The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-14
SOUTHERN PROGRESS
CEMENT POSSIBILITIES OF THE
 SOUTH.
Million Dollar Plant to Be Erected at Selma by Georgia and Boston Capitalists Who Have
 Bought Rights.

Baltimore. Nov. 13-(Special.)-A week or two ago a million dollar plant to man. ufacture Portland cement was compieleu in Georgia, and it is now announced that another million dollar plant to manuiac- ture cement Is to be built at Selma Aia., by Georgia and Boston capitalists who have paid $40.00O for cement rights on tract of land not far away.
 These developments give especial slg- nificance to the suggestions made in this weeks issue of The Manufacturer He- cord by Charles Catlett, well known enginer of Staunton, Va. that no tune could be better than the present TOT States. railroads and individuals to in- vestigate the extent of natural resources in which they are interested, with espe- cial reference to the ascertaining or the amount of cement material available. MT Catlett has already dwelt upon the op- portunities of the South in this respect and says:
 "In the section in which iron has been manufactured the available supplies ot high-grade limestone have usually been quite fully exploited, while the problem of the cheapness with which large quah- titles of coal can be secured has also been solved It not infrequently happens that in such sections there is good deal of information about quarries attractive ly located which have developed too large a percentage of insolubles for fluxing pur- poses, but which may still prove of in- terest from Portland cement standpoint. Such quarries are worth Investigating. Deposits of pure limestone are apt to at- tract most attention. Still, 1t is thor oughly possible for the limestone to con- tain naturally such mixture of suitable ingredients as to approach closely Port land cement mixture, with all of the ad- vantage in the way of economy which would come from such a discovery.
 "I should say, therefore,, that in a dis trict where the ordinary conditions of transportation and market would make the erection of Portland cement plant attractive, all the large deposits of highly calcareous or limey rocks and slates which are smooth and uniform in texture would demand consideration as to whether they might not be found to consist of com position which would make them pecu- liarly we'll fitted for such operations"
 Cement making is but phase of the growing dlversihcation in Southern in- dustry, which Is quite marked at Birm- ingham. One of the latest additions to the activity centering in that district Is plant at EnsIey to manufacture roofing materials. The main building of this plant, which is expected to be in opera ton by January 1st, is 100 by 150 feet. All the machinery will be driven by elec- tricity, and the raw material will be ob- tained from nearby coke ovens.
 The limits of products of the cotton plant as material for industry have by no means been reached, but there Is constant progress toward them Near Abilene, Texas, there is approaching completion modern plant for the manufacture of the highest grades of cooking, salad and other edible oils, as well as miners oil from the cotton seed. This plant which has capital of $5OOOO, will also include soap works and compound-lard estab- lishment.
 In the same direction is the purpose of cotton oil mill already operating at Norfolk. Va, to expand its products by taking the hulls of the cotton seed di- rect from the oil-mill machinery and put ting them through a process whereby they will be ground up and yield hull bran and paper-stock. The former will be sold for foreign and domestic cattle feed and the latter will go into paper. All the machinery has been installed for the grinding. but there is still hesitation about entering upon paper making be- cause of inability to obtain enough wa ter at q reasonable price to operate the plant. The concern, however, has leased two or three mills to work up the fibre into paper and success has already been had.