It has been my privilege to have had unprecedented access to the Yule Quarry to photograph its ethereal beauty and to walk in the footsteps of the men who brought forth the marble for the Lincoln Memorial, Tomb of The Unknowns, countless federal and state buildings in the USA, presidential statuary and beautiful building material the world over.
The Yule Quarry is surely a National Treasure that envelopes one, upon entering, in a rare awareness of beholding ‘something unique and special’ and a sense of history echoing in the vast rooms beneath the portals. More than one quarry worker has heard the clamber of workmen toiling away in the older parts of the quarry, though no one can be seen in the empty rooms.
It bears remembering, in perusing these photos, that beneath the forest, the soil and the granite, lies a literal mountain of marble. The interior of the Yule Quarry is an all-encompassing cathedral of the whitest marble in the world, whose surfaces are merely soiled and sooty from wood and coal burnt long ago for warmth and to fuel the old blacksmith shop, as well as diesel smoke from the large machines of our day.
These images represent the merest highlights of 12 years, thousands of miles and countless days. The quarry is in a constant state of transformation with the movement of light through the portals and marble being removed. It will never look tomorrow as it does today.
Beginning in 2012, new openings were made into the mountain creating the first new quarries in over 100 years. Marble from the new quarries, The Lincoln Gallery, is currently the most sought after white marble in the world and is shipped to all parts of the globe. Under the stewardship of R.E.D. Graniti, the legacy continues. Almost all of the current quarrying is taking place in these new quarries while the 'old quarry' remains a proud, silent page in the history of the USA.
The Colorado Yule Marble Quarry is unique in that it sits at 9,000' feet above sea level just outside of Marble, Colorado, USA, and is completely landlocked.
This presentation of select images marks the first time any of them have been made available to the general public. In the past, the images have been used by the owners of the quarry rights to promote its interests, private screenings, and even to construct 'The Pit', a crucial background set for the motion picture 'Divergent'.
Between 2003-2014 I documented the quarrying process inside and out, acquiring the largest photo and video archive of the Yule Quarry in the world. I'll continue to bring in new images and videos as time goes on.