CEMENT  RESOURCES  OF  THE  VALLEY  OF  VIRGINIA. 
By  Charles  Catlett. 
The  section  of  Virginia  lying  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge  is  bountifully 
supplied  with  materials  suitable  for  use  in  Portland  cement  manu- 
facture. All  the  conditions  of  the  Lehigh  district  of  Pennsylvania  are 
puplicated  in  this  region,  with  the  additional  advantage  that  the  coal 
supply  is  much  nearer  at  hand.  At  present  only  one  Portland  cement 
plant  is  in  operation  in  Virginia,  but  in  view  of  the  natural  advantages 
presented  by  the  western  portion  of  the  State,  it  seems  probable  that 
a  great  extension  of  the  industry  will  soon  take  place. 
The  argillaceous  limestones  of  the  Trenton  formation,  which  furnish 
the  well-known  "cement  rock"  of  the  Lehigh  district  of  Pennsylvania 
and  New  Jersey,  are  well  developed  throughout  the  valley  of  Virginia. 
These  limestones,  with  their  overlying  Hudson  slates  and  shales, 
occur  in  a  belt  closely  paralleling  and  in  places  touching  the  Valley 
Branch  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  from  the  State  line  to 
Strasburg.  From  that  point  they  lie  close  to  the  Southern  Railway  as 
far  as  Harrisonburg,  and  again  from  Harrisonburg  to  some  miles  south 
of  Staunton  they  lie  close  to  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad. 
They  are  also  encountered  along  the  eastern  edge  of  the  synclinal  basin 
of  Massanutten  Mountain.  The  writer  has  no  specific  information  as  to 
their  development  throughout  this  distance,  but  naturally  the  points 
which  give  greater  promise  of  consideration  for  such  a  purpose  as 
cement  manufacture  are  those  giving  ready  access  to  the  coal  fields, 
with  favorable  opportLinities  for  the  shipment  of  the  product.  It  is 
thought,  therefore,  that  the  line  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  between 
Harpers  Ferry  and  Winchester,  and  Strasburg  Junction,  Riverton, 
Harrisonburg,  and  Staimton  would  represent  the  points  in  this  State 
which  would  be  most  attractive  in  this  connection. 
At  Strasburg  Junction  coal  could  be  obtained  over  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railroad  with  a  haul  of  272  miles,  and  the  finished  product 
could  probably  be  transported  to  Baltimore,  Washington,  and  tide 
water  for  $1  a  ton.  At  Harrisonburg,  about  144  miles  from  Wash- 
ington, coal  could  be  obtained  from  the  New  River  district,  about 
200  miles  away,  and   from  the   Kanawha  district,  about   250  miles 
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