Note: This article is part of a series about American quarries. If you work for a quarry that’s a member of the Natural Stone Institute and you’d like your quarry to be featured here, contact Amy Oakley. Thank you!

Type of Stone: Travertine

Quarried from: Idaho and Montana

Not too far below the ground, the Yellowstone supervolcano’s persistent geothermal heat stokes iconic geysers, boiling mudpots, and colorful hot springs. 

A body of magma resides about 3 miles below the surface of Yellowstone National Park. The hot rock warms the groundwater, which then travels upward along faults, dissolving minerals from the surrounding rock as it passes by. By the time the hot water emerges at the surface, it’s laden with minerals.

Travertine is the most common type of stone made by hot springs. Calcium carbonate is dissolved from layers of limestone rock below and carried upward. As the water flows out of the earth, it cools down and deposits the minerals. Over time, the flowing hot water leaves behind layer upon layer of newly-formed rock in the artistic pattern that makes travertine so treasured. 

Tribal ownership

Not far from the park’s border in Montana, an extinct hot spring formed a substantial travertine deposit. It’s been quarried from time to time over the past 100 years, but the quarry took on a renewed life in 2020 when the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians purchased the quarry. 

Brian Adkins is a member of the Little Shell Tribe and the tribe’s Economic Development Director. The quarry purchase has been an exciting development for the tribe. The 72-acre parcel contains an abundant supply of stone, and “It’s ours,” says Adkins. “Nobody can ever take it away.”

Expanded production; growing markets

Along with the Montana quarry, the Little Shell Tribe purchased a successful multi-generational, family-owned business with a fabrication shop and two travertine quarries. The fabrication shop is in Idaho Falls, and the quarries are in the Greater Yellowstone area.

This company, formerly known as Idaho Travertine, was owned by the Orchard family for over 40 years. Several members of the family along with many of the employees continue to work at Yellowstone Rock, providing well over 100 years of combined experience working with travertine. Yellowstone Rock is the largest quarrier and fabricator of domestic travertine in the United States. “It’s a great thing for us,” says Adkins.

The tribe has made investments in new saws from Italy which allow faster production from the quarries. “We’ve really gone all in,” explains Adkins, noting that new equipment “has definitely improved our quarrying techniques.”

The fabrication has also been transformed. A new 5-axis CNC saw allows for custom cutting, and a new multi-wire saw can cut multiple slabs at once, which has quadrupled the shop’s slab production rate. Once the slabs are cut, a calibrator is used to grind and flatten slabs so they can be finished to a consistent thickness, ranging from thin tiles to thick slabs. Polishing equipment from Italy completes the job. “The modern machines make so much difference,” says Adkins, noting that the work is far better, quicker, and more profitable than before.

The combination of new ownership, increased investment, and high-quality stone has Yellowstone Rock poised for growth. “The outlook is really good,” says Adkins.

Harmonious colors and finishes

Four different colors are quarried: Ivory, Yellowstone Frost, Continental Buff, and Yellowstone Rose. The color palette ranges from near-white to creamy beige, warm light grey, and even a hint of pink. The colors are easygoing – they blend harmoniously with each other and with just about any architectural style. 

The stone can be cut perpendicular to the layering, known as “vein cut,” to reveal travertine’s signature intricate texture and small, slightly wavy layers. Cutting parallel to the layering (“cross cut”) produces a flowing texture with organic, curving patterns.

The material is less porous than a typical “holey” travertine, so it needs less filling and has a smoother look and higher density. Recent testing by the Natural Stone Institute shows the stone is suited to indoor or outdoor applications, even in cold climates. 

Expanded fabrication capabilities allow for a variety of surface textures ranging from a satiny smooth polish to a touchable-textured leathered finish, to natural cleft surface.

Italian aesthetic with American origins

The company’s most popular stone is Continental Buff vein cut, which is similar to the Italian Navona travertine but all the better because it comes from right here in the United States. Yellowstone Frost is an ethereal shade of white, with flowing patterns reminiscent of marble. 

Travertine from Yellowstone Rock travels from the Northern Rockies to all corners of the United States. The stone has found its way to metropolitan areas like Seattle, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Dallas, and of course it’s equally at home near its native environment in buildings across Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

Continental Buff has been used for several notable projects such as the Idaho Supreme Court building, Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel, and the Potter County Courthouse in Amarillo, Texas.

American stone, “a big draw”

Justin Lindblad is the Director of Sales for Yellowstone Rock. He notes that the response to the stone has been strongly positive, especially because it comes from the U.S. “The response has been remarkable,” he says, citing advantages like LEED benefits, cheaper shipping costs, short lead times, and easy access to visit the quarries firsthand. 

“To have a domestic travertine product that rivals the Italian travertines has been a big draw,” he says, “that the material is quarried right outside Yellowstone National Park amplifies the interest.”

“I think the biggest challenge so far has just been educating people that a domestic source for travertine exists’” he says. Lindblad is optimistic that as the company gets its message out about its stone and its capabilities, they are ready to accommodate projects large and small.  

Adkins concurs, and is eagerly anticipating the next wave of improvements, increased production, and new capabilities, “We’re so dang excited,” he says. “We can hardly wait.”

More from the American Stones Series

Note: This article is part of a series about American quarries. If you work for a quarry that’s a member of the Natural Stone Institute and you’d like your quarry to be featured here, contact Amy Oakley. Thank you!

Type of stone: Sandstone

Quarried from: Goodsprings, Nevada

Las Vegas isn’t known for its subtlety. But just beyond a city defined by glitz and sparkle, one can experience a whole other color spectrum—one dictated by nature rather than neon lights. The desert offers a dramatic interplay of hues and textures, as canyons and cliffs in shades of russet, mahogany, and bronze echo across the landscape. These iconic rocks are ancient sand dunes that have become frozen in time; a vast deposit of richly-colored stone that has a myriad of uses. 

Sweeping Sandstone

The American Southwest is currently a desert, but in the Jurassic Period, it was an even more inhospitable place. A huge area of windblown sand dunes stretched across hundreds of desolate miles, similar to the Sahara Desert today. 

Wind makes an especially beautiful signature in the rocks it creates. Coaxed by the persistent breeze, sand grains pile up into ripples and dunes. Over time, dunes migrate and shift, stacking new layers on top of older ones. Older layers are buried and bathed in silica-rich groundwater, which binds the sand grains tightly together, yielding a solid, dense rock.

The layers inside sand dunes are made up of graceful curves that are only visible once erosion – or a quarry saw – cuts open the deposit to reveal the beauty within. 

Las Vegas Rocks quarries into a layer called the Aztec Sandstone. The stone is 180 to 190 million years old, and it formed as dinosaurs were wandering the region. The Aztec Sandstone is the same rock as the famed Navajo Sandstone that defines beloved landscapes such as the massive cliffs of Zion National Park, the deep canyons of Canyonlands, and the iconic stone arches of Arches National Park.

“A world away” from Vegas Strip to High Desert

The quarries of Las Vegas Rock sit about an hour’s drive southwest of Las Vegas. Following a dirt road north from the tiny settlement of Goodsprings, the road enters a narrow valley flanked by ridges of desert sandstone. “It feels a world away when you’re up at the quarry,” says Jeremy Adams, CEO of Las Vegas Rock.

Atop a rocky knob, the quarry opens up layers of brilliant rock which have been nicknamed Rainbow Quarries. The region was once home to 17 different quarrying sites which produced more than 20 different colors of stone.

The original quarry was started in the 1940s by a Syrian immigrant named Peter “Pop” Simon. The colorful sandstone was used in enigmatic Las Vegas buildings such as the original Flamingo Hotel, the Desert Inn, and the Thunderbird Hotel. As development boomed, use of the stone expanded beyond the local market and found its way to primetime architecture in Los Angeles, Hollywood, Carmel-by-the-Sea, and Honolulu. 

The quarry went dormant in the 1980s, and was reborn in 1991 as Las Vegas Rock, Inc. 

One of the original goals of the new operation was to produce landscaping rock that could help local residents adopt drought-tolerant outdoor environments that are evocative of the desert region, rather than thirsty lawns and lush plantings. The palette of vibrant red, orange, purple, and rich brown evoke a natural, native feel that connects the human-built environment to the natural one. 

A Rainbow of Color Options

The presence of several colorful layers of sandstone allows for multiple products from a single operation. Stone is produced in three different palettes.

• Sierra Smoke is a red color range, including burgundy, pink, and purple, with some yellow and white. 

• Tupelo Honey covers the golden end of the spectrum. This blend contains yellow, tan, camel, and mustard with some pink, purple, white, and brown. 

• Desert Blend offers the full spectrum of colors produced by the quarry. It’s a lively blend of browns, oranges, reds, burgundies, yellows, and more.

In addition to the colors, the stone has beautiful layered patterns formed by windblown sand. They layers can be horizontal, diagonal, or curving  – or sometimes all three in a single piece. The intricate patterns make the stone much more expressive than a typical sandstone, appealing to those who seek a one-of-a-kind aesthetic. 

Customers are invited to visit the quarry and select their blocks. Adams notes that people enjoy the hands-on, personal process, like the “farm to table” concept, but with natural stone.

The World’s Only Cradle to Cradle Certified Stone

Las Vegas Rock is the only Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certified stone to date, and the company obtained the certification in 2007. Some of the forward-thinking attributes of the operation are their use of environmentally safe and healthy materials, the use of renewable energy, efficient use of water, and strategies for social responsibility. Impressively, the company’s stone production generates zero waste, as everything that’s extracted is put to good use, from massive blocks down to pure sand.

Up to 10 LEED points are possible with the use of Las Vegas Rock, and the company intends to pursue the Natural Stone Institute’s sustainability certification in the coming year. 

American Values

Adams exudes enthusiasm for his work and has a clear-eyed vision for the strengths of his company. “What customers love about our stone and our company is first that we are easy to deal with,” he says. “We are easygoing people and are looking to help and provide solutions.”

“Being an American quarry in the southwest is appealing for most people, but not for all,” explains Adams. “For the customers that are price conscious, the appeal of American is not the deciding factor, price is. Being an American quarry with American labor and wages is tough trying to compete internationally. The projects that come to fruition are the ones that value the American-made aspect and our unique natural stone.”

Adams is excited for the growth of both the company and its people. “I like to train and educate people about stone and all the possibilities,” he says. Despite the challenges of a tough industry, Adams is undaunted. 

“The strength of the stone industry and the strength of our company is the same, and that is in its diversity,” he says. “There is a seat at the table for all of us.”

More from the American Stones Series

Julia Manglitz, AIA, LEED AP, APT RP, has worked on several building types throughout her career: county courthouses, state capitols and office buildings, university campus halls and community centers. What makes each of these public buildings unique is they’re all landmarks in their communities. Another thing each of them has in common? Almost all feature locally or regionally-sourced natural stone.

Manglitz began her work in Kansas, where limestone is plentiful. As a result, most of the older heritage and iconic buildings showcase local limestone. The featured projects were completed during her tenure as an associate principal of historic preservation at TreanorHL. She recently transitioned to senior architect with Quinn Evans.

Manglitz assessed sixty stone buildings on the Kansas State University campus in the summer of 2019. The buildings ranged in age from 20 to 143 years old; the study identified life-safety and water infiltration issues to help the University prioritize and plan façade repairs. Holton Hall (pictured here) was constructed in 1900 using Kansas Cottonwood and Junction City limestones. Photo credit TreanorHL.

Stone is one of the original regional materials

As an architect focused on historic preservation, Manglitz works with natural stone often. Stone has been used often throughout history for its durability and because it is fireproof. Manglitz notes that natural stone structures were also lower maintenance than wooden structures that required frequent repainting.  

As westward expansion began and immigrants from Germany, Sweden, Italy, England, and Ireland settled in or passed through states like Kansas, many brought with them a history of stonework and masonry. An abundance of usable stone in relatively modest sizes available in quarries throughout the Midwest made it easy to source and use.  

“There were various times of groups moving through. Some settled, some kept moving, but there were generally people around who understood what good material looks like, how to get it out of the ground, and how to get it shaped and put into buildings,” Manglitz says.

The case for regional natural stone

Kansas is known for its limestone. Manglitz notes that one of the most well-known stones is Cottonwood limestone, a light gray-to-cream-colored fine-grained limestone. Cottonwood is the main facing material for many buildings on the University of Kansas and Kansas State University campuses as well as much of the Kansas State Capitol.

Another local stone is Silverdale, a creamy limestone with gold color tones often used in split face veneer stone applications and cut limestone applications due to its tight grain and lack of holes or pits. 

“One of the more interesting stones that we run into a lot at Kansas State University is something called Neva, which is a slightly higher density limestone,” Manglitz adds. “It’s good for rough ashlar work and rock faced finishes.”

Neva is often mixed with Cottonwood, which is softer and can take a tooled finish.

The Kansas Statehouse exterior masonry restoration, completed in 2011, required over 7,000 dutchman repairs varying in size from a few pounds to several thousand. The façade features four types of limestone and seven granite, dating from the original construction to subsequent repairs. The project received a 2018 Tucker Design Award. Photo credit Aaron Doughtery/TreanorHL.

Historic preservation and natural stone

While limestone is readily available throughout the Midwest, Manglitz notes sourcing can still be challenging for historic preservation projects, since blocks are not always actively quarried in the same size that were originally used on a building. 

“Trying to get material in the size that you would like to get it can be a pretty important part of sourcing the stone,” she explains. “When we’re working in preservation, that’s really dictated by the existing building. When we have to go out looking for substitute materials, or substitute stones, it does get really challenging.”

In some cases, Manglitz is trying to match the original color on a building. Other times, she’s looking for a stone that can work with a particular finish. “A lot of the buildings that I work on have some sort of tooled finish to them or they have carvings incorporated, and trying to make sure that you can accurately replicate and get the same feel for it is important,” she says. 

OK State: From 2016 to 2020, Manglitz was the project manager for exterior masonry repairs to the 1917 Oklahoma State Capitol. The restoration included replacing veneer panels, dutchman repairs, crack pinning and injection, cleaning, and repointing. Tishomingo pink granite from Oklahoma clads the first floor, and Hoosier silver-gray from Indiana Quarries the upper floors. Photo credit F. Stop Photography/TreanorHL.

Victory Eagle connects with University of Kansas campus

Manglitz works to recommend stone based on everything from price to aesthetics. She and her team were called upon to work on a 1929 “Victory Eagle” statue in honor of Douglas County residents who lost their lives fighting in World War I. The bronze Victory Eagle monument features a mother eagle with her wings spread wide, defending her eaglets in a nest. 

The statue had seen better days after being stolen and thrown in a ditch before being rescued in the early 1980s. A new base needed to be designed before it could be relocated to Memorial Drive with other war memorials. The client initially wanted a base that wasn’t a native Kansas stone, but Manglitz recommended other stones that would be a more appropriate fit. 

Victory Eagle: The 1929 bronze sculpture, Victory Eagle, moved to a new home along Memorial Drive at the University of Kansas in 2019. The stone pedestal follows the pattern historically recommended by the Victory Highway Association, which organized the memorials in 1921 to commemorate the loss of life in World War 1. Silverdale limestone, quarried in southern Kansas, and Mountain Green granite from Coldspring form the pedestal. Photo credit Julia Mathias Manglitz.

She began by recommending granite for the first two courses. “Granite is going to hold up a lot better; it’s not going soak up de-icing salts that are likely to be used on the sidewalks and it will handle that installation much better than limestone,” she shared, adding that the dark green granite from Coldspring goes well with the overall landscape, since it sits on a site looking down into a forested valley.

The main shaft is Silverdale limestone from Kansas. “Silverdale has a little bit of a warmer color and it tends to go better with the existing architecture,” she says, again emphasizing the importance of regional stone used on other buildings throughout the area. “The more locally sourced stones historically used on the campus have a slightly warmer tone to them.”

Manglitz sees many benefits to choosing locally sourced stone over manmade materials like precast concrete in her work. She points to the lower embodied energy inherent in natural stone when compared to precast concrete as a major factor. “Precast you can do anywhere,” she says. “When you’re using a local stone product, you’re linking yourself to the history of construction within your particular region. It’s partly about place-making. It’s partly about the environment. And it’s partly thinking about durability for the next generation.” 

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Photos appear courtesy of Pavel Bendov/ArchExplorer.  

There aren’t many nearly freestanding buildings in the middle of New York City, but 2 Bryant Park is located on a unique site.

“The building, which is not the tallest building in the area, happens to be open on three sides,” Dan Shannon, architect and managing partner of MdeAS, an architectural company that specializes in commercial office building development, institutional, and multifamily residential developments primarily in the New York City and metropolitan area.

To give some perspective of 2 Bryant Park’s location, it is surrounded by Bryant Park to the south and the Avenue of the Americas on the west.  A public plaza is located on the north side.

The existing building cut the two parks off from one another and had a small, poorly positioned lobby. To better connect these spaces, the central column bay and structural slab were removed from the first and second floor, creating a double-height lobby concourse linking the two parks and pulling pedestrians from one space to the other. 

Shannon and his team wanted to take advantage of the unique footprint of the building and connect the park to the plaza visually. Choosing the right natural stone would prove to be a pivotal decision. They decided to create a two-story high entry lobby passage through the building and elevate that open space using Thassos White marble from Greece along the primary and surrounding walls.

Why Use Natural Stone? 

Shannon is drawn to using natural stone in his projects because natural stone represents quality, durability, tradition, and elegance. He finds we’re also fundamentally moved by natural materials like wood or stone.

“It’s part of our psyche. It’s part of where we came from. It’s part of where we’re going,” Shannon explains. “When people respond in a positive way to an architectural space, it generally has a lot to do with the use of natural materials.”

When he was working on 2 Bryant Park, Shannon was clear in his vision for the spacious lobby and entryway. Those who live, work, and visit New York City are often in a hurry. They need to get from one place to the other and don’t have time to notice the beauty in plain sight. He wanted people who walked into that space to stop—to notice and appreciate the natural stone. He wanted them to respond to it.   

The Different Facets of Thassos White Marble 

Thassos White marble offers different appearances depending on how it’s treated, and that’s one of the reasons he really wanted to use it in 2 Bryant Park.

The predominant walls were made of honed slabs and nylon brushed. “What the nylon brushing did was give it a very nice matte finish,” Shannon explains, “but it also unified the material.”

Shannon reminds us that all natural stone carries some blemishes because it’s a product from nature and not manmade. Through experimentation with their partner in Italy, Roberto Canali from Euromarble, they were able to cover or eliminate some of the blemishes through nylon brushing.

Nylon brushing is also commonly referred to as a leathered finish. “It feels like leather, it’s got a little bit of rippling, but it’s not as rough as thermal,” Shannon adds. “It came into prominence about five to ten years ago and they’re doing it mostly on marbles because it gives the marble a kind of old world look to it. It looks like it’s worn. It gives it a richness.”

Whereas part of the wall features a nearly pure-white sleek matte finish, he and the team wanted contrast for the sides, so they considered black Italian slate.

“Slate has that beautiful cleft finish,” Shannon says. “When it gets pressure along that grain, it cleaves and creates that nice texture cleft surface, which looks like you you’re looking at the topography of the world.”

While the design team and ownership really liked that look, it was decided that the black Italian slate was too much contrast for this room. “We all wanted a more subtle reading.”

This is where the versatility of Thassos White marble came back into play. Shannon went back to Canali to experiment with a different technique on the stone.

“We took large, thick pieces of the Thassos and put them into this hydraulic machine which had a blade on it, which puts pressure along the grain, on top of it, and it shears the marble,” Shannon explains. “What we found was within reason, with a certain size, with a certain amount of pressure, that we could get a positive result in terms of what we were looking for in the appearance.”

The appearance they were going for was that rougher quarry face when you’ve knocked out the blocks.

To achieve the look was the result of a process that involved finding the right size panels that would give them the kind of contours they wanted. “The bigger the panel, the more profile it was, and we couldn’t control it,” he notes. Finding the right size meant they could control the process better by placing the stone panels on wheeled carts so they could move them around. This allowed them to see how they each looked next to each other and get them closer to looking like they naturally belong to each other.

This process also allowed them to work on the panels by hand since some needed handwork to knock down some of the profile. “You may find a perfect piece but it had one bad part,” Shannon says. In that case, someone on Canali’s team would hit it with the chisel and be able to smooth out some of the imperfections or profiles that didn’t work with the adjacent material.

Natural Light Reflections on the Marble 

One of the things Shannon is most proud is how well the natural stone looks on the walls and how the impressive entryway connects to one of New York City’s popular green public spaces.

“It’s kind of like this kaleidoscope connecting these two worlds,” he says. “It really does happen during the day. Sometimes you get the green reflection of the trees that tint the stone because it’s white, and I think that’s just magical. It really is that contrast and the simplicity of it. That is fantastic, you know, just really unique.”

Shannon’s initial vision for the lobby of 2 Bryant Park was for people who walked into that space to stop, to notice and respond to the natural stone. There is no doubt that 2 Bryant Park has carved a name for itself thanks to Shannon and his team who were willing to experiment with what natural stone could do.

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Note: This article is part of a series about American quarries. If you work for a quarry that’s a member of the Natural Stone Institute and you’d like your quarry to be featured here, contact Karin Kirk. Thank you! 

Continents don’t come of age all at once. Rather, they are assembled, piece by piece, through the long process of plate tectonics. Every continent has a core—or a ‘craton,’ as geologists call it – that serves as its original landmass.

Onto this nucleus of a continent, new land carried along by plate tectonics eventually bumps into the craton, and becomes part of the new continent, growing it larger through successive collisions. Thus, most continents are oldest in the middle, with progressively younger parts added around the edges.

North America was “born” about 3 billion years ago with the assembling of the Superior Province, which makes up the bedrock in south-central Canada and north-central United States. A sequence of five events each added a new piece of land, as the young continent gained the real estate that became Manitoba, Ontario, the Great Lakes Region, and northern Minnesota. The youngest part of the original North American craton is called the Minnesota River Valley terrane, which is a chunk of land that slid into the young North American continent around 2.6 billion years ago. At the time of this tectonic collision, Minnesota and the Dakotas were home to soaring mountain ranges as landmasses collided and pushed rocks upward.

Pressure and heat from the tectonic activity caused the bedrock to buckle and melt, creating liquid magma. Pockets of molten rock flowed upward within Earth’s crust, but didn’t reach the surface, so the magma didn’t erupt like a volcano. Instead, these magma pools cooled slowly while still underground, forming crystals of feldspar, quartz, and dark mica. Western Minnesota contains several of these granite intrusions, and because geology has no concern for state lines, one lone spot of granite welled up in South Dakota, not far from the Minnesota border. This was the birth of the Dakota Mahogany Granite, in what is now Milbank, South Dakota.

The formation of Dakota Mahogany marks the last time the Midwest endured a tectonic collision. Since then, seas have advanced and retreated across the landscape, the continents have rearranged themselves in different parts of the globe, and vast ice sheets grew, then melted, then grew again, over the course of several ice ages. After 2.6 billion years of erosion, the Midwest’s former mountain ranges have been worn down, leaving the landscape mostly flat. Through all of this, Dakota Mahogany sat patiently, waiting for its day in the sun.

In 1925, the Dakota Granite company was incorporated, and the stone began its second life. 

“The Benchmark for Brown Granites” 

The trademark color of Dakota Mahogany has become recognizable around the world. It’s made of three minerals: brick red feldspar, grey smoky quartz, and black biotite mica. Taken together, the rich colors lend a deeper, weightier color than the light grey, tan, or pink hues that are more common for granite. The feldspar and quartz crystals are large enough to sparkle in the sun, and the stone holds a high gloss polish that will shine for decades.

Rick Dilts is the Marketing and Sales Manager at Dakota Granite. “Dakota Mahogany is kind of the benchmark of brown granites,” he says. “I think it’s been around longer than just about any other brown granite. You go anywhere in the world and you’ll find Dakota Mahogany from Milbank, South Dakota.”

Dakota Mahogany is primarily used for memorials—which can encompass everything from a simple headstone to intricately carved monuments, mausoleums, and customized designs that celebrate and honor the memories of our loved ones.  

For a stone as old and persevering as Dakota, a memorial seems like the perfect application. “Just the longevity of it,” says Dilts. “You look at concrete and how long that lasts compared to stone. Stone may cost a little bit more but in the long run it’s going to cost much less if you use a natural product like stone.” He muses, “Just look at the pyramids and consider how long they’ve been there.” 

Expanding the Palette 

Dakota Granite has been evolving and expanding, both in terms of the stone they quarry as well as how their stone is used. Beginning in the 1960s, the company started selling Dakota Mahogany blocks overseas, largely to Japan. Dilts recalls, “I was flying to China one year and walked into the restroom at the Narita airport, and from floor to the top of the walls were Dakota Mahogany. It was really cool to see that.”

Dilts continues, “In about 1990 we purchased a couple more quarries,” including another quarry that was already tapped into Dakota Mahogany, and a granite quarry just over the state line in Bellingham, Minnesota.    

In 2021, Dakota Granite was bought by the same company that owns Kasota Stone, and the two became sister companies. This allowed Kasota’s stones to become part of the palette of Dakota’s offerings and vice-versa. 

But the relationship runs deeper than simply selling the same stones; both companies share a business philosophy called the Entrepreneurial Operating System. Two managers from Kasota have moved over to Dakota to help grow the business: Jake Barkley and Colin Kimball. To say that Barkley and Kimball have passion for their work is an understatement. The pair appear to radiate energy and drive, especially as they play off each other and Dilts as they describe their roles in the company and plans for the future.

Kimball describes his job as “The Integrator,” as he ties together the people and departments throughout the company. “I’ve learned a lot from a lot of really great people,” he says. “And I’m proud to be a part of a big team out in Milbank.”

Barkley is the visionary – planning the broad strategy and direction. “My role is basically to set the course or the vision for the company,” he says. 

The management team is sharply focused on growth, but not simply for growth’s sake. Every business decision centers around the company’s core values. A key component of this strategy is to invest in and empower their employees. “As you start to center your culture around core values, it helps attract talented people to come work with us,” says Barkley. “It helps us coach our people as well.”

The “Wow” Factor 

A focus on people is an especially wise practice in a rural location, where hiring and retaining employees can be an ongoing challenge. “It’s a very rural community so Dakota Granite is one of the larger employers,” says Dilts.

Milbank has a population of around 3,500 people and is two hours from the nearest commercial airport. In this region, one can’t simply hire workers with specialized skills—the workforce needs to be cultivated over time.

Dilts explains, “We don’t live in one of the granite centers of the country. So we pretty much have to train everybody. We’ve been lucky enough to find a few hand polishers that came from the countertop industry. But as far as stonecutters go, I don’t know if we’ve ever found somebody with that experience.”

This is where the company’s people-centered approach gives them a leg up on hiring. Dilts observes, “We’ve got a really good reputation for how we treat our employees and I think that’s helped us draw in a lot of excellent people and retain them.” He continues, “We have one family, their fifth generation is working here now. Isn’t that amazing?”

Dakota Granite has a staff of around 93 workers, working year-round in the quarries, as well as in the cutting, carving, and polishing of finished pieces. Production work is done part by machine, and part by hand, and the company pairs high-tech CNC machines with timeless handwork.

Kimball appreciates the contrast between humans and machines. “We have a robot that can make these beautiful parts. And then we have true artisans that are making really beautiful parts by hand. To see the progression from what people can do by hand and what we can do with a piece of equipment is amazing. It’s fun to be a part of.”   

Barkley confirms that skilled handwork is irreplaceable: “Yeah, a lot of the hand cutting with hammer and chisel has to happen by hand to get a beautiful finish. It’s a special thing. You can’t replicate it.”

“There’s something extremely rewarding for people when they finish a beautiful part,” says Kimball. “I see guys and gals taking pictures with their phones of the work that they did.” Working with stone invokes a sense of permanence that can be hard to find in an era where too much seems disposable. Kimball derives deep satisfaction not just for himself, but for his employees: “To be proud of what you do at work every day and to know that you’re a part of something that’s gonna last for hundreds of years.”

“There’s so much ‘wow factor’ in our plant and our quarry,” says Dilts, echoing Kimball’s pride. “But watching the stonecutters is a big highlight for me. It’s just so fascinating to watch those guys hit that chisel with their hammer every time and not their hand.” Dilts laughs, continuing, “I’ve tried it. That doesn’t work very good for me.” Barkley and Kimball join in the laughter as Dilts continues, “But you know, the team is so good at what they do. It’s just so fun to watch them.” 

Bright-eyed Planning for the Future 

As Dilts, Kimball, and Barkley look ahead, they’re helping the company expand its focus into architectural work, including municipal projects and outdoor spaces.   

Barkley describes a current focus on landscape stone. Dakota’s current projects include “substantial outdoor infrastructure” where people can “walk in and around park-like spaces and get up close and personal to the stone,” say Barkley. He notes that the use of natural stone in outdoor spaces is a trend that’s been gaining momentum.

Even the most inspired designs can still get bogged down in today’s business environment, and Kimball explains how planning ahead is more important than ever. “On the back end of the pandemic it’s changed a lot of our behavior and our strategy. You used to be able to pick up the phone and get a few spare parts quickly from Amazon.” Supply chain bottlenecks, shipping delays, and staffing shortages have changed the nature of project management. “We’re doing a lot more in-depth planning. We’re preparing more for the future. We’re having more conversation around what potential pitfalls are around the next corner. I think it’s changed our behavior in a positive way. We now take a more realistic look at some of the obstacles that may occur and how to overcome them when we run into them.” 

The company’s local quarries offer a simple, domestic supply chain that keeps lead times short. In a competitive marketplace, “perhaps our shorter lead times and the availability of our products are what’s helping fuel our growth,” says Barkley. “Some of our customers are getting quotes for lead times that are three or four times what ours is. I think that is leading to some pretty substantial order increases.” 

Dakota Mahogany has been waiting 2.6 billion years for the right opportunity. The quarry is in good hands, with stewards who are eager to shepherd the stone to its best use. “We’re in a pattern of what I would consider extreme growth,” says Barkley. “We’re going to continue to grow this business until the next hurdle arrives. Then we’ll solve that problem, whatever it is.” 

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Natural stone is often chosen for residential and commercial work because of its beauty and versatility.  It’s also really nuanced, according to Roger P. Jackson, FAIA, LEED AP, a senior principal and past president of FFKR Architects, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based full-service architecture firm that serves clients primarily in its headquarter city and Scottsdale, Arizona.

Jackson mostly uses granite for his architectural projects, although he’s also worked with limestone. He is drawn to the beauty of natural stone and believes that its beauty goes beyond aesthetics. “Natural stone feels more durable,” Jackson says. “It has a character of strength, stability, durability, and mobility.”

While other materials may be durable, Jackson notes that natural stone in particular has history, character, and feels good to the touch. It can be carved, and texture can be added to many types of stone, adding another level of interest. Texture is often something he’s seeking when designing buildings.

Jackson credits his clients who understand and appreciate the strength and beauty of natural stone and are willing to invest in it. As a result, he’s been able to incorporate some truly remarkable natural stone into his projects.

Why temples and religious institutions request natural stone

FFKR Architects created an entire division within their firm to manage their work with specialized buildings such as religious institutions. The firm often works on temple buildings and special projects for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and these properties often have unique complexities. While their work in this space began more than three decades ago with the upgrade and extensive remodel work on the Hotel Utah Building when it was converted into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, its architects have since designed new temples in cities across the United States and completed remodeling projects on historic church buildings including temples and the Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

Jackson is one of the architects who directs the Religious Studio. According to Jackson, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints likes to build their buildings out of noble and enduring materials that truly stand the test of time. “They want to build out of long term materials,” he adds, noting they are looking at investments in their buildings that can last 1,000 years. Interiors can be more flexible so they can be remodeled as necessary, but the exteriors are requested to be noble, rich, and beautiful.

Natural stone is often chosen for these reasons.

Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple: Choosing the right stone for the project

One of Jackson’s most recent projects was the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple, which features Deer Isle granite from a quarry in Maine. “It’s this beautiful, kind of medium gray stone that has a little bit of a lavender cast to it,” he explains. “It looks beautiful when it’s dry. It looks beautiful when it’s wet. It’s one of my  favorite stones because it’s really quite unique.”

Many buildings throughout the East Coast are built using this particular stone. There were many reasons why this stone stood out for him and his team to use for this project.

First, many of the stone buildings in Philadelphia feature a grayish granite. Right across the street is the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, which Jackson describes as a fabulous and beautiful building but kind of a brownstone, which is more of a sandstone or a rusty chocolate rich brown. By choosing Deer Isle granite, the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple would match more of the buildings in town and not compete with or match the Catholic cathedral across the street.

Adjacent to the temple are two historic Renaissance Revival icons – the Philadelphia Free Library and the Family Courts Building. The temple is a wonderful addition to the historic Logan Square – one of the five original squares planned for Philadelphia by William Penn.

Secondly and importantly, Deer Isle granite passed the technical and compression testing that would allow it to hold up for centuries to come with flying colors. Some of the technical testing it underwent, according to Jackson, focused on its strength. “How strong is the stone, how much does it weigh when it’s wet, and how saturated can it get? What is its freeze thaw? You run it through, you soak it, freeze it hard, thaw it out, soak it, freeze it,” and they’d repeat the cycle over the course of months specified by the testing requirements.

Finally, the building is clad in cut natural stone and highly detailed in the Neoclassical revival style of American Georgian architecture. The granite was flexible to be carved and textured, even if it wouldn’t be as visible from 200 feet above ground.

“One common cost-cutting feature is the higher up you get, the more dumbed down the details and the carvings,” Jackson says when it comes to building with natural stone. “We did not do that. We knew people would be looking at this building up close.”

Jackson says the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple is a spectacular building in the city and one of his favorite projects.

Natural stone has timeless character

Jackson loves using natural stone for projects and there is another type of stone he’s hoping to be able to use for a project soon: Moleanos, a Portuguese limestone that he says features a beautiful creamy color: “Orange and creamy as opposed to yellow.”

Until then, he’ll continue to reach for the best natural stone for each project because he insists stone has timeless character that never goes out of style. He points to most ancient buildings that still stand tall today because they were built with stone.

“Natural stone has this timeless look whether you carve it, shape it to match a historic classical precedent, or you cut big fat slabs and build with big pieces,” he says.

He looks at the some of the buildings being built today that are more modern or contemporary and while he admits he’s more of a classical and traditional architect, architects and project managers are drawn to natural stone for similar reasons: they want that richness of color and a material with natural character and the timelessness that natural stone provides.

“Natural stone is not going to go away until you carry it away,” Jackson says.

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