(Operations of Southwestern Portland Cement Company Now Nationwide

Western Industry Reverses Usual Procedure and Expands Eastward-Locating Large Plant at Osborn, Ohio

The Southrvestern Portland Cement Company with headquarters at Los Angeles, California, possesses the distinction of reversing the time-honored advice of Greeley, "Go west, young man, go west." In the past, as well as-in the present, the trend of capital for new enterprise has been from East to West, but through the en'ergy and ability of the late Carl Leonardt, founder of this large cement manufacturing institution, his company in .1925 erected at Osborn, Ohio, near Dayton, one of the rnost modern cement plants in the United States. Thus the flow of enterprise in this instance was from West to East.

The Southwestern Portland Cement Company was organized. by Carl Leonardt in 1907 with the "dry process" mill at El Paso. Tex.. as its first unit for the production of El Toro brand Portland cement. .Shortly aftei followed the construction of the "w,et process" Victorville, California, mill where Victor brand Portland cement; well known in Southern California and Arizona, is manufactured.

The Victorville mill is recognized in the industry as a model for efficiency of design and operation resulting in the manufacture of a uniformly high grade Portland cement.

At this plant there is also manufactured Victor HydroPlastic waterproofed Portland cement and Victor brand special oil well cement, the latter being long recognized as a leading product of its type by the oil industry in the Pacific Coast fields. Victorville has five large rotary kilns of most modern type. New cement storage silos cornpleted at Victorville last year give total storage space for 1'fO,00O barrels or 56O,000 sacks.

In 1926 the Osborn, Ohio, plant for the production of Miami brand Portland cement was pushed to completion. giving the company a total output as follows:

Osborn, Ohio .22,W sacks per day

El Paso, Tex. . ...15,000 sacks per day

Victorville, Calif. . .24,@O sacks per day

Total ...61,000 sacks per day

The headquarters of this typically western institution which has eipanded to become a nationwide organil.ation are located in Los Angeles, Calif., where the officers, F. H, Powell, president; C. C. Merrill, vice-president and general manager, and M. A. Koffman, secretary, reside, as does also T. K. Partridge, general sales manager.