June 1903
Buckhorn Portland Cement Begins Operations at Manheim
The Buckhorn Portland Cement Company began operating its Manheim plant in June 1903. An earlier notice in the Preston County Journal of March 12 sought able-bodied laborers for the cement works near Rowlesburg at 15 cents per hour, directing applicants to Buckhorn at Manheim. A 1912 geological report described its original average daily capacity as 800 barrels and identified its raw materials as local Greenbrier limestone and shale. The cement works connected the Cheat River valley’s geology with a new manufacturing industry. Buckhorn operated with occasional interruptions until October 1907, when financial losses forced it to suspend business.
Research status
This entry has been checked against its named source.
The timeline wording accurately reflects the source listed below. This status does not necessarily mean the event has been independently corroborated against additional records.
Sources and further reading
Where this entry comes from
T. Poole Maynard, A Report on the Limestones and Cement Materials of North Georgia, Geological Survey of Georgia, Bulletin No. 27 (1912), p. 65.
Research notes
What the evidence establishes
The 1912 geological report establishes the 1903 opening year, initial capacity, and raw materials. McGraw v. Mott gives June 1903 as the beginning of operations in its account of the pleadings; no exact opening day is asserted.
The March 12, 1903 Preston County Journal notice (p. 3, column 2) was checked against the digitized page. It names Buckhorn Portland Cement Company, Manheim, and advertises labor at 15 cents per hour. It establishes recruitment before June, but does not identify the work as construction or prove that cement production had already begun.
The court opinion records Buckhorn’s shutdown in October 1907 and receivership proceedings in March 1908. Alpha’s acquisition of the same mill in early 1909 is covered in the companion entry.
The separately supplied, undated advertisement for 200 laborers remains unidentified. The dated March 12, 1903 Journal notice is a different advertisement and does not establish the date or newspaper of that earlier clipping.
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