With this issue, we kick off Rock Products’ 120th year celebration. That is 120 years of serving the aggregates, cement and nonmetallic minerals industries from 1896 to 2016.
Rock Products has been published longer than any other industry magazine.
Our 120th year coverage will be a 12-month exercise in demonstrating how history has brought us to where we are today, and how that has in turn laid the groundwork for where we will go in the future.
It would be easy to say that the aggregates, cement and nonmetallic minerals industries of today are much different than that of the 1890s. But much has remained the same. It is still an industry that makes “little rocks out of big rocks.”
But you cannot take away the role that emerging technology has played in helping streamline plant operations to achieve greater productivity and thus profitability.
Over the years, this industry has made the transition from a niche market linked to making urban environments stronger and more durable, to a vitally important national industry that from coast to coast contributes to economic prosperity, national security and quality of life.
Over the next 12 months we will bring you the history of the industry in 12 installments, an exercise that will showcase industry growth, and contribution to American society as a whole. We will culminate with a special anniversary issue.
But we want your participation as well. Do you have historical photos of your quarry operations? We want to publish them. Do you have historical accounts and untold stories that you would like to share? Send them to us. If you are a manufacturer, your role is important as well, and your part of our history is important to us too.
Celebrating 120 years should be a participatory endeavor and we would like nothing more than to bring you all along for the ride.
You can email materials to mkuhar@mining-media.com. I look forward to receiving them.