CARRARA, kiir-ri'fa, MARBLE (so called from the city of Carrara), the variety of marble generally employed by statuaries. It is a white crystalline limestone, sometimes with black or purplish veins, and occurs in deposits of enormous extent — veritable "marble moun tains." Carrara marble, which WikS formerly supposed to be a primitive limestone, is now considered an altered sub-carboniferous lime stone. The plutonic action to which it has been subjected has served to obliterate the traces of fossils. The mountains containing the marble are situated a few miles from the sea, and reach the height of over 5,000 feet. Although the quarries have been worked for 2,000 years, having furnished the material for the Pantheon at Rome, the supply is still practically inex haustible. Those quarries supplying the pure while marble used for statuary are the most valuable. The so-called "Carrara district,' em bracing the communes of Carrara, Massa, Pie trasanta, Seravezra, Stazrema and Arni, is the centre of the marble industry. Carrara and Massa are the two most important, the former having a population in the city of 21,000 people, with an additional 21,000 in the mountain vil lages surrounding it and forming part of the commune. These villages are inhabited almost entirely by quarrymen and the laboring class. The commune of Massa has a population of about 4000. •Broaclly speaking, the entire male population of these two communities is actively engaged in some branch of the marble industry. There were in 1901 in the district 611 quarries in active operation, of which 345 are at Car rara, 50 at Massa and the rest distributed among the places named above. In addition to these, there are perhaps double this number which have been opened and afterward doned as being unproductive, or in which,. for various reasons, active work has for the time being ceased. Under the sanc
tion of ancient laws, the mountains where the quarries are found are the property and under the direct control of the munici pality of the district in which they are located. Applications for leases are made to the syndic of the town, and within a reasonable time, after survey, etc., the concession is granted. The concession is permanent, the only condition be ing that the grantee should formally renew it every 30 years, pay the annual rent, and work the property. The rent is merely nominal. Failure to pay it for two successive years or to develop the property in the same length of time renders the concession void. Quarries thus leased may be sold or transferred, or left as an inheritance by the grantee at any time, without formal permission from the grantor. Until 1890 most of the output of the quarries was transported to the local mills, and to the Marina for shipping, by ox-teams. But now the quarry railroad, completed in 1890, greatly facilitates this transportation. From Carrara it makes the difficult ascent of the mountains, through many tunnels and over high viaducts, to a point some 1,500 feet above the sea-level. Tremendous obstacles were overcome in the construction of these 15 miles of railroad, the completion of which cost about $4,000,000. Although largely patronized by the quarry owners, it has not as yet entirely supplanted the former method of hauling by ox-team. The United States is represented by a consular agent. The build ings of the city of Carrara are of marble, and in the churches of Sant' Andrea (13th century) and of the Madonna della Grazie are splendid marble statues of Rossi, Garibaldi and Mazzini. There is also a museum containing numerous statues and Roman antiquities.