My great grandfather was Isaac Strauss, who developed the Strauss Quarry in Marble, Colorado in about 1910 and then went bankrupt around 1920. I am interested in chatting with anyone who knows about the Strauss Quarry. Also, I am trying to locate a piece of Strauss Marble to use for a headstone for my father, who died in March, 2019. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello, and welcome to Aditnow.

I visited the Strauss quarry back in 1988, and some of the photos I took on that visit are posted on this site. I may have a few more, as the posted photos were scanned from Ektachrome slides, which was a bit of a laborious process.


There are a couple of books on the town of Marble. One is called 'Marble Colorado, City of Stone' which I have not seen. The other is called 'Marble - a town built on Dreams' and was published by Sundance Publications Ltd. around 1992. Actually a 2 volume set of about 350 pages each. I am sure you will find some photos there, although the book mainly covers the far larger and more successful Colorado Yule quarry on the other side of the valley. Likely some maps and other information also. Sorry for being a bit vague, but I am travelling at the moment and haven't looked at the books in quite some time. Sundance is no longer in business, but you can find used copies on ebay.


I speculate you might be able to find some suitable Strauss marble around the base of the tram line that took the marble from the quarry down to the narrow gauge rail line. I recall that area being reasonably accessible back in 1988.


Hope this is of some help.

This is of great help.

My parents and I were in Marble in the early 90s and found copies of the books in a bookstore. However, when we started climbing around in the area, we think we found where the funicular was located but couldn't find the quarry itself. I live in Aspen now and plan to go back in search of a block of Strauss marble for my father's headstone. He died in March at age 94. His name was Kenneth Strauss Canfield (his middle name was chosen to honor his grandfather, the founder of the quarry).

I will take the pictures you posted on the site with me when I go to search and hopefully they will get me situated better. By any chance, do you have any other photos, maps, materials, or advice that might allow me to find the quarry?

Thanks so much for responding.

Ken Canfield
[email protected]
404-277-7578 (cell)