Changes at the former Lehigh Cement location. Foglesville PA.

Hello everyone. In this video we are walking around the location of the former Lehigh Cement site in Fogelsville PA. This location was once the site of the largest Portland cement production plant in Lehigh County PA. Portland cement was named after stone that was quarried in the area of Portland UK.
This enormous plant had two huge open pit quarries and was serviced by the Catasaqua and Foglesville railroad, later the Reading company. I have a few videos documenting this area titled exploring Fogelsville parts 1 through 5. This land has been pretty much unused since the late 1970's and is now being reclamated for a new cold storage facility. There is a chance that rail service could be extended here but I believe that is doughtfull this will happen. Please ask any questions about this site as I know a bit about its history. Thank you for watching. 6/28/24

[@ShawnD1027]

Bottle discoveries can be pretty neat! A college girlfriend in the '80s had grown up in Newnan, GA where there were still numerous higher-end houses from the 1800s and early 1900s, and she'd ask the owners for permission to dig in the old refuse pits on their property. She amassed a great collection of interesting bottles and was quite well-versed on the histories of the companies that produced both the bottles and the products they contained.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Good morning Shawn. I installed above ground pools for a summer and once and while we would pull a bottle out of the ground. The history behind them is neat. I'm going to do a little research on the ones I have. I had originally gone looking for railroad spikes but found the bottles instead. Definitely pleased with them.

[@nickmad887]

Thank you Kevin.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Good morning Nick and thank you very much.

[@mussersail]

Hi Kevin, The slag on the site was likely used by the portland cement company. Slag (from blast furnaces) was essentially a substitute chemically for the rock these cement companies quarried, and was cheaper than digging their own rock . Many cement companies would mix the slag with their own rock, along with a few other things ,like gypsum, for the mix they would put into the rotary kiln to make the cement. Universal Atlas, which was the largest cement company in the US, was a subsidiary of US Steel, so there were usually a Portland cement plant near their steel mills throughout the country. There was at least one cement plant I know of, in Pittsburgh that used virtually 100% slag for their feed rock.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

@mussersail Good afternoon. This is what my boss was telling me as well. Slag would have been readily available since the Catasaqua and Foglesville, under Reading control, was responsible for servicing both the Lockridge furnace in Alburtis as well as Lehigh cement. They were no more than 10 rail miles apart from each other. Thank you for this information. Question, would they use glass in the process?

[@mussersail]

@@kevinsalsbury2118 Never heard of glass being used. I’m not so sure too much slag came from Lockridge as the cement plant was built in early 1900s around when Lockridge was winding down. More likely from Bethlehem Steel, or even from Steelton via Reading. Flux used in iron blast furnaces is limestone, which is basically what is quarried by cement plants, so mixed with non-iron portion of the ore, it’s a good fit for cement making. Portland cement manufacturing was really a 20th century industry as most plants were built after the turn of the century. I spent 6 months in the closed, massive Universal Atlas plant in Hudson, NY in the late 80s - documenting the site for an environment impact statement (I was a professional historian and archeologist back then). fascinating complexes. That plant received slag from US Steel Plants that weren’t very close by.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Excellent information here. I really appreciate it.

[@davestrang8585]

Would love to see your bottles🎉

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Hey Dave. I posted a video displaying them. I'm hopeful to come up with a couple more.

[@paulbergen9114]

Sometimes demolition contracts are not fully adhered to and on occasion it becomes out of sight out of mind. Other times due to the depth and strength of lower parts of buildings it's just left. Over a decade ago in Milwaukee they were rebuilding the Valley freeway bridge and in about six locations they struck old foundations of buildings and also what is believed to be part of an old Interurban system trestle which was probably buried 50+ years dismantled Circa 1953. It's always those little items that aren't on maps or blueprints that gets you Hopefully this will be a win-win case for new jobs and rail transportation

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

That's incredible that they just buried and built on top of the trestle. I guess when it comes down to, especially in cities all you can do is build on top of what was there. I saw something similar in Lancaster PA where they were doing road work and found a railroad bridge under the road. Nobody had a clue it was there. I think the cement property had some deep foundation and that is what they are dealing with now. It's very interesting to watch them work. Have a great day Paul.

[@donaldrobbins252]

👍

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Thank you Donald!

[@kgraydakota]

Interesting and informative video! Did you mean June instead of January? Or did you have this video sitting around for 5 months?

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Good morning. Back in January I did a 5 part video of this location as I had just learned about the Lehigh Cement plant. I work in the industrial park right near the site. From what I understand this site has been sitting untouched since the 70s. About 2 months ago they started preparing the land for expansion. I've been watching them work and I wanted to see if they uncovered any railroad artifacts. A few days ago 6/24/24 I took a walk around the site and found some old bottles. Afterwards I thought I would make the update video. The video you watched is brand new. But there are 5 from January if you're interested. Exploring Fogelsville parts 1 through 5. Part 1 shows the same location 6 months ago. It's a neat comparison. Thank you for your question. Have a great day.

[@MountaineerFPV]

You ever been to Birdsboro Preserve, next to HK’s Quarry? Bordering French Creek SP to the South, HK want and will be expanding their quarry 80acres. Id love to see what is in the first 6ft of Top Soil!

[@MillersRailfan]

Jimmy Hoffa

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

I have not been there yet but I am very intrigued now.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

😆🤣 Jimmy Hoffa is in New Jersey.

[@MountaineerFPV]

@@MillersRailfan they dumped Hoffa’s body at the old Dyers Quarry. Thats why you cant get back to that massive water hole…. Also known as the old Six Penny Quarry

[@MillersRailfan]

@@MountaineerFPV 😂😆🤣 parts of him are in every state That’s the original urban legend It’s also the original conspiracy theory That puke Alex Jones has NOTHING on jimmy Hoffa

[@johnnicoline7632]

Kevin said Granpaval-lixer, that ruled.

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Cures what ales ya.

[@MillersRailfan]

Those new machines are the start of America’s reckoning with its obscene habit of just throwing stuff away on someone else’s property We are gonna have to learn that if you buy something new; you own the packaging it comes in AND the old thing you don’t want FOREVER

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Well said.