Historical Commission Corner
February 2021
The Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington, D.C. was prominent in recent ceremonies during the inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden. This caused us to wonder if you know there is a Colorado connection with this sacred national site. This revered monument was constructed from marble hewn from a mountain tucked away in a corner of Gunnison County, Colorado, in the spectacular Crystal River Valley. Rather than the usual gold or silver, prospectors found great veins of marble and began to extract it for construction projects in the 1890’s. The eponymous town of Marble was incorporated in 1896 and grew to a population of 1400 at its peak.
The quality of the Colorado stone rivaled that found in Italy and created high demand for constructing monuments and buildings throughout the country. In 1914 marble extracted from the quarry was used for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. It was also used to build countless state capitols, court houses, railroad stations, banks, post offices and more.
The magnum opus for marble from our state came in 1930 with the awarding of the contract to Yule Marble Company to construct the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The remains of an unidentified soldier were enshrined there to represent of all the personnel who served and died in World War I. The block of marble took a year to quarry, was the third after two failed pieces and with a weight of some 56 tons, is recognized as the largest block of marble ever quarried in the world. It took four days to move it down a steep grade from the quarry to the awaiting rail car. From there it went off to Vermont, cut to size and then to Arlington National Cemetery. Later more pieces from the Marble quarry were cut and put into place for the final product.
Eventually the monument came to be called The Tomb of the Unknowns to recognize unnamed deceased military from all our wars. The town of Marble went through typical boom and bust periods associated with mining. The population shrank to one during the 1940’s. Today the quarry is consistently busy, and a few hundred people live in and around this little community about 30 miles from Carbondale.
112,000 pounds of Colorado Yule marble for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Photo courtesy of Denver Public Library, Western History Collection x-12283.
Tomb of the Unknowns and honor guards today.
Photo from public domain.
Did you know . . .
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Bobby Unser, auto racer and winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 1968, 1975 and 1981 was born in Colorado Springs?
- When early Spanish settlers in the San Luis Valley observed a reddish hue on nearby mountains, they dubbed the range Sangre de Cristo or Blood of Christ?
- The Spanish word for cottonwood tree is Alamos, thus the root of many place names in the west such as Alamosa, Colorado and Los Alamos, New Mexico? Alamosa means cottonwood grove.
The Superior Historical Commission continues to meet monthly by Zoom and the Museum continues to be closed during the pandemic.
For further information on Superior Historical Commission and Museum activities please contact Bryan Meyer, Town Staff, at 303-499-3675 or Larry Dorsey, Commission Chair, at 303-499-1969. Content by Larry Dorsey, Town of Superior Historical Commission. Proofed by Dorothy Mahan.
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