What the heck is that?

While biking the Ironton Rail Trail in Coplay, north of Allentown PA, I was dumb- founded by these towering brick structures beside the trail. Their use and history was not hard to learn.

As the explanatory sign read, “Coplay made cement: Cement made Coplay.” These cement-making kilns were once enclosed by a huge building with only their tops showing. By 1900 the Lehigh Valley was producing 3/4 of all Portland Cement used in the country because of the local abundance of suitable limestone and coal. Standing at this spot in 1900 when these kilns were six years old, a viewer would have been in the midst of a smelly, dirty, noisy inferno. Round the clock, smoke and dust belched from these kilns where the inside temperature reached 2000 deg F. Trains roared in loaded with coal and limestone; workers covered with cement dust scurried everywhere.

Despite the Coplay Cement Company’s apparent success at cornering the market, just four years later the fires of these kilns went out forever. The reason was the introduction elsewhere of the rotary kiln, an invention that saved both money and labor. The reader is left to imagine the hardships endured by the displaced workers and their families when their jobs disappeared so quickly. Hopefully, at least some of them gained employment across the river where America’s first rotary kiln was built.

Leonardo would be proud!

In Grand Rapids’ Frederik Meijer Gardens stands this colossal 24 foot tall bronze horse, created by the artist Nina Akamu. It is based on da Vinci’s model for a monument of that height in Milan, Italy. That model was destroyed in 1499 before da Vinci had any chance to cast it in bronze. To appreciate the statue’s dimensions, note the normal-sized man and children at its base.

The twin of this American Horse is in Milan. To prevent either city from touting that “we were first”, some castings from the first pour went into the Milan statue and other parts went into Grand Rapids’. The same was done with the second casting. The molds were then purposely destroyed to preclude any more statues from ever being made.

The Heavens Open

Inexplicably, this photo taken in Big Sur State Park in California produced a striking but totally unexpected result. No doubt, a camera expert could explain why a photo taken slightly into the sun might generate these rainbow streamers. However, I've heard some folks compare a walk in the woods to being in church --- maybe they are onto something.