pyrite. Other minor inclusions are sphene, apatite, rutile, zircon, and sphalerite. An example of inclusion affect is gold veining, the result of iron or manganese, that is still quarried today. When the physical characteristics of Yule Marble are compared to the other US marble, the results are about the same for general characteristics of weight, hardness, specific gravity, porosity, absorption, and coefficient of thermal expansion. In strength characteristics, the properties of Yule Marble are lower than most of the other marbles for compressive strength and transverse strength, but they are not unreasonably low. For ordinary uses, stone having a compressive strength of 5,000 lb per square inch is satisfactory. Test results from 1913 to 1937 ranged from 6,694 to 10,195 pounds per square inch (471 to 717 kg per square cm); in 1996, results were 14,874 (1,046 kg per square cm). Quarry The same geology that created the marble also created a host of problems in quarrying the stone. Quarrying in this high altitude environment with steep slopes, deep snow, and snow-mud slides is so expensive that advances in technology have not been able to overcome the challenges. These factors limit periods of operation and the amount of marble that can be brought down from the quarry. In the early years a lack of transportation to move enough of the stone out of Marble added to the difficulties. The transportation problem was largely mitigated by the advent of a railroad (1906 through 1941) and by road and truck since 1990. The cutting rates of today's equipment are much faster than the 1911 technology. Located along and above the east and west side of Yule Creek, from an elevation of to were five quarries, of which only one on the west side is in operation today. Those on the west were the most productive being the John Osgood quarry (pit-type started in the early 1890s) and the present-day quarry started in 1905 by the Colorado-Yule Marble Company inside the mountain. The east side quarry, started in 1904 by the Strauss brothers, was quarried inside Whitehouse Mountain. Most marble quarries in the world today are pit-type operations, such as Carrara, Italy. The amount of Yule Marble remaining for quarrying should last for hundreds of years. Use of Yule Marble has grown through several periods of boom and bust from local to national, and today is international. The first major use was in