VERMONT MARBLE SAND PIT NEAR
CHENEY HILL
The Vermont Marble Company sandpit was located between four roads in the
north end of Rutland Town. Bounded on the west by North Grove Street, south by Cedar
Avenue, east by lands of Kellogg, and north by Pinnacle Ridge Avenue. The land
consists of about 33 acres.
When Sand Hill in Proctor ran out of sand, the Vermont Marble Company was
looking for a new source to be used in cutting and sawing marble. They located
on the above site about 1900. There, they built a mill and erected a tramway (a
system of buckets carrying the sand over Pine Hill to the marble mills in
Proctor). This tramway system was a great deal like our present day ski tow.
The first sand removal was all done by hand labor. Men filled wagons and
horses were used to draw sand to the mill. The horses were stabled in a bum in
back of Mr. Forkas's house. Kathy Knight, granddaughter of Mr. Forkas, now owns
that house. A great deal of the labor force came from Europe and many of the
men lived in a boarding- house attached to Dick Creed's old farmhouse. Mr.
Forkas, a well-known neighbor, was second Foreman. A man named Dewey was head
foreman. Many old Rutland Town neighbors used to work at the pit. Mr. Forkas
came from Hungary around 1909 to work there.
Thomas Gerdon, Sr., another neighbor, came from Rumania to work there
also. After the plant closed he bought the original land and added it to his
farm. The farm is now owned by Thomas Gerdon, Jr.
The tramway was run by electric power. Later on all pit operations used
electric power to load and haul sand to the mill. Two tragedies happened, many years
apart, at the sandpit. One lad was drowned in a pond located near the mill and
another boy was electrocuted nearby. Both boys (Clarence and Edward) were from
the Boutwell family, nearby neighbors.
Many neighborhood boys used to spend a great deal of time, summer and
winter, racing up and down the high bank. Swallows used to have their nests in
holes at the top of the banks.
The Cheney Hill Sand Pit played a
very active role in Rutland Town history, supplying jobs, furnishing sand to
Vermont Marble Company, and later to many local people, as a playground.