Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses Page: 276

                                
276 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES.

tense blue blossoms and queer
red berrries in summer time).
It is one of the most picturesque
-and to the City of San An-
tonio a most valuable region,
as here it is that the city for
years has gathered its main
building materials: gravel rocks,
and cement from the famous
Alamo Cement Co. which, of late
years has vacated its leased
ground there and now has its
own headquarters a few miles
further northeast, and furnishes
the  best quality  of cement
throughout the continent.
A second photoview herein,
taken many years ago at the
city's old gravel pits, shows some
of the piled-up gravel, ready for
disposal for city work. The old-
en-time Mexican plank house,
surrounded by a high rock fence,
and the cement factory with its
high vent pipes are depicted
therein. Large numbers of Mex-
ican laborers dwell around these
"Head of the River regions,"
and some of these dwellings, in
olden days, were very quaintily
and romantically built directly
inside the embankments of earth
walls-similar to the Indian cliff
dwellers homes of the Pueblo
Indians.
As to the Alamo     Cement
Company in the mentioned re-

gions north of San Antonio-
one among the thousand and
more of up-to date industrial
utilities of the present metrop-
olin )f Texas, my friend Chas.
Bai mberger, president of the
local cement company, tells me
that his plant is the oldest Port-
land Cement plant west of the
Mississippi river; and also, as to
its past and present history:
"that it was incorporated in
1880, and that a year later the
name was changed to "Alamo
Cement Co." with its original
incorporators: Geo. H. Kalteyer,
B. J. Mauermann, F. V. Wise
and E. W. Jones; Mr. Kalteyer
being president and B. J. Mauer-
mann secretary. "The company
started first with interior heat
pot kilns," said Mr. Baumberger,
"then  changed to continuous
shaft kilns and later on put in
a rotary kiln.
"In 1890 I bought out the in-
terest of Mr. Mauermann in this
company," further stated Mr.
Baumberger, "and became secre-
tary and manager. Mr. Kaltey-
er died in 1897 and I then be-
came president of the company.
The ol0(1 plant is located on leased
ground and the raw material
of the company has been ex-
hausted, the machinery is out
of date and the plant unfortu-
nately is off the railroad.

A Few Personal Early Day Reminiscenses
of Old San Antonio

About fifty or sixty years ago,
when the photograhic art was i:
its infancy, an old friend and pri-
vate drawing teacher of the writer
-the late   H. Lungkwitz    had
drawn a large landscape scenery
of our old San Antonio from the
tower of the old Grenet building,
located where now the fine Croc-
kett Hotel stands-corner of Na-
cogdoches and  Crockett streets.

all(1 emblracing sone 01od adcbe
rock houses, seen today yet along
Crockett street, fronting the Croc-
kett hotel. The drawing was af-
terwards lithographed   by  the
Rau  lithographling  co mpany at
Dresden, Germany, and but a few
copies are today owned by old
San Antonians. One of these cop-
ies, presented by Mr. Lungkwitz
to the writer's father, is seen