40 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



kind in America. The cement mix was charged into the kihi 

 without briquetting. In 1886 a cement works was put in operation 

 by T. Millen & Sons at Warners, Onondaga county. The materials 

 employed were local Quaternary marls and clays. The plant was 

 purchased by the Empire Portland Cement Co. in 1890 who 

 operated it for some 1 5 years, in the meanwhile changing the equip- 

 ment from stationary to rotary kilns and extending the capacity. 

 Another plant designed for the use of marl and clay was erected at 

 Montezimia, Cayuga county, in 1890; the installation included a 

 75 foot rotary kiln in which the cement mix was charged wet and 

 burned with oil injected in vaporized form. This foreshadowed 

 by many years the general practice of burning the raw materials 

 without mechanical preparation in long rotary kilns. The principal 

 changes in subsequent practice have been to substitute pulverized 

 coal for oil and to increase the length and diameter of the kilns. 

 The Montezimia plant was destroyed by fire in 1893. 



The active period of portland cement manufacture may be said 

 to date from about 1890, from which time the production began 

 to assimie considerable proportions. In the earlier years the output 

 averaged less than 50,000 barrels. In 1890 it amounted to 65,000 

 barrels and thereafter showed a steady gain so that by 1898 it 

 reached 554,358 barrels and in 1902 exceeded a million barrels. 



The industry did not become really stabilized, however, until 

 about 1905. Many enterprises had been started under the favoring 

 conditions of high prices without much reference to the basic 

 conditions of market facilities, and these were destined to succumb 

 to competition with the plants that had better access to the main 

 centers of consimiption. Also, the employment of marl in the place 

 of hard limestone proved to be an economic, though perhaps not a 

 technical, mistake. Marl plants were erected at other places in 

 addition to those already noted, namely by the American Cement 

 Co., at Jordan, Onondaga county; by the Wayland Portland Cement 

 Co., Wayland, Steuben county; and the Iroquois Portland Cement 

 Co., Caledonia, Livingston county. By 19 10 all of the marl plants 

 had either been converted for the use of limestone or had gone out 

 of business. 



At present the manufacture of portland cement is on a firmer basis, 

 with a better outlook for the future, than at any time in the recent 

 history of the industry. There have been few new enterprises 

 started in the last several years, but practically all of the mills have 

 been improved, remodelled or enlarged to meet the requirements of 

 the best practice. In consequence the local industry has been able 



