HAWOKTH    AN 
SCnRAnER. 
D]     CEMENT  IN  INDEPENDENCE  QUADRANGLK,    KAXS.  507 
materials,  here  outcrops  over  an  area  of  several  square  miles.  It  is 
semicrystalline,  medium-grained,  and  highly  fossiliferous.  It  has 
been  tested  by  the  company  and  found  to  be  entirely  satisfactory,  the 
analysis  showing  it  to  be  a  very  pure  lime  carbonate.  Shale  of  good 
quality  is  also  at  hand  in  the  formation  that  overlies  the  limestone, 
while  fuel  can  be  obtained  from  the  great  gas  wells  near  by,  and  water 
from  the  Verdigris  River. 
The  plant  is  connected  with  the  Missouri  Pacific  Railway  by  three 
miles  of  branch  line,  built  during  the  summer  of  1904.  During  the 
same  period  a  corps  of  more  than  a  hundred  men  was  steadily  em- 
ployed in  erecting  the  plant,  and  by  October  some  of  the  more  impor- 
tant buildings  were  nearing  completion  and  ground  was  being  broken 
for  others. 
At  Neodesha  the  limestone  to  be  used  caps  the  hill  known  as  Little 
Bear  Mound,  about  a  mile  northwest  of  town,  where  it  has  been  found 
by  the  company's  drill  tests  to  have  a  thickness  of  55  feet,  and  u 
known  as  the  lola-Allen.  Here  suitable  shale  is  also  present,  under- 
neath the  limestone,  and  an  abundance  of  oil  and  gas  for  fuel  purposes 
is  at  hand.  The  company  holds  a  contract  with  the  city  of  Neodesha 
to  supply  natural  gas  from  the  city  mains  at  3  cents  per  1,000  cubic 
feet.  Here,  too,  the  limestone  has  been  tested  by  the  company  and 
found  to  be  satisfactory.  Lathbury  &  Spackman,  of  Philadelphia, 
were  employed  by  the  Kansas  State  Geological  Survey  to  make  a 
chemical  examination  and  also  an  actual  burning  test  of  the  limestone 
and  shale  from  the  site  of  the  factory.  They  pronounced  the  lime 
stone  well  adapted  to  the  manufacture  of  Portland  cement  and  the 
shale  well  proportioned  and  suitable  for  use  with  the  limestone. 
After  experimenting  a  product  was  made  whose  analysis  proved  to  be 
well  proportioned,  as  is  shown  by  the  following  report: 
TESTS   OF   PORTLAND   CEMENT   MADE   FROM    MATERIALS   OCCURRING    AT 
NEODESHA,    KAXS. 
Fineness:  Passing  Xo.  too  sieve,  97.50  per  cent:  passing  No.  200 
sieve,  76.35  per  cent. 
Constancy  of  volume  test:  Normal  pat,  test  Am.  Soc.  Civ.  Engi- 
neers.    Cold-water  pat,  good:  air  pat.  good. 
Setting  time:  Initial  set,  20  minutes:  final  set,  55  minutes:  water, 
24  per  cent :  temperature  of  air,  78'    F. ;  temperature  of  water.  7!     !\ 
Accelerated  tesl  :  Warm-water  test,  good:  boiling-water  test,  good. 
