The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-10-25

lars. Today Kansas is waking up to
a realization of her splendid Inherit
ance. The state already holds tenth
rank among those that produce coal,
third rank among those that manufac-
ture salt, first among those that pro-
duce zinc, and many predict that a few
years will place it first among those
that manufacture cement, the Samson
among the modern building materials,
The conditions for an immense de-
velopment of this branch of mining
and manufacture are so favorable that
the above conclusion is anything but
visionary. liz 9E 81 c se.tftfrFf
The cements of commerce are of
two different kinds-hydraulic ce-
cent and Portland. The first is kind
of lime. When an ordinary limestone
is burned and Stacked it forms a lime
that will become hard if mixed with
clean river sand. This common lime
mortar, however, will not set under
water, but will diSintegrate in excess
sive moisture.
The other kind of cement is called
Portland, being named after city in
England, where a hundred years ago
superior cement was made by burn
ing the chalk and the river clays. I'm
til a few years ago all Portland ce-
ported from Europe especially from
Hamburg, Germany, but at the present
America is producing a Portland equal
to the best from the old countries,
ture of several definite. compounds
produced by the proper calcination of
finely divided limestone, mari, or other
calcareous material with clay. The
limestone or mari supplies calcium,
while clay furnishes silica, alumina
and iron oxide. AT a temperature of
about sixteen hundred degrees, SelSfus,
chemical action takes place in the kiln.
resulting in the formation of cement
clinkers composed of calcium siIicate.
calcium illuminate, and aluminium
silicate, and this is the Portland ce-
ment of comm cree. If the COMPOST.
ton in molecule and mass is correct
in the mixture the addition Of water by
the builder to the finely ground min
eral causes crystalization, whereupon
the mass begins to harden into rock
and continues to increase in strength
for several years before reaching its
maximum. Purity of raw materials,
their correct chemical combination, a
perfect system of manufacture, to-
gether with experience and scientific
accuracy are essential for the produc-
ton of high grade Portland cement.
The discovery dozen years ago,
in south eastern Kansas of natural gas
led to the eSta blishment at lola in
1900 of a large Portland cement mill,
an enterprise which paid its founders
from the start and which has grown
to be one of the largest and best
known cement factories in America
Over one thousand carloads of ma
terial and machinery were brought to
lola for the structure, and the mill is
a model for neatness and adaptability
for rapid and thorough work Its
capacity is about thirty-five hundred
barrels or fourteen thousand SACKS
per day, and it uses up a thousand
tons OF pure limestone and clay a day
Portland cement is daily becoming
a more important factor in the indus
trial development of all civilized coun-
tries, and its consumption is growing
with wonderful rapidity. In the
United States during the five years
preceding 1900 the consumption in
creased at the rate of about one mil
lion barrels annually; during the next
two years the increase was four mill
lion Per annum, reaching in 1902 the
enormous sum of over nineteen mil
lion barrels. This. as has been point
ed out by statisticians, is a rate that
has not been equalled by any other ar.
ticle used by man and it is due to the
multitude of new applications which
Portland cement is constantly finding
in construction and the engineering
arts.