The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-09-11
UTICA.

The Grain Trade, Sc.

than the sprshtly little town Of Utica, in thi;
county.
Its neat white dwelling houses nestle cozily
among lofty oaks in large pats of ground, adorn
' ed with fruit and ornamental trees and shrub
berry, and neat graveled walks winding among
lovely flowers and smoothly shaven lawns max
ing it another
sweet Auburn, loveest village OF the plain"
The business portion of the town is rapidly im
proving. The old dilapidated shanties that form
erly occupied this section Of the town are giving
way to large substantial structures Of brick and
stone, and here, as all over the town, a general
air of ncatness prevails, an evidence of thrift and
enterprise too plain 10 be mistaken.
l HER BUSINESS ENTERPRISE.
Utica boasts OF three or four prominent bust
ness enterprises, none OF which are enjoyed by
any other town in the State We refer to her
extensive cement works; drain tile, sewer pipe
and fire brick works, and her ncxhausthe hills
Of fire CLAW and glass sand. Around Utica are
| thousands Of acres Of cement or water lime rock
which exists in no other locality of the State
except in limited quantities at Alton.
The manufacture of this water lime has grown
into prodigious enterprise. under the manage.
ment and ide(atigable energy and perseverance
of Mr.. James Clark, ably seconded by his son
John L., and still further by corps of clear
! headed, wide awake young gentlemen, at the
head Of various departments of this immense
business.
Mr.. James Clark and his estimable lady came
to this locality forty one years ago; consequent.
ly Mr. and Mrs. Clark take rank among the old
est couple OF old settlers In the county. They
exchanged Lorraine, Western Reserve, Ohio, for
Utica, H., in 1884, and have no reason to regret
their bargain. This peculiar rock of which
cement is made is light gray, somewhat re-
scmblinG our common lime stone. II was first
discovered by Geo. W. IL w. L. Armstrong, the
latter now deceased and the former the well
known member of the legislature, who, in 1887,
were contractors on the Illinois IL Michigan
Canal and dug two sections two miles) OF that
famous ditch through Utica. This rock hav.
ing been thus found, and Mr.. G. W. Armstrong
being in need Of some lime and none being with
in hundreds of miles, mistaklng it for ordinary
limestone erected kiln and burnt some Of it
1t calcined beautifully and delighted him. He
poured water upon It to slack it, but to his
amazement it became if possible, harder than
ever He had never seen water lime or cement,
hence his dilemma. Soon after some of the civil
engineers OF the canal saw the rock, and being
familiar with its properties, informed him there
of. During the latter part of the same year,
QS37,1 Messrs Steele & Norton, OF Lockport, put
up the first cement mill, but owing to the great
distance from any market and the very small de-
mand at home, the mill did but a slim business
In lSi5 Mr.. James Clark, forseeing the i'm
mense value of the rock in the future and the
great trade that could and must eventually be
built up upon it. purchased the mill and at once
set about developing the resources of the place
He has gone on step by step until he has reach
ed splendid fortune fer himself and hundreds
OF others, and secured "a comfortable competence
or good living for hundreds more Of his neigh.
bors.
Mr. James Clark is now the president of Joint
stock cement company, having under their con-
troll sixteen cement mills, as follows Eight at
Louisville, KY; Four at Akron, Ohio; one at AL.
ton, and three at Utica, III. They made last year,
at all these mills, 100000 bills; 10000 at Utica.
The extent of Clark Il Sons quarres of cement
rock at Utica is from 400 to 500 acres. The up.
per stratum crops out here and there at the sur.
face OF the ground, or in places only few feet
OF stripping are required. The first stratum is
about seven Feet thick. An intervening space of
about eighteen feet OF this reaches the second
stratum. This is fifteen feet thick Thus 1t will
be seen that the supply is almost beyond calcu.
lation.
Messrs Clark Il Son ran at the cement works
in Utica fifteen kilns two Of them being what is
called draw kilns,' that is, they draw from them
Il certain quantity OF burnt or calcined rock
ever day, and fill in an equal amount Of unburnt
rock. The other thirteen are "set kilns, that is.
the kilns are loaded and fired and burnt out, and
the entire contents withdrawn before new
charge is put in. Eight days are required to
burn kiln. The rock Is hauled In
small box cars on a tram railway, propelled by
that homely, harsh-voiced, long cared power, up.
on which the steam engine is but slight i'm
the mule. There are fifteen of these
ears, which run distance Of from one half to
.hree.fourths of a mile.
HOW CEMENT Is MADE
The rock is blasted, drilled aud split oft of the
bed at the quarry Just as other rock is, then
Iins. Here il is broken with sledgcs into con- |
,enient size for burning. Then, with a certain |
Of coal in alternate layers, it is |
brown into the kiln, a large conical structure
II mason work, where it is fired. In about
,ight days, more or less, depending upon the
iraft II is burnt-"done brown"-and thence is |
from the bottom Of the kiln and Ia
zen TO the crusher where II Is broken To small
the size of hickory nut; thence II
lescends int hoppers and is ground on mill
tones exactly such as used in common Touring
Mills, and comes out literally -four made from
old rock. II is bagged or barrelled like COM
non wheat -four and is ready for market. The
department. OF cacinng and grinding or making
he cement, is under the supervision OF Mr. c. B.
'lugston, who has been about six years In the
mploy OF the firm, and about three years super
ntcudeut ofthe cement works. He ID a courteous
Gentleman aud the right man IN the right place
. The AVERAGE number of hands ,,pploved in