Very high quality marble (dolomite) was first discovered in the Owens Valley in the mid 1880s. The Carson & Colorado railroad attempted to organize a company to mine it but failed. A new company – Inyo Marble Co. with J.M.Keeler as President and Israel Luce as superintendent – took over and, by 1887 or 1888, was successfully quarrying and selling sawed blocks. Initially all work on the stone was done locally but, after awhile, the company realized it was cheaper to ship the rough dressed blocks to Marmol, on the Truckee river 18 miles south of Reno, for final dressing (Marble was quarried near Keeler, shipped to Mound House via the Carson and Colorado Railroad, then to Reno via the V&T, and then to Marmol on the CPRR. The Marmol plant was run by water power which was cheaper than the 100 HP steam plant formerly used at Dolomite.
Carson & Colorado put in three spurs – at Aliso where the earliest quarries were located, at Dolomite where the marble company had its machinery, and at Mock the southernmost quarry – to handle shipments.
Nothing remains of the Aliso spur but the gigantic glory hole shown in a modern times identifying its location. The operation was not as big as you might think. The size of the hole is a result of a tunnel collapse in the 1960’s.
Of the three sidings, Mock is the best preserved. The old road bed and many of the ties are still evident…and the works at the base of the mountain are still there.
A few pictures of the operation exist. Here is Al Staudinger, foreman, shown at his shop around 1900. You can see the tracks of the Dolomite spur in the photo on the left.
Beginning in 1915 dolomite was sold to the mills around Keeler to be burned for its carbon dioxide. This became the principal business of the company and continued for 30 years.
At present FW Aggregates sells crushed marble for garden use.
You must be logged in to post a comment.