University of Southern Mississippi - Southerner Yearbook (Hattiesburg, MS)

Page 20 text:

A ilivuelutinn tn the Hninitiatvh---lgurtlanh Glmnvnt HE South is advancing more rapidly along many lines than any other section of the United States. But in manufacturing this section is not keeping pace, especially in the cement industry, although the South offers the most lucrative opportunities to the cement manufacturer. In no section are there greater possibilities in cement than in Mis- sissippi--the section which has no cement plant, but which has an inexhaustible supply of raw materials and uses an immense amount of the finished product. Mississippi is a very progressive state. It has many developing towns and communi- ties which annually use thousands of tons of cement. Many miles of road and pavement are built every year, and the progressive farmers are beginning to use cement in building silos. It has become one of the most useful constituents for building purposes where strength, economy, and durability are required. To quote Dr. Crider: It is used alone, or as a re- inforcement in the construction of bridges, business and dwelling houses, aqueducts, sewers, pavements, large foundation walls, and dikes such as the Galveston wall, docks, wharves and levee work, besides in many minor ways, such as in making telegraph poles, fence posts, monuments, and in various other lines of construction work. Most of the raw materials for Portland cement manufacture are located in the eastern and northeastern, south central, and western sections of the State. The principal deposits in the eastern and northeastern sections are found in the counties which include what is known as the Black Prairie Belt. In the south central section the main deposits are found within a radius of fifteen miles from Jackson. In the western section the largest deposits of raw materials are found along the Mississippi River near Vicksburg. According to analyses of manufacturers, the principal constituents which enter into the manufacture of Portland cement are silica, alumina, lime, and iron oxide. By a compari- son of the following tables it is easy to see that the raw materials from the principal deposits of Mississippi compare very favorably with the raw materials actually used by manufacturers in other sections of this country and England: Analyses of six samples taken from different sections of the State, made by Dr. Logan, Dr. Muckenfuss, and others: Silica Alumina I 9n Lime Volatile .Ma9n?S' Sulphur Water oxide matter lum oxide Starkville 25.27 4.81 10.35 32.85 25.60 .84 .02 .40 ViCkSbl1I'g' 14.86 5.46 5.46 42.04 32.84 1.37 .63 .51 TiSh0mlHg'O 48.8 3.43 3.13 39.47 5.06 3.19 2 23 .40 TLIDCIO 22.76 4.56 6.-I6 34.41 28.25 .05 .43 2.10 Byram 26.42 3.25 5.20 27.77 26.00 14.4 2.00 3.00 COI'1I1th 25.40 6.88 9.62 20.37 23.70 .58 .64 Analyses of natural cement rock used in American and European plants. QE. C. Eckel, analyst.l : Rosedale N. Y. 10.90 3.40 2.38 29.57 37.90 1-1.04 0.451 nd. Ill-Jfiance, 0. 42 00 7 00 7.10 9.91 11.18 5.91 nd. 14,00 Copley, Pa. 18.34 7.40 7.49 37.60 31.06 1.38 Hd. 3.0-1 Utica., Ill 17.01 3.35 2.39 32.85 34.12 8.15 1.Nl Milwaukee, WIS. 17.00 4.25 1.25 24.64 32.46 1 1.00 nd, England 18.00 6.60 3.70 30.64 29.-L6 .10 nd. nd. There are four localities in Mississippi where Portland cement could be advantag- eously manufactured. In Tishomingo County near Bear Creek is a favorable location for a plant because of the amount of raw material convenient, and of the good facilities odered by the Tennessee River and the Southern Railway for cheap transportation. West Point and vicinity offer the best advantage of any locality in the State. The Alabama coal fields are only about one hundred miles away, and there is an inexhaustible supply of raw material near by. In bulletin Number 1 of the Mississippi State Geological Survey Dr. Crider says: There is a bed of limestone 800 to 1000 feet thick, underlying Noxubee, Clay, Lee, eastern Oktibbeha, and Chickasaw Counties, and an inexhaustible supply of clay just west of the limestone area. There is asufficient amount of raw material to supply the Portland cement trade of the entire United States for an indefinite length of time. Jackson offers good advantages as it is a good distributing point of natural deposits within easy reach, which can be used in the manufacture of Portland cement. Vicksburg has the best natural advantage to offer, because of the large deposits of raw material, which are near, and the cheap transportation and numerous railways which connect it with other points of the United States. 14

Page 19 text:

Ellie Svtatifa limi Natural illeannrrv---iflimratnne JENNYE LEONA ROBINSON ISSISSIPPI has large areas of beautiful farming lands whose fertility is assured by the constant weathering of the limestone stratum just beneath their soilg but in some sections the yield of common field crops can be increased and the growing of the clovers can be accomplished only by the application of lime. That the lime-bearing formations in Mississippi are extensive enough to furnish material for the lime treatment of the acid lands in the State for an indefinite number of years has been demonstrated by our geologists time and again. Ground limestone is useful in correcting the acid or sour conditions existing in certain soils. Acidity not only checks the vital processes of most plants, but it prevents the growth and development of bacteria in the soil. Leguminous crops which are the great restorers of nitrogen to the soil cannot thrive under acid conditions. In the northeastern part of the State, particularly in Tishomingo County, there are beds of limestone belonging to the Devonian and the Mississippian periods. This limestone when crushed could be used to great advantage on the soils of the Tennessee Hills wherever erosion has robbed them of their fertility, and the farmers would save the freight rates by buying their lime from plants near by. A little to the west, extending from Corinth to Macon and beyond, underlying the Black Prairie Region, fshown on page 11,3 is a belt of Selma chalk, the most abundant lime- bearing formation in the State. Lying west of the Selma chalk, between Houston and Ripley, are the Ripley marls occupying the division known as Pontotoc Ridge, and west of these are found some outcrops of the Clayton limestone. These marls and limestone furnish abundant cheap material for liming the Flatwood soils, an area lying adjacent to Pontotoc Ridge and the Prairie Belt, and containing soils very deficient in lime. Through the central part of the State, extending from Vicksburg to Waynesboro, is the outcrop of the Vicksburg limestome and the marls which are associated with it. These formations make excellent material for the liming of the lands of the North Central Plateau, and are in easy reach of the Pine Hills, whose soils can be made more productive by the ad- dition of lime. The limestones and marls vary in the percentage of lime carbonate and also in the degree of hardness and the ease with which they can be crushed. As arule the Selma chalk is the most easily crushed and the others stand in this order: Ripley, Clayton, and Vicks- burg about the same hardness, and the Devonian the hardest. There are many localities of the State where limestone suitable for agricultural pur- poses may be obtained. On the other hand, there are many so-called lime deposits in the State which are not limestone at all, but are composed of white clay or white silica, and are utterly worthless for liming purposes. Two lime-crushing plants have been established in Mississippi. the operation of which is to be under the supervision of the Penitentiary Board of Trustees. One plant has been located at Waynesboro and the other at Okolona, both in the Selma chalk area. In the early part of April of this year, 1917, this statement was given out: The Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Penitentiary are pleased to announce to the farmers of the State that shipments of fresh limestone can now be made from the Waynesboro plant. This can be shipped out at any time to those desiring it for their lands, at the rate of 60 cents per ton f. o. b. Waynesboro, or at actual cost of manufacture. Affairs will be in shape for shipment from the Okolona plant in the next 20 days, at the same rate per ton as noted above. The price offered above, together with the shipping rate obtained through the Railroad Commission, enables the farmer 100 miles from the plant to get his lime for 31.10 per toln, gvhile heretofore he has been paying from 33.50 to 85.00 per ton for that shipped into t e tate. 13

Page 21 text:

A Hiralih nf Haluahlr Ihuilhing Material--ihrirk sinh Gllag. HE clay found in Mississippi is similar in many respects to that of ancient Babylonia, which was the first to be employed for structural purposes in the form of brick and other clay wares. Brick manufacturing has grown and developed into a necessary and profit- able industry in Mississippi, where the amount of clay is unlimited, and fuel is cheap and abundant. Most Mississippi clay contains all properties necessary for successful brick and tile manufacturing, though in different degrees in different sections. The most valuable physical properties of clay are plasticity, strength, and refractoriness. Alumina is the most refactory substance found in clays, and also furnishes bonding material for holding together the inert particles, which enables the clay to be fashioned into the desired form. The amount of alum- ina in Mississippi clays ranges from a few per cent to 41 per cent. which puts them in a class with the best clays. The tensile strength of ordinary brick varies from 40 to 400 pounds per square inch. Tests of some of Mississippi's clays show that tensile strength ranges as high as 800 pounds per square inch. The percentage of impurities in Mississippi clays is small. The common brick clays of Mississippi contribute largely to the industrial develop- ment of the State, and their importance will become greater year by year, as the valuable timber grows scarce. In many of the counties brick have been manufactured successfully for many years, and in most of the large towns up-to-date plants have been erected to meet the growing demands for a substantial building material. As the State is undergoing rapid industrial development, and as it is dependent largely upon brick for building material of a more permanent class, we may expect that the brick industry will be greatly developed in the near future. Clays suitable for brick and tile purposes are scattered broadcast over the State, the northeastern section probably having the most generous deposits, though Warren and Pike Counties have more manufacturing plants than any other counties taken separately. Splendid brick materials are found in the Loess and Delta regions: buckshot clay is very good for brick and drain tile, and brick of Lauderdale County are said to be extremely hard, and to approach vitriiied paving brick. Pressed brick are manufactured in many plants, and are among the highest grades of the manufactured product. Some of the clay burns white and leaves white specks on the surface, presenting a very attractive appearance in the way of a fancy brick. Rough brick, however, are the most commonly manufactured. Mississippi clay is also used in the making of tile, its porosity adding greatly to its value in this form. Both rough tile and glazed tile, which are the best grades, are used for draining purposes, and rough hollow tile is used in constructing buildings where plaster and brick are also used. There are eighty-seven brick manufacturing companies in the State of Mississippi, fifteen brick and tile companies, and one drain tile company, embracing about sixty-seven counties, according to a 1908 bulletin, which facts show that already the industry has been recognized as profitable. In Noxubee County especially, has the industry proved profitable, not only to the im- mediate community, but to other sections of the State. The prairie lands of the county are being drained by tile made in the county. Noxubee County being a great dairy section of the State, silos are indispensable, and many of them are made out of tile manufactured in the local plant. This plant also furnishes a supply of brick, and rough and glazed tile for both building and draining purposes in other sections of the State. To be able to get a good quality of brick and tile within the State, not only encourages the development of the indus- try, but is a great advantage in the saving of exhorbitant freight rates. 15