Cement Industry

Limestone and quartzite, two of the primary ingredients used to manufacture cement, are plentiful in Pend Oreille County. Add to this an abundance of water with the potential to generate electricity, and the county had nearly everything necessary to develop a cement industry. The only thing wanting was the right people to make it happen.

Frank Jordon can be credited as the county’s cement pioneer. By 1902, he had filed a mining claim on 132 acres just north of Ione and founded the Pacific Portland Cement Company, which began producing that year. The aptly named community of Cement grew up around Jordon’s operation. Although Jordon’s facility lasted just a few years, the industry would prove to be a major player in the regional economy. In 1908, Metaline Falls founder Lewis Larsen bought land near the outlet of Sullivan Creek to develop his own cement operation. He also secured water rights and organized a group of investment partners. Their Inland Portland Cement Company (IPCC) was a massive undertaking, requiring construction of a dam and hydroelectric facility on Sullivan Creek. The 1910 completion of a rail line to Metaline Falls provided necessary access to market.

The IPCC plant was the only cement manufacturer to operate in the county after 1909, but it alone provided the most reliable source of employment in the region for decades. At one time, the facility accounted for 2 percent of the nation’s total cement production. The cement plant operated as the Lehigh Portland Cement Company from 1914 until 1956 and changed hands several times before being acquired by Lafarge Corporation, who closed the facility in 1990. Since that time, the factory’s dust has long settled, but the legacy of the industry remains ever present in sidewalks, bridges, dams, and buildings throughout the Northwest.