Arizona republican., 1910-04-29
.cttNkfR FURNACES
 SHUT DOWN FOREVER
BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE
 ROOSEVELT CEMENT MILL.
It Has Saved This Valley Three.
 Quarters of a Million Dollars.

At { o'clock yesterday afternoon the burning of clinker in the ce- ment mill at Roosevelt stopped for ever. The grinding of the clinker now on hand will continue for pos sibly six weeks until the supply on hand is all worked up into finished product, but the .Quarrying of rock. the digging of clay. the transporta- ton of both to the mill their grind ing and raw mixing and the burn ing of clinker. which represents per- haps 90 per cent Of the work of making cement. for the big Salt river project. is over. The furnaces will he dismantled and sometime in early summer, either June or July. the machinery of the big plant that can be utilized only for the manu- facture of cement. will be offered for sale to the highest bidder. The mo- tors and other machinery that can be utilized on other projects will be sent there and their value credited to this project.
 The completion of the Granite Reef dam marked the first finished unit in the Salt river project. The com pletion of the usefulness of the e. mcnt m,ll marks the passing of the day of the second great unit. to be followed soon by the completion of the dam itself. This occasion is an other timely one for judging of the measure of business ability that reclamation engineers in their acti- vities in this valley.
 When the construction of the ce- mcnt mill was determined upon wise acres shook their heads. Some thought it would be cheaper in the long run to buy cement even at a stiff price, than to put S225.000 into cement plant to become of small value a few years later. But the engineers followed their own con- victions. built the mill and in May 1905, the first clinker was burned though but little was done until a month later. The output of the mill has been approximately 33C.000 bar rels of cement. The lowest bid made by any manufacturer. previous to the decision to build the mill. was S4.S9 per barrel. f. o. b. Roosevelt The cost of producing the 330.000 barrels has been figured. including the depreciation of the plant. at s2.9O per barrel, or a saving of about s1.99 per barrel. making a total saving in cash expenditure of about s656. 900.
 Had the cement been bought else where and shipped in it would have been necessary also to build larger storage warehouse at a cost of per haps 5000. and the work of several men would have been necessary in the handling. storing and wheeling out again. during a period of five years. This would have been several thousand dollars. so the actual sav- ing in cash has been between s660. 1000 and s670000.
 But this Is not all The approxim- ate value of the 330000 barrels at s290 per barrel was s951 900. Of that amount of money invested in cement probably the cost of the plant. the money paid for fuel oil. the mechan-, ical and material supplies that had to be shipped in. would total not to exceed S400.000 That leaves $j57. 900 that has been thrown into local cir culation between Roosevelt and Phoenix, that would have all gone, out of the country had the cement been bought in some other state and shipped ip. even had it been se-l cured at s2.S0 per barrel instead of. S4.S9. the lowest bid.
 The cement mill is in fine condition. having turned out many thousand barrels in the last month. It is un-l derstood that one company is fig uring on making bid for the ma chinery to be moved to large clay banks near Winkelman for the estab lishment of a permanent cement mill. Also there are numerous cement pro- jects possible even nearer to Phoe nix. where there will be a great de- mand for cement for many years toI come. to say nothing of other terri torial markets. Those who have their eye on the cement business will do well to figure on bidding for the ce- ment mill al Roosevelt. which at the highest price will probably be sold