San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-04-14
CEMENT A FACTOR in LIVES
OF EVERYONE, FOR MODERN
BUILDING DEPENDS UPON 1T
Cement Prices Are Said to Be the Cause for High
Cost of Building, But According to Charles
= Baumberger, President of the Portland Ce-
ment Company, Smaller Amount of
-. 1t Is Used in Construction Than
~ =. Any Other Material. -

/ and while looking around he picked
up some bits of limestone which he
believed to be cement rock, such as
he had seen in the quarries in Eng
land. Lloyd showed the rock TO a
mechanical engineer by the name of
w. c. Peters, who was at that time
one of the proprietors of the Alamo
Ice Factory, at the corner of West
Houston and Cameron streets. Mr..
Peters suggested that Lloyd take these
samples to George II. Kalteyer. who
was a graduate of chemistry and who
operated a drug store near the city
hall then.
Mr.. Kalteyer pronounced the stone
to be natural cement rock. That is,
rock containing about the proper pro-
portion of lime TO clay, to make true
Portland cement. w. r. Freeman, a
hydraulic engineer, well known in
Texas at that time, was induced to
make some sample burns of the rock.
Lloyd nor Freeman had sufficient
means to finance an enterprise, so
they interested Mr.. Kalteyer in the
project.
Built Cement Plant.
"Finally, the first Portland Cement
Company this side of the Mississippi
was organized, there being only one
other Portland cement plant in Amer
lea which was the old Saylor plant,
at Coplay, Pa. The Alamo Roman
and Portland Cement Company was
incorporated under the laws of the
State of Texas on January 10, 1880.
The original incorporatOrs were Will
/ lio,,, \ Eonrna III Ialfaynr II Il
Mauermann, L. V. Weise and w. T..
Jones. Mr.. Kalteyer was elected
president. Mr.. Mauermann, secretary
and Mr.. Lloyd superintendent.
AT that time, | was employed by
Mr.. Kalteyer in his drug store where
| kept books for the store and the
Portland Cement Company. l be-
came interested in the new company.
for having read that the Pyramids OF
Egypt were supposed to have been
built of concrete, and that they had
stood an estimated 5000 years, it
looked to me that cement was a fair
ly permanent building material.
Became Plants Manager.
AT the age of 20 | became mana
ger of the plant, portion of which
still stands in Breckenridge Park. We
were pioneers then for the people had
to be educated concerning the use of
Portland cement.
"The old plant in Breckenridge
Park consisted of some small wooden
buildings. an intermittent pot kiln.
small Blake Jaw Crusher. one pair
Of rolls. and little vertical French
Burr mill. The power TO drive the
mill was a small slide-valve steam en-
CINE. The fly-wheel OF the engine
had wooden spokes. and cast iron
rim. The mill was capable of grinding
about ten barrels day. The old
quarries. where the mill was located.
were about three miles from the rail-
road. All fuel had TO be hauled TO
the mill, and the finished product
hauled back TO the city.
Despite the handicaps the business
grew and in 1881 the capital stock
of the company was increased to S1O,-
600. In the meantime the output of
the mill had increased to 1000 bar
rels per year.
1T is now 1900 barrels a day.
ain 1908 when the great wave of
progress struck San Antonio and she
set out to become a magnificent city.
being located on property leased from
the city, we were continually annoyed
by changing political administrations.
In addition to that annoyance. we
were too far from the railroad tracks,
so in casting about for new loca-
ton where we could acquire property.
and be Mt home. we bought the land.
and founded the village of. Cement
Vile"