Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1906-10-25
face of the choicest pasture land.

face Of the choicest pasture land.
Building by concrete does ava,
with many Of the city's noises. Tn,
terrific pounding on steel girder
that marks the erection of a meta
building Is absent when concrete 1,
used. In fact one apartment of
hotel has been occupied with com
plete absence of any discomfort Il
the guests while new walls of con
crete were being put up within a few
feet.
Railroad Bridges Of Cement.
The big railroads are all adoptin,
the cement bridge. It is cheaper
more enduring. more quickly erected
and 1t releases the builders from
slavery to the steel mills.
The tremendous boom in cement
building is shown by the difference
In the output of cement now and
eight years ago. In 1897, this coun
try produced about a million and 8
half barrels. Last year this had
grown to 26,500. 900, and the total fol
1906 will exceed even this grea,
amount.
Fortunately the supply is virtually
unlimited. The Lehigh valley region
in Pennsylvania alone can turn on
100000 barrels a year indefinitely
Cement was found in this country as
early as 1850, and was first used by
the Lehigh Valley Coal and Naviga
ton company.
The great Pennsylvania cement
belt extends from Fogelsville, Lower
Macungie, to the Lehigh Valley river
at Caplay 1t runs in a northeastern
ly direction, and is the same belt that
later crops out in New Jersey. One
company alone employs an army Of
some $1,000 men in connection with
the manufacture of its cement. There
are five prominent companies, and
their investment Is constantly being
increased, for the demand for cemen,
has forced them to erect new mills
and to install new machinery, whose
value combined would run into the
millions.
AS in blast furnaces the chemist
is the most important factor, so in
the manufacture of Portland cement
the chemists employed in these mills
represent the top notches in their
profession. Portland cement is simply
a combination of argillaceous lime
stone with the natural cement rock
but, to secure the necessary high
tensile strength, ground to the ut
most fineness with uniformity oil
color (thus assuring that all construc
ton work will improve in strength by
age and stand forever, if so re
quired), all demanding analytical
skill of the highest order
There is much of the romantic in
the discovery and development oil
the cement region in this country as
well as in Northampton. Farmers
who for years had succeeded in max
ing only bare living from the stub
born soil suddenly found themselves
rich beyond the widest fights of theil
Imagination.
Barren Soil Valuable.
Barren, rocky soil, on which the
wild carrot, the goldenrod and the
Canadian thistle were always the
most bounteous harvests, and where
the tiller of the soil aften cursed
the rock which was. yet to prove his
fortune, sold for hundreds of dollars
per acre.
One farmer sold his land for 500,
900, and placing no trust in men OF
banks, made them give him the
money in cash
D. o. Sayler was the pioneer OF
the cement industry in Pennsylvania
and the mill in which he made the
first Portland cement is still stand
ing.
The average price for good cement
rock is about $500 an acre, but the
soil that has limestone In it is vir
tually worth almost any money. Il
even pans out to beat gold, for a
good acre of limestone land will pan
out for its owner $40 or $50 per day
An enormous amount of limestone
rock is brought into the cement belt
at Sunville, Lebanon county, Pa.
Once the rock is taken out of the
earth, everything in the manufacture
of cement is done automatically
Machinery carries it to the roasters;
from the roasters 1t is carried to the
crushers; from the crushers It goes
to the stockhouse, and from there te
the sacks or barrels without having
been touched by the workmen.