St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1917-01-06
Sketch of the Progress of the
Business From Mere Hope
to Ideal Fulfllment.
STEAM, ELECTRICITY
SUPPLANT ONE MULE
Big Industry Brought to
Slidell By Untiring Work
Of Big Men,

All people appreciate successful
men, and the admiration we have Tor
them is intensified when the industry
springs from our native soil and its
progress is interviewer in our own
struggles to Climb above the hard-
ships Of necessity. The business OF
the Salmen Brick l. Lumber Com
pany has grown from a little seed
Dianied by Fritz Saimen i'll 1884
The working force consisted OF one
negro and one mule. The little sect
was composed Of frugaiity, business
sense aud untirin.s energy. MI Sat-
men was later joined by his brother
Jacob, and in 1890 -noUher brother,
j. A. Sa lmen started mill, opefat-
ing it in conjunction with the brick
yard started by Fritz Sa!men.
Today the Salmen Brick d Lumber
Company, Limited, is one CT the most
IMPORTANT business enterprises of the
city Of New Orleans and the most
Important Of the town OF Slidell, the
home Of its brick and humber manu-
featuring and the ship building that
has lately sprung from it. The com
pany has plants in New Orleans, Sli-
dell. Tickfaw and Onville. 1t deals
in all kinds of building material and
manufactures wide line of lumber.
brick and ornamental materials, and
has retail! yards in New Orleans at
Carrolton and New Basin, covering
several squares at New Basin and
Liberty streets, Old Basin and Rob
ertson street, ct. Ann and Bayou St
John, and the Northeastern yards at
Press and Villere streets. 1t is also
selling agent for the Atlas Portland
Cement Company, the Kansas City
Portland Cement Company, Hoods
Oriental Pressed Brick. Spa'hr RED
Pressed Brick, Columbus Brick and
Terra Gotta Company. Pressed Brick.
Lesg Red Pressed Brick, O'Neais
White Lime, Hercules Water Proof
ing Compounds, Peerless Hard Wall
Plaster, a general line Of building
specialties, and all building material.
rhis seems big business for one
company, but it also ships large car
goes to Central and South America
and to the British Isles and Cont1-
mental Europe. 1t furnished fifteen
million brick for the American Sug-
ar Refining Company and twenty
three million for the storm sewers
and drainage system Of New Orleans.
It furnished the brick for practically
all the modern buildings put up in
New Orleans during the past ten
wears. including the St. Charles Ho-
tel, Hotel DeSoto. Hotel GruneWald,
,Maison Blanche Building, Audubon
Building, Metropolitan Bank Build
ing. Whitney-Central Bank Building,
Canal-Louisiana Bank Building, Dau-
phine Theatre, Greenwall Theatre,
Queen & Crescent Building, Central
Fire Engine House, Standard Oil Co.
Building, Boys High School, ID. III.
Holmes & Company. Barnett Build
ing. The company has standing Or
t'ers on it's books now for over twenty
million bricks.
The magnitude of the company is
still, further illustrated by the pay
roll Of over $35,O00.o0 per month,
and the employment of 500 men.
The plants at Slidell cover thirty
three acres; the general merchandise
store employs twenty clerks ana IS
the largest of it's kind in the parish.
The clay pit at Slidell is three
quarters Of mile from the brick
yard. Clay is hauled to the plant 'by
two small steam locomotives in trains
of twelve or thirteen cars, of which
the company has fifty, each carAbe-
ing of two yards capacity. TWO
Marion" steam shovels dig the clay
and load the cars. After thirty years
Of work, the clay pit has assumed a
considerable area and is drained by
a pumping station equipped with
12-inch centrifugal pump. driven oy
a 14x16 inch high pressure engine.
Following are further facts con
eerping this company which will be
interesting to our readers:
+ There is capacity for making
10000 common brick per day,
or enough to build large building;
10000 dry press facing bricks per
day: 100 tons hollow block fire
proofing. There are also two large
tehambers" auger brick and tile ma
chimes; one fonr-mold Simpson dry
nress and forty tracks OF steam
drier.
It is proposed to use waste heat
from the cooling kilns to dry the
bricks in future, and experiments are
now being conducted with this end
in view.