The Florence daily tribune., 1899-09-08
CEMENT WORKS
FOR FLORENCE.
Facts Concerning the New En-
ferprise East of Town.
WILL START JANUARY FIRST

ia6o iAlaA lihR y Ch obNA bF'Nup-
lished in Colorado-a plant for the
manufacture of Portland cement.
Five years ago practically all the
Portland cement used in this coun-
try was imported, England, Belgi-
um and Germany being the prin-
cipal shippers tothe United States,
Since that time the attention of
American capital has been attract
ed to this industry, and it has al
ready become one of the chief av-
enues for the employment of the
capital of the country. In the Le-
high valley of Pennsylvania there
are more than 100 large plants de-
voted to the production of cement,
fifty of which are operating in one
locality, stretching along the Le-
high for miles.
The cement used in Colorado is
nearly all of foreign manufacture,
very little of the American product
being sold in this market. 1t is
estimated that nearly 100000 bar
rels are used IN Colorado yearly,
the cost of which at wholesale is
81 per barrel, to which must be
added the freight from the East.
With the revival of the building
industry this amount will be heav-
lily increased, and it would require
but trihe increase in building
operations to double the amount
required.
The attention of w. f. Geddes,
of the firm of Geddes & Seerie,
who use large amount of cement
in their business, was attracted to
this matter nearly a year ago,
and he at once commenced
making Investigations regarding
the possibility of making Portland
cement in Colorado Last March
Mr.. Geddes secured the services of
A. Moore, an expert in the process
of manufacture, and since then the
Investigations have been steadily
in progress. w. II. James, late
superintendent of the Grant smelt-
er, and j A, Thatcher, president
of the Denver National bank, be-
came interested in the project, and
on Mr.. Moore's report the Colora-
do Portland Cement company was
organized, with a capital of $780,
600, and w. H, James, w. F. Ged-
des and j. A. Thatcher were elect
ed directors for the first year.
Several plans for the mill have
been drawn and are now under
consideration, the company not
having yet decided what plan will
be adopted. For several days Mr..
Geddes has been in Florence nego-
tiating for the land He returned
to Denver on Tuesday, having
been successful in purchasing 200
acres of land six miles east of Flor
ence, contiguous to both the Santa
Fe and d. 4 r. G. tracks. The
value of this land to the company
lies in the fact that all the ingre-
dients for the manufacture of ce-
ment are found thereon, Mr.,
Geddes left for Chicago Wednes-
day night for the purpose of pur-
chasing the necessary machinery,
and Mr.. James will follow him in
day or two.
The constituents of Portland ce-
ment are lime, silica, aluminium,
iron, gypsum and two other min
erals that are kept secret. These
are to be mixed in certain proper
tions, the end in view being to
mix thoroughly and set easily.
The process of manufacture is
quite interesting, the machinery
used in some respects is similar to
that used in the reduction of ores.
The material must bs ground very
fine, both in the preliminary and
final process. 1t is first fed into
an ordinary ore crusher, where it |
is crushed to thirty mesh. The
crushed material is then carried