276 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 



tense blue blossoms and queer 

 red berrries in summer time). 

 It is one of the most picturesque 

 — and to the City of San An- 

 tonio a most valuable region, 

 as here it is that the city for 

 years has gathered its main 

 building materials : gravel rocks, 

 and cement from the famous 

 Alamo Cement Co. which, of late 

 years has vacated its leased 

 ground there and now has its 

 own headquarters a few miles 

 further northeast, and furnishes 

 the best quality of cement 

 throughout the continent. 



A second photoview herein, 

 taken many years ago at the 

 city's old gravel pits, shows some 

 of the piled-up gravel, ready for 

 disposal for city work. The old- 

 en-time Mexican plank house, 

 surrounded by a high rock fience, 

 and the cement factory with its 

 high vent pipes are depicted 

 therein. Large numbers of Mex- 

 ican laborers dwell around these 

 "Head of the River regions," 

 and some of these dwellings^ in 

 olden days, were very quaintily 

 and romantically built directly 

 inside the embankments of earth 

 walls: — similar to the Indian cliff 

 dwellers ihomes of the Pueblo 

 Indians. 



~As ' to the Alama Cement 

 Coirvpany in the mentioned re- 



gions north of San Antonio- 

 one among the thousand and 

 more of up-todate industrial 

 utilities of the present nietrop- 

 olis )f Texas, my friend Chas. 

 OBai\ mberger, president of the 

 local cement company, tells me 

 that his plant is the oldest Port- 

 land Cement plant west of the 

 Mississippi river ; and also, as to 

 its past and present history: 

 "that it was incorporated in 

 1880, and that a year later the 

 name was changed to "Alamo 

 Cement Co." with its original 

 incorporators: Geo. H. Kalteyer, 

 B. J. Mauermann, F. V. Wise 

 and E. W. Jones; Mr. Kalteyer 

 being president and B. J. Mauer- 

 mann secretary. "The company 

 started first with interior heat 

 pot kilns," said Mr. Baumberger, 

 "then changed to continuous 

 shaft kilns and later on put in 

 a rotary kiln. 



"In 1890 I bought out the in- 

 terest of Mr. Mauermann in this 

 company," further stated\Mr. 

 Baumberger, "and became secre- 

 tary and manager. Mr. Kaltey- 

 er died in 1897 and I then be- 

 came president of the company. 



The old plant is located on leased 

 ground and the raw material 

 of the company has been ex- 

 hausted, the machinery is out 

 of date and the plant unfortu- 

 nately is off the railroad. 



A Few Personal Early Day Reminiscenses 

 of Old San Antonio 



'About- -fifty or sixty j6a>rs ago,- 

 when the photograhic art was in 

 its infancy, an old friend and pri- 

 vate drawing teacher of the writer 

 — the late H. Lungkwitz had 

 drawn a large landscape scenery 

 of our old San Antonio from the 

 tower of the old Grenet building, 

 located where now the fine Groe^ 

 kett Hotel stands— corner of Na- 

 cogdoehes and Crockett streets, 



aiid embracing some old adobe 

 rock houses, seen today yet along 

 Crockett street, fronting the Croc- 

 kett Hotel. The drawing was af- 

 terwards lithographed by the 

 Rau lithographing company at 

 Dresden, Germany, and but a few 

 copies are today owned by old 

 San Antonians. One of these cop- 

 ies, presented by Mr. Lungkwitz. 

 to the writer's father, is seen 



