ilO
THE WE8T SHORE.
bet ahall enter Into the kiln noar the bottom and
put upward through the stone, previously broken
into small chunks, tbe top of the kiln being loft opon
for lbs escape of tbe imoke and gas and to create a
draft Tbe degree of beat required ii not specific,
bat tbe more iutense tbe beat tbe quicker tbe pro
cess of driving out tbe acid is completed, and it ia
ebb-fly in tbe matter of a bettor application of tbe
beat generate in tbe furnace that improvements
bave been mads in tbe protest. Tbe primitive form
of kiln, tbat most generally in nte by tbose operating
on a small scale, it known at a " pot kiln." Tbit con
tlitt of a well of masonry built np a few feet from
tbe gronnd, witb an opening on one aide along tbe
ground for a fire box. Tbe limestone it piled np in
side tbe kiln, a small apace being left in tbe center,
at tbe bottom, connecting witb tbe fire opening. A
lire it maintained in tbe opening at tbe bottom, tbe
beat passing np through tbe atone and gradually
beating tbe whole mast. Wbon the acid bus all been
expelled the fire is extinguished and the lime it taken
out with long-bandied shovels through the ground
owning. Tbit procM it very slow and burnt but a
small quantity at a time. A decided improvement
upon this it tbe stone kiln in general use until late
yeart where lime waa burned on a larger scale than
by thoae using pot kilns. In this there it a radical
change in principle, m the kiln ia to arranged tbat
the lire la never drawn, exeept to repsir tbe kilos, and
tbe lime it drawn off gradually from the bottom at
fast at calcined, an ninal quantity of rock being fed
Into It from the lop at the aame time. There are
four furnaoes, two rch on oppoeito tidet of the kiln,
enuring it about four M above the bottom. In
drawing line, all tbat occupying the space between
the fire and tbe bottom ia taken out through an open
Ing in the bottom. The kilo consists of a wall of
masonry about twenty feet high and eighteen square
support! ouUlds by Leavy oroa. timbers and having
acjl.odrlcal t,c in the enter five M in diameter.
Above tbU it a woulca crib the full tii of the kiln
bio which the sWe U dumped, making the kiln self!
Itun, 7 "ovemenb
a this latter method have been mad which give a
i0c Tl7fif,y "l tb Po
larities of which ..II .rpw n the Ami,! of the
wk. of U. Tm. A Rack. Hwbor IJB. Oa, the
largnat enterprise of iU kinj in the we.1
When, about thirty year, the dispute about
the ploo th. Har, J0M WmJ, , in' M 1
rue. strait, and ths Oulf of (WKi,U1Us, ia
top, joint occupation, the government inquM
lntothe urcceof tbe UW,, and found tb -mt
FT! , T" of known
WUt i. the entire , and by f.r tUU
valuable on the Paoifio coast The largest and par.
est of these is tbe one at Eoche harbor, on the ex.
treme northwestern corner of San Joan island, the
largest in the group, and from this ledge the English
soldiers, who garrisoned the post not far away, made
considerable lime. They used a pot kiln, such as has
been described, and the lime produced, amounting to
about fifty barrels in two weeks, the length of time it
took to lay, burn and draw a kiln, was used at the
barracks and by the numerous war and merchant
vessels that entered the harbor, and much was sent
to England in casks that had contained meat and
liquors. After it was deoided that the islands be-'
longed to the United States, tbe ledge was home
steaded by a man named Buff, but no work was done
on it till 1882, when two brother's named Scurr and
three named Boss bought it and began the manufac
ture of lime in a stone draw kiln, such as the one last
described, operating as the Roche Harbor Lime Com
pany, though not incorporated. Meanwhile lime was
being made at other points on the islands in a small
way, and San Juan lime acquired a great reputation
in the markets of the northwest Lime was also be
ing made in the Puyallup valley by the Tacoma Lime
Company. In 1887 the Taooma & Roche Harbor
Lime Company was organised, and the plants of both
"The Tacoma Lime Company" and "The Rochs
Harbor Lime Company " were purohased. The ener
gy of the new company was concentrated at Roche
harbor, where already a great amount of money hai
been invested in creating an immense industry, which
in its present stage of development is valued at fly.
000,000 00. The ledge is a solid mass of marble, ex
tending across the neck of a peninsula formed by
Roche harbor and Westcott bay, a distance of half a
mile, having a width of eight hundred and fifty feet
and a height above the water of three hundred and
fifty feet, the average height being fully two hundred
and fifty feet How far it extends below the water in
any direction is not known, nor is information on that
point very eagerly sought, as there is enough stone
bote the water to laat for ages. Just think of itl
Enough to make a monumental shaft for every man,
woman and child in the United States. Here are
half a .billion cubic feet of the pureat gray marble, or
wnty billion pounds, capable of making three hun
ared and fifty million barrels of lime, enough, at one
thousand barrels per day, to last one thousand years.
o wonder they do not worry much about how far
the ledge extends under the water. In quality, the
tone . .npprio, to My yet fa
owe -Numerous assays of it have been made by
nous persons and for varying purpo.es, the sa-n-
!u ? from Wide!' Prt0M of lbe
W and the results have all given as high as ninety.