Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-11
CEMENT IN BUILDING
Is Replacing Steel and Wood
Every Day.
GREAT AMOUNT USED HERE
750, 600 Barrels on New Union Sta
ton and Approaches.
PRODUCT OF MANS INGENUITY
Some Great Portland Cement Beds in
This Country-Largest is in
/ Florida.

short time ego the contractors building
the new terminal station shipped back to
one OF the companies furnishing Portland
cement for that structure carload Of the
sacks in which it was shipped and received
rebate of 81 500. at 10 cents sack. This
, is perhaps one of the most striking illustra-
| tons to be found of the increasing use of
concrete in structural work. On the union
terminal. including its approaches from the
| north and the tunnels from the south,
| more than 10000 barrels of this cement
will be used. In 1865 this cement cost on
the average STA a barrel, and this year it
has brought $1.59 barrel in large lots
The average price paid by the contractors
has been about LOO barrel, so that about
81, 600 has been paid for this single form
of structural material.
But the cement used at the station is not
all that has been brought to Washington
for structural purposes. The District prop
erty clerk purchased t2,527 barrels of Port
land cement in 1904. costing $11S,342. In
1905 he purchased 5S.Oe2 barrels for $50, eos,
and in the fiscal year ended last June the
outlay was $12O,933.90 for 1884 barrels.
The District government uses this cement
in large quantities for the construction of
| sewers. bridges and concrete sidewalks.
The amounts mentioned however, do not
include that used by contractors on the new
municipal building the Connecticut avenue
bridge and that at Piney branch. After
talking with several of these contractors
an approximate estimate of the amount of
Portland cement used in the District in the
twelve months ended last June was 3OOOOO
barrels.
This estimate includes that used in the
construction of the large government build
ings going up, the terminal station, the
Frth-Sterling steel plant and other smaller
structures, into which concrete construction
enters. Railroads load 100 barrels to the
car. SO that no less than 3COo carloads of
cement have been brought into the District
within a year That would make fifty
trains of fifty cars each, and on the usual
Roadway would make procession of trains
reaching from here to Philadelphia. Twen-
ty barrels to the load would require $1,000
wagons to transport the cement from the
stations to the place of building, and a pro-
cession Of them would require more than
twelve hours to pass a given point The
cement piled in one heap would fill the
Capitol plaza and lay a cement sidewalk
Of the usual thickness and width half
way around the borders Of the District.
Replacing Brick Sidewalks.
With the replacing Of brick sidewalks by
concrete and the completion of the sewer
system, with the necessary building opera
tions 1t will be many years before the Dis
trict of Columbia requires less amount Of
this material than now. In the building of
foundations and thick walls concrete is
coming more and more into use. 1t takes
the place Of the more costly brick and
stone. Moreover, when the cement Is
mixed with broken stone in the right pro-
portions the resulting structure is better
than one of stone or brick, because Of its
solidity, lack of joints and homogeneity. In
fact, these results have made the use of
cement by engineers and contractors COM
mon rather than its greater economy.
The production of Portland cement in the
within the is
one of the most remarkable features of the
nations development. In 1880 the output
of the cement mills was 1900 barrels. In
1900 it was 100000 barrels, and in the
calendar year Of 1905 it was "a, 0CO, 600 bar
rels, which, at $1.2o barrel. represents
income to the producers of $41.0OO,OOO, plac-
ing it among the most profitable Industries
of the nation, distanced only by Iron and
STEEL gold silver and the production of the
great staple products of Uncle Sans agri-
cultural domain. Aside from its great
economic value. Portland cement has made
the present building operations in this and
other countries possible. The draft upon
the steel industry, upon the forests and the
stone uuarries has been lessened by the use
of concrete, and such enormous undertake
ings as the irrigation projects of the west,
the Panama canal and the largest railroad
bridges and viaducts could not go on for
lack of material. 1t Is likely that the pro-
duction of cement is yet only in Its infancy,
great as it is and startling as the figures
look. Perhaps the world will not soon call
for larger constructions than the dams, VIA
ducts, retaining walls and locks of the Pam
ANA canal, but the irrigation projects of
the west will go on, smaller canals may be
built and the development OF waterways
and the probable construction OF entire
buildings from concrete in the near future
will naturally give o>the industry unusual
momentum in the coming quarter of CEN
tury 1t is impossible almost to Imagine,
without some such illustration as the build
ing over Of the burned district In Baltimore
Valparaiso, what will be the consumption
of Portland cement in the future:
Product Of Mans Ingenuity.
Mans ingenuity has often risen to great
emergencies in the development of civiliza-
ton. Just as 1t began to be apparent that
the coal fields were doomed by the enor-
nous drafts upon them for fuel, electricity
was developed to provide new distribu-
ton of power in the interests of economy
of fuel. Electricity expanded the worlds
work in every direction. Transportation
was multiplied a hundred fold for freight
and passengers, while the telegraph, cable
and telephone have given every man the
ear of the world.
falling when stone and brick and steel, as
structural material. are hardly sufficient to
meet the requirements, the grinding of the
rocks to powder, and their solidfication
again in the concrete cribs has made pos
sible the most extensive in building the
world has ever SEEN. More than that the
source of cement is apparently mexhaust-
ible.
While the state of Pennsylvania, with its
great deposits Of Portland rock in the Le-
high valley leads in the production of ce-
ment it has no monopoly of the business.
1t has II mills, while Michigan has ID and
New York II, with outputs in 1904 of H.
1896 600, of 2.247, GOO and 1920 barrels,
respectively. New Jersey and Kansas pro-
fhor bor
rels each while fifteen other states each
produced varying amounts from 100000
barrels upward In the south Virginia.
Alabama, Kentucky, Texas, Florida, Ark
ansas and Georgia are cement producine