Marble: Duped by dolomite

Marble began when the railroad came through in 1898. At that time people believed that there was an inexhaustible amount of marble in the surrounding area. Investigation proved that the white rock was actually dolomite, which has a much lower value architecturally. However, Marble survived by establishing orchards. Timber was shipped by rail and a distribution center for mining supplies was established for miners in Ferry County. The miners came to Marble via a rowboat ferry.

Forrest Phillips and Charles Allison established orchards. They cleared the land and planted apples with horse power and when that proved excessive they continued with donkey steam engines. They sold the orchard land to J.G White and Co. of New York. Land was also sold to a Kansas City operation which inter-planted vegetables and fruit trees. Apples from Marble were shipped all the way to France. The most productive orchard years were 1917-1928. The Post Office was abandoned in 1945.