The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-09

these things. that . territory but lit- should hold one of the most powerful nations of, the earth. and have flag upon which the suh never sets.
 Rich In Deposits.
 On the banks of the Warrior. in the suburbs, in one of the richest. if not the richest. cement deposits in the world, England Is adding to her mon- etary wealth. She has no monopoly of the cement wealth. however, There equally as rich in cement deposits and other places with these deposits equal ly as we'll located as the site of the Alabama Portland Cement Company's mill at Spocare. The whole of the County about Demopolis. under the top soil is a vast bed of cement rock. Other mills will probably go up. as they should go up. for the environs of Demopolis are said to be richer in deposits and more suitable in location for cement manufacture than any, where else in the United States.
 Nor were the English people the first to discover the cement rock deposits and appreciate the financial possibili- ties of its manufacture. To the opu- lent deposits of the limestone rock at tention was first called by Dr. Eu- gene A. Smith. He not only drew at- tention to those deposits but he wrote point for the successful manufacture of cement, there being close at hand the necessary ingredient of a suitable clay a swell as fine shipping facilities Local men first inaugurated the movement which resulted in the build- ing of the big cement plant. They secured the necessary rights. got the thing in handy shape and finally drew the attention and interest of the English investors.
 This was some five or six years ago.
 It was c good proposition to the English investors. They mad but lit- tie 70 do. only to put in their money. sit back and draw their dividends. Some seemingly fabulous tales are told of the profits the concern is mak- ing The general opinion Is that an annual dividend of 100 per cent Is a low estimate to put upon the yearly business of the company. But this Is merely talk by business men of the surrounding section. What the com- pany makes nobody knows but the company. The company's officers are not given to making public the com pany's business.
 But this much is known, the con- cern has been uniformly prosperous since the mill was started five years ago. It has run day and night since | then. A year or two ago, in the Lehigh Valley which is the great cement sec ton of the country. mill after mill was shutting down. Some of them were on the verge or bankruptcy. None was making money.
 | Doubling Capacity.
 l And yet the Alabama mill went ahead with its work without dropping a stitch. Neither in the daytime nor And now they are doubling the capac- ity, of the original mill; they are put tink in double the amount of mas lchinery that was in the mill when il was making 500 barrels of cement a day.
 l The marked success of this plant draws renewed attention to the great strides of the cement deposit in and around Demopolis. And 1t emphasizes too. the remark of Dr. Smith when questioned by Captain John c. Webb as to how much cement rock there was about Demopolis. Why. therc Is enough cement rock in one acre in | this section around Demopolis if prop erly quarried to build the Panama Canal"
 Mir. F. c. Smyth, our English friend the manager of the works at Spocare Is enthusiastic as to sne conveniences the suitability of the location for the making of cement.
 You can see." he said. from our quarry there, that the cement rock is right at the surface of the ground It crops out in places and in all places only a narrow covering of earth has to be scraped off. And moreover, the supply of cement rock Is practically unlimited.
 "A certain kind of clay, you know has to be mixed with the crushed rock in the making of cement and that Is as convenient as the rock. Water too, has its use in the making of ce. ment and we experience no difficulty whatever in getting. an ample supply of water -.-:.-.-
 All in all, I have never seen a place where cement can be made so easily as here. I have never seen place where the facilities are so close al lhand."
 It would seem, therefore, as if the expectation of the Demopolis people lthat other enterprises in the manufac' ture of cement will follow; that othei portions of their cement beds are tt be developed and exploited will b' fulfilled. At present there is onl, one OtneT CSHCht PAahe AAi eAO S'sAA South, the ono at Rockmart, Ga. hay ling a daily capacity of i,600 barrels lThe company which owns and operate. lthe Alabama Portland Cement Com pany has another mill In Utah. Th' lLehigh Valley, however. Is the cement center of the United States and 1t gov erns and controls the prices that rul' lin all markets, as New York and Liv erpool have in the past governed ant lAI
 The Process.
 The complex process which Is re
 auired in the manufacture of cemen
 surprises the layman. The averag
 man Is surprised to find that It re
 uuires more different processes to mak
 the cement that goes on his Iron
 walk than 1t requires to make the bak
 ing powder which goes In his roll o the ouinine that goes in his medicine
 There Is this difference. however. tn
 cement Is made in immense quanti
 ties notwithstanding the complex pro
 cesses.
 Take, for instance. the sort of rocl
 that Is required. The particular sor
 of cement rock that Is found at Spo
 care is geologically called argilaceou
 limestone. It is quarried out of tn
 earth as marble or granite would b
 quarried. The limestone quarry Is onl
 a few yards from the mill. but tn
 Southern Railway runs between then
 The mill house juts up against an
 projects over the right of-way of tn
 Southern.