Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1900-02-16
Is The Portland Cement Works
In Town Of CraigSVile.
IT Will COST 100000.
The Work Of Building is Being
Rapidly Pushed and Will Be the
Greatest IN the South When CON-
pIeted--Facts Concerning 1t.

ment works in the State, and is the
only one South of Masons & Dixon's
line and East of the Mississippi, that
can manufacture the celebrated Port.
land cement. When l landed from
the train here this morning and stroll
ed about the town on other matters
intent, the beneficent influence in the
community of the big industry was
Everywhere apparent-the farmer had
a ready sale for all his beef and pork,
the house wife had a market for her
chickens, butter and eggs, the board
ing houses were full, the merchants
were doing an increased business,
every house in Replace was occupied
and general air Of thrift and good
cheer pervaded the neighborhood. All
spoke we'll of the big industry and of
it's general manager. Mr.. F. H. Lewis,
himself Philadelphian. So when l
went over to visit the works that after
noon,I was prepared to find in him the
genial, alert, business man that he
proved to be.
The plant is located at the little set
tlement known as Marbledale, South
of the railroad and just back of the
big hill from the village. From the
portico of the old Young house-which
is temporarily used as the company's
Off1ooc-I Iookod dou,p r1pon %bo hill
slope and the meadow beyond where
so recently the farmer had raised his
crops of corn and the boys had tracked
rabbits. Now the whole face of the land
scape is changed. Railroad tracks
converge from half dozen directions
and meet at a cluster of large build
ings that swarm with men eager in
Fastening work of construction. AL
ready most of the buildings are under
roof and much of the ponderous ma
chlnery in place. But the big ware
room is yet in its beginning stages and
has just emerged from its concrete
foundation. This room will hold many
thousand barrels and be monster in
capacity. While strolling about aim
lessly amid the labarynth of men and
timbers, I was greeted by MI. Hezskiah
Jordan, our former townsman and
a foreman in the works here. He took
me in charge and to bis courtesy and
care am indebted for much Of pleas
ure and interesting detail concerning
this enterprise, so under his guidance
we traversed the mazes.
l was surprised to find every thing 30
substantially built. There is nothing
cheap or shoddy. The buildings are
massive and of the best materials, the
roofing of slate, and the machinery is
all new, much Of it imported from
Germany. This can mean but one
thing, that the company has come to
stay and that the works will be per-
manently operated. This conclusion
was further emphasized by General
Manager Lewis who told me that be
knew of no place in the Southland
where the necessary raw material lay
SO accessible and in such abundance.
THAT, said he, pointing to range of
hills, lis our supply of black slate,
and there, pointing to small sized
mountain, ''is our supply of fossil lime
stone rock, and the supply is mex
haustible. "We had explored this
whole section before finding just what
we wanted" And there sure enough
lay the fossil lime in great shelves,
one back Of the other, clearly exposed
to the surface, with scarce an inch of
earth for hiding. have climbed that
old hill side many time and had never
thought it worth the taxes; so much
for the unsophisticated. The company
has purchased hereabouts 400 acres
and they have the mineral rights on
800 more, SO that their possessions
cover large area; extending in an
irregular strip from near Pond Gap to
point below Craigsville following
the line OF the river.
The process of cement manufacture
as explained to me, is the grinding to-
gether in given parts of black slate
and FOSSIL lime stone, which when re-
duced to powder, is passed through
|driers-cylindrica iron tubes SO feet
long and feet in diameter-where the
cooking process reduces it to a clinker
condition. The clinkers in turn are
pounded to a dust and is then the
| finished product. But there is a great
difference in cement. The ordinary
has solo as low as 18 cents per barrel,
while the product made here Portland
Cement) readily brings $500 per bar
rel. The manufacture, it is contem-
plated will begin about April 1st, and
the output be about 800 barrels per
day. In strolling about the works I
came upon great stock of barrels,
scores of them, filled with hard blue
river jack rocks, similar to those seen
in the bed of any mountain stream,
worn smooth by the action OF the wat
er. These stones though have their pur-
pose and are used in the big macera-
tors to pulverize the material. They are
! the purest blue flint and come from
Greenland and Iceland. Another bit
of curious machinery were great
heaps of II lb steel balls, such as one
usually sees stacked by the side of an
old smooth bore-cannon. These are also
used in the process of maceration, and
are shipped from the Krupp Works,
Germany.
I. Ii asked to estimate the number OF
men engaged hsre now | should say