
Georgia Marble's sheen, beauty,
and durability soon made
it the choice of architects of the day.
And the many buildings of the period still standing,
still useful, are silent testimonial
to the stone's weather-resistant qualities.
The railroad would become symbolic of
the Georgia Marble Company's commitment
to innovation and expansion,
and be just in time to usher
the local marble industry into
a period of worldwide technological advancement,
unparallled by any other period
in the history of mankind.
In the next hundred years,
Georgia Marble would bring to
the industry energy, research,
and growth, exemplified by the buildings and
memorials that span a century of lasting achievement.
Advances in the marble industry are now fueled by
a growing worldwide need for the valuable resource.
Information, investment and commodities
guided by computer move among nations,
across regional and international boundaries,
creating a global community.
Research and development have
expanded the stones uses into
over 300 home and industrial applications that
touch all our lives from chewing gum to automobiles.
Geological, geochemical, and geophysical
methods of exploration now
predate not only the existence,
but also the extent of the mineral deposits.
Nowhere are the advances more evident than at
Georgia Marble and its six marketing groups.
Natural stone has, for centuries,
been regarded as the most
prestigious of building materials
and is still considered the ultimate and appeal,
durability, and ease of maintenance.
But the slow labor intensive extraction procedures
of the past kept quarrying output small and expensive.
Today, giant machines do the heavy work,
operated by highly skilled, first,
second, and third generation craftsmen who work with
the knowledge that one slip can
ruin an entire 20 ton block.
Dimension stone, so-called because
it is cut and finished to exact
customer specifications for building exteriors and
interiors and memorial stone,
are quarried by the open pit method,
which is particularly suited to massive deposits
where the overburden is thin.
A geologist supervises the drilling of core samples,
and the marble is graded according to color,
purity, and percentage of usable stone.
Once the deposit is uncovered,
every joint and fracture is mapped,
and a quarry plan is established to
determine the direction in which the stone is to be cut.
A series of overlapping holes are
drilled vertically down into the stone from the top.
Horizontal, closely spaced holes
are drilled at the bottom of the block.
And half round pieces of steel
called feathers are inserted into the holes.
The steel wedges are drilled between the feathers,
causing the block to break free.
Loaders pull the block into position for the derrick,
and then now, 20 ton stone is lifted out of the pit.
At the top of the pit, the block is washed,
inspected for fractures, and graded for impurities.
It is marked with a detailed grading and numbering system
that prevents costly time wasted on stone that does not
grade to specification and allows marble quarry
today to be perfectly matched
with customer orders produced years ago.
If a stone is to be used as a memorial,
it is sawed to the required dimensions
and shaped by carborundum wheels.
Lettering and other decorative touches are drawn on
a rubberized stencil that
adheres to the surface of the stone.
The design is carefully cut out,
and the stone is then
sandblasted with the stencil in place.
The unstenciled area is carved by the sand,
while the area covered by the stencil is untouched.
The stencil is removed,
and the design is completed by hand.
Special orders that require
geometrical shapes are turned onto
a carbide bit on a lave
or a boring machine set with carbide,
which hollows out the piece to the desired depth.
Finishing work is a demanding, delicate craft.
And despite efforts at mechanization,
nothing has been devised that will replace
a sharp eye and a steady, experienced hand.
As today's space-age buildings reach higher into the sky,
architectural and engineering trends demand
lighter, more cost-effective materials.
At Georgia Marble, weight and
cost considerations have been solved
by using lightweight marble veneer slabs
hung on an exclusive anchoring system called Zibell,
providing the classic look and
permanence of marble at a moderate cost.
As it has through the ages,
marble is adjusting to demands beautifully.
Industrial and consumer products constitute
the minerals' broadest applications in modern society.
The house you live in, the car you drive,
for your garden and lawn,
even the flour you use for baking
contains calcium carbonate in powder form.
In industries like rubber,
plastic, paper, carpeting, and paint,
various particle sizes are used as
inert fillers and extenders
that add bulk and increase strength.
In flour, animal feed, and fertilizer,
it is added as a food supplement whenever
government regulations call for
a certain amount of calcium.
Naturally, the large industries that
use the mineral as additives, extenders,
or fillers, require tremendous amounts,
and it begins with a bang.
Mining methods for industrial products are imposed by
the geological and geographical realities of the terrain.
Where overburden is thin
and the mineral is close to the surface,
it is mined in the open pit where acres of
deposits have been opened to
a depth of several hundred feet.
Ground calcium carbonates are
the most common fillers in extenders.
Ground marble is easily and
quickly added into space age, plastic,
and natural rubber formulas,
where it alters the physical properties
of the intended product,
hardness, impact strength, compressive strength,
and fire resistance are some of the product features
that can be modified by
the inclusion of calcium carbonate.
The most important filler effects
result from particle size distributions.
Particle size classification is achieved in
either a wet ground or
a dry ground manufacturing process,
where 40 coarse, medium,
and fine ground products are produced.
For the paint industry,
fillers and extenders impart long wear,
weather resistance, and
an [inaudible] resistant high gloss on finished surfaces.
Color uniformity, balanced ease of spreading,
and aid in controlling chalking and
mildew make calcium carbonate a
valuable component in today's broad spectrum
of paint colors and shades.
In paper, it is replacing costlier binders.
The oil and coal industries use it for drilling,
and as a wall coating to reduce the occurrence of
explosions, as [inaudible], in
building materials like sheetrock.
Even the stereo recording and sound equipment industries
are affected by this important material.
Because pure calcium carbonate is
required by our industrial customers,
a quality control lab checks each order.
Samples are taken, tested,
and recorded by batch to ensure that each order meets
exacting standards of particle size distribution,
color, and texture.
Product names like Gomaco, [inaudible],
[inaudible] , and
[inaudible] aren't exactly household words,
but to our industrial customers,
they mean substantial production savings,
and that means lower prices in the marketplace,
a most important consideration.
Touching all our lives in a more direct manner,
are products of the consumer group.
Consumer products are mined deep underground in
vast wounds carved out of pure calcium carbonate.
Marketed under a number of brand names,
consumer products have
a variety of fascinating applications.
On athletic fields, it appears in powder form,
specially processed into a marking material
that is economical to use,
easy to apply, good for the turf,
and won't harm skin or clothing.
The swimming pool you use is lined with a white plaster,
that is a mixture of cement and
pool mix, a ground marble.
At home or on the farm,
agricultural lime neutralizes acids
and sweetens and nourishes the soil.
In the form of chips for landscaping,
and as a component in terrazo flooring blends,
Georgia Marble offers one of
the widest selections in the world.
Recognizing that uniquely American penchant
known as home improvement,
Georgia Marble has created the Jimco Stone Centers,
specializing in direct quarry-to-customer sales
of all our consumer group products,
and royalty and stone,
our beautiful decorative stone
for patios, walls, fireplaces,
and non-slip floor surfaces is
available in a wide choice of colors,
sizes, and textures to enhance the home,
park, or business complex.
Stone Mountain, a Georgia State Park,
and site of the largest singular granite
outcropping in the Western Hemisphere.
Colossal? Yes, but for our purposes,
illustrative of the tremendous reserves of
this valuable construction component
available in the North Georgia region,
and a natural compliment to
Georgia Marble's other marketing divisions.
At the Aggregate products group, granite,
in the form of crushed stone aggregate of
various size requirements, is manufactured.
As a filter stone of uniform size,
it is useful for filtering sewage and other liquids.
Smaller crushed stone chips
provide an excellent roofing material.
Riprap of uneven aggregate is used
on drainage projects to prevent soil erosion.
The ready-mixed concrete industry uses both aggregate and
sand in major building and highway construction.
This six-lane interstate highway,
10 inches thick with a 14-inch sub-base,
is estimated to use 105,000 tons of aggregate per mile,
and that doesn't count the sand in the cement.
Georgia Marble's crushed stone and sand plants have
ample reserves for
our most important aggregate assignment,
providing quality to specification,
materials that build safer highways.
The use of marble and granite,
though thousands of years old,
is still in its infancy.
The industry is still growing,
and Georgia Marble is leading the way into
the 21st century with the research and
development that is actively seeking new deposits,
new methods of production, and new product applications.
That search is fueled by
the ingenuity and imagination of our greatest asset,
the people who work for Georgia Marble.
Americans like you and I,
whose dedicated efforts built that
began with a few pieces of stone and
industry whose work is best illustrated in the city that
is itself a symbol of freedom's greatness,
a symbol carved in living stone.