The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Fall 1979, Volume 25, Number 4
Thomas L. Scharf, Editor

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The ruins of the Jamul Cement Works

The ruins of the Jamul Cement Works.

Interior of a kiln

Interior of a kiln, looking up. Cement bricks and coke were loaded in through doorways in the brick structure at the top.

Interior of a kiln

Cement clinker dropped to the arched discharge flues at the bottom, from where it was taken to be ground into fine powder. The smaller openings lined with firebrick probably served to control the firing or to allow the kiln to be unclogged.

Map of Jamul Cement Works

Map of Jamul Cement Works and Vicinity.

Jamul Cement Works

The Jamul Cement Works soon after its abandonment. The trolley tracks to the limestone deposit on the hill are directly behind it. The masonry kilns occupy the center behind the lumber shell. The buildings on the right house the boiler room, the brick machine, the grinding apparatus and the workers’ living quarters. To the left are the five pot kilns.

Fallen firebrick fill the  brick foundations of the pot kilns

Fallen firebrick fill the brick foundations of the pot kilns. In the foreground is the metal cap of one of the boiler-iron casings.