Still Block Hunting In Marble

MARBLE, Colo. – The search for the perfect block to replace the nation’s Tomb of the Unknowns will continue … and possibly beyond the original stone’s quarry.
The Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph reported in early May that Polycor, the Quebec stone producer now operating the Yule Marble Quarry here, still wants to provide the replacement marble for the famous memorial at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington.
However, the former operator of the property notes that other sources of marble may be in the running for the honor of replacing the tomb’s cracked sarcophagus.
Rex Loesby, now a consultant with Polycor, noted in the Gazette that the federal Department of the Army – the responsible agency for the cemetery and the memorial – will seek bids for marble from other U.S. quarries. The bid calls for the marble to be as similar as possible to the Colorado quarry’s stone.
The Yule quarry yielded the original stone in 1931. Operations ceased at the site in the early 1940s following a flood that wiped out milling facilities and the onset of U.S. participation in World War II.
The quarry reopened in the 1990s, and the search for the new stone for the Tomb of the Unknowns began in 2001. Several large pieces have been tipped for the project, only to reveal flaws on later inspection.
The Gazette noted that Loesby sold the lease (with Swiss minerals giant Omya) for the quarry to Polycor last year.