The west shore., January 01, 1887, Page 37, Image 30

LIME, AND HOW IT IS PRODUCED.
undertake to speak with certainty. Nor
has one not connected with the business
of making, using or handling lime, any
idea of the enormous quantity of that
material annually consumed. There was
used iu Portland and vicinity, in 18S4,
nearly twenty-nine thousand barrels of
lime; the following year the consump
tion increased five thousand barrels; and
during the year just closed, it required
forty thousand to supply the market
Of late years, the great source of our
lime supply has been the San Juan group
of islands, in Puget sound, that small
portion of our nntional domain which
once nearly involved us in a war with
(ireat Britain. A number of companies
are extensively engaged iu the produc
tion of lime on the islands, where the
many favorable circumstances conspire
to reduce the cost of production and
shipment to a minimum. The beds of
limestone are very large, and some of
them are so situated that ships may be
loaded direct from the ledges, without
the use of other machinery than der
ricks. Fuel is as cheap as it possibly
could 1k, and the facilities for shipment
to the sound ports, this city, or San Fran
cisco are of the best Until recently, the
San Juan lime has had almost a monop
oly of the home market and has sold at
1.75 per barrel Under competition,
which has sprung up during the past
year, the price has been forced down to
$1.25 per barrel, the difference repre
senting a great saving in the cost of
erecting buildings.
The new factor in the lime industry
is the Portland Lime and Cement Com
pany, of which S. It Irwin is manager,
and which will soon be incorporated with
a capital stock of fcio.OOO.OO. The works
of this company are located in East Port
land, near the terminus of the Jefferson
street ferry. The works, as shown on
page 87, occupy a most advantgeous site,
embracing several acre of laud. Ou one
side panws the track of the Oregon k
California railroad, and on the other
tlows the Willamette river, thus provid
ing most excellent conveniences for the
reception of material and tho shipment
of the product The works began opera
tion on the first of May, LSSTi, anil have
turned out fifteen thousand barrels of
lime, nearly all of which has been con
sumed in the home market The works
have a capacity of one hundred and fif
ty barrels, containing two hundred and
tweuty pounds each, per day, equivalent
to a total of forty-seven thousand lwir
rels per year, which is sufficient to auj
ply the present entire demand of this
market Previous to the uufortunate
destruction by fire of the large jwiper
mill at La Camaa, W. T., an average of
ten barrels of this lime was nsod daily
in that institution.
To one not familiar with this indus
try, these works preseut a eculiar a
pearance. The two large, black, cylin
drical structures shown in the engrav
ing, are the stacks of the lime kiln.
They are of an improved attern, aud
quite new in the lime manufacture of
this region. Their tieculiar feature is
that the lime burning, which takes pi nee
within them, is continuous. The charg
ing of the kiln at the top, effected by
means of a self-dumping car, drawn by
machinery up the inclined railway, taken
place by equal steps with the drawing
out of the finished product at the bae
of the kiln. The operation, perhaj the
most simple known in applied chemixtry,
will be made intelligible by a few words
of explanation.
Lime, the material which forms the
basis of all mortars and cement U the
oxide of the metal known as calcium.
Combined with carbonic acid, it forms
limestone, and by heating this substanc
the acid is driven off, leaving the oxide
of calcium, which forms, if the limettone
be pure, the white, brittle ami aud flaky