Virginia Department of Mines Minerals and Energy VIRGINIA INERALS Published by the MVirginia Division of Mineral Resources Charlottesville, Virginia VOL. 50 FEBRUARY 2007 NO. 1 KIPPS’ LIME-MAGNESIA David A. Hubbard, Jr.1 and Elmer C. Kipps2 ABSTRACT economy, climate, World War II, and market competition. In 1972 the Kipps Family sold the Agricultural lime is an important soil business and property to C.S. Mundy Quarries, supplement that is used to control pH for optimal Inc., who continued operations until the untimely crop and pasture growth. Burnt lime has been death of their founder, Theodore Mundy. the historic agricultural lime of choice. Between 1925 and 1973, Kipps’ Lime-Magnesia won INTRODUCTION a share of the lime market in Shenandoah and Rockingham counties, Virginia. A comparison Agricultural lime is applied to soil to of production methods for Meyers burnt optimize pH for arable crop or pasture use. lime and Kipps’ Lime-Magnesia reveals an At near neutral pH, major plant nutrients are unconventional and economically competitive utilized more effi ciently and some herbicides are agricultural lime and a historical perspective more effective. Other benefi ts of liming include within the aglime industry. enhanced soil structure in clayey soils, which aids The Kipps quarry is situated on the eastern drainage, aeration, and root anchorage. Because fl ank of Little North Mountain in southwestern calcium and magnesium are removed from soil Shenandoah County, Virginia and worked the by plant uptake and leaching, even soil developed fault breccia of the North Mountain Fault. The on limestone (calcium carbonate) and dolostone magnesium-rich lime product was advertised as (calcium-magnesium carbonate) bedrock may lime-magnesia and as marl and marketed as an need liming. agricultural lime from 1925 – 1973. E.A. Kipps The term agricultural lime, or aglime, was able to introduce his unburnt lime product refers to both lime (calcium oxide, also called at $3.00 a ton in a locality where burnt lime was quick lime, or in a hydrated state as calcium marketed at $6.00 a ton. Sales records from 1925 hydroxide, also called slaked lime) and limestone to 1972 refl ect the infl uences of mechanization, (or dolostone) materials. Lime is produced by 1 Geologist with the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy’s Division of Mineral Resources. 2 Former General Manager of Kipps’ Lime-Magnesia 2 VIRGINIA DIVISION OF MINERAL RESOURCES Vol. 50 calcining (burning) limestone (or dolostone). MEYERS LIME KILN Historically, commercial lime was produced in rock/brick-constructed kilns. With the exception The Meyers lime kiln (Figure 2) was built of marls (fine-grained, unconsolidated deposits of limestone from the New Market, Lincolnshire, of calcium carbonate) or limestone or dolostone and Row Park Formations by Christian Meyers fines that were the waste products of mining and in the early 1900s. It is located immediately milling other mineral commodities, limestone east of the present town limits of Broadway, products could not economically compete with approximately 900 feet west of the intersection burnt lime until the development of relatively of State Highway 259 and State Highway 42, modern crushing and grinding technologies. and south of State Highway 259 (Figure 3). This To contrast the uniqueness of Kipps’ particular kiln was charged with a base course of Lime-Magnesia (Figure 1), an annotated wood and coke, followed by an alternate layer description of a nearby traditional lime operation of high calcium limestone approximately 8 is presented. Accounts of the actual operations of to 10 inches thick, overlain by a layer of coke lime and other mineral producers are rare in the approximately 4 to 5 inches thick, and so forth literature. Within most competitive industries, altering limestone and coke to the final limestone the release of detailed descriptions of methods and production figures can help competing producers in limited markets. Thus, the revelation of operation methods and production information for individual mineral producers provides an exceptional and important opportunity in our understanding of applied and economic geology. The Kipps operation is significant, because it spans a significant period of time and advances in technology. Figure 1. Advertising poster, circa 1926, for Figure 2. Meyers lime kiln, built in the early Kipps’ Lime-Magnesia. 1900s in Rockingham County, Virginia. No. 1 VIRGINIA MINERALS 3 State Road lime was hydrated by adding water to form slaked Shenandoah 726 l Kipps Rockingham Quarry lime. Meyers’ lime products included both quick State Hwy 42 and slaked lime. Norvell Trumbo (personal communication, 2002) estimated that his grandfather Christian � Meyers fired the kiln three to four times a year from the early 1900s until 1928 or 1929. State Road 613 In addition to the use of this burnt lime for State Hwy 42 agriculture, customers used it for white-washing State Hwy 259 Timberville fences, tree bases, and roadside markers. Modern Little North Mountain rotary kilns subsequently replaced the stone- Broadway lMeyers Lime Kiln constructed kilns for burnt lime production. State Hwy 42 KIPPS’ LIME-MAGNESIA In marked contrast to the conventional quarrying and calcining of high-calcium limestone at the Meyers quarry and kiln site, the overlapping period production of Kipps’ Lime-Magnesia brought about a significant change in the local lime market. The Kipps quarry is located on the eastern flank of Little North Mountain at a water gap, Kipps Gap, in southwestern Shenandoah County, Virginia Figure 3. Location of Meyers lime kiln and Kipps (Figure 3) and sited on the North Mountain Fault. quarry. The mountain building forces that thrust older rock units over younger rock units, also crushed the rock along the zone of movement. The ore is a fault breccia and locally consists of ground layer at the top of the oblong, brick-lined furnace matrix of dolomitic limestone (magnesium-rich chamber. The high calcium rock of the New calcium carbonate) and dolostone (calcium and Market Limestone was blasted from a small magnesium carbonate) and coarser carbonate quarry, now covered with fill, a few hundred rock fragments of the Beekmantown Formation feet to the southwest and transported to the kiln (foot-wall unit, or rock unit under thrust fault) by a railed cart. The charged kiln burned for a and Elbrook Formation (hanging-wall unit, or couple of days before the high-calcium limestone rock unit displaced over foot-wall unit). (CaCO3) was completely oxidized to quick lime (CaO). Beginning Operations Harvesting the quick lime was an unenviable job. The men wore bandanas across The initial idea for the quarry dates their faces and shoveled as much of the still warm to the fall of 1914, after the rerouting of State lime as they could before the lime dust and heat Road 726 from streamside to a new hillside cut. overwhelmed them. Quick lime is highly reactive A neighboring farmer from Hepner, located on with water in an exothermic reaction that can the west side of Little North Mountain, stopped bring water to a boil. Exposed skin was seared as to examine the light olive gray colored soil lime dust reacted with sweat. Some of the quick exposed between tree roots in the new road bank. 4 VIRGINIA DIVISION OF MINERAL RESOURCES Vol. 50 Satisfied by what he saw, John Runion, walked to feet southwest of present day Getz Corner, to the Kipps’ house and asked if he could dig some supervise a full-time farmhand. In addition to “fertilizer.” Somewhat surprised by the request, replacing his farm equipment, he bought an end- Elmer Allen Kipps (Figure 4) told his neighbor gate spreader (Figure 5) with which to spread to go right ahead and dig a load. Mr. Kipps and test his magnesium-rich lime at the accepted subsequently sent a sample for identification rate of 2 tons per acre. The following year, he and learned it was a carbonate of calcium and sent a sample of his magnesium-rich material for magnesium. Elmer Kipps knew that calcium and detailed analysis (Figure 6) and started promoting magnesium are important to plant growth. its use to friends and neighbors. He offered In 1918, concern about his potential role the lime-magnesia free for the taking and even in the World War prompted Elmer to sell his loaned his spreader for its application. In 1924, livestock and farm equipment and rent the farm Elmer married his sweetheart, Nenetah Kerlin, before traveling to Washington, D.C. He was not and moved back to Getz. Enthusiastic friends and drafted and although successful over the next few neighbors, satisfied with the unusual magnesium- years in white-collar business in Washington, rich agricultural lime, were spreading word of D.C., Elmer was intrigued about the commercial Kipps’ Lime-Magnesia. Locally, burnt lime was potential of his fertilizer. He learned that most shipped into the Mt. Jackson area and sold for agricultural limes were deficient in magnesium, $6.00 per ton. Elmer Kipps decided to price his which his lime product contained. lime-magnesia at $3.00 per ton to overcome Elmer resumed management of his any reluctance of farmers to switch to his new farm in 1922 by traveling back and forth unburnt lime supplement. On August 22,1925, between Washington and Getz, located 2000 J.F. Lonas became the first customer of the new business by paying $6.00 for two tons of Kipps’ Figure 5. Illustration of an end-gate spreader in operation from old Stover Lime Pulverizer brochure. Note even distribution of lime, which obscures view of lower rear wheels. One person drove the team, while a second shoveled lime Figure 4. Photograph of Elmer Allen Kipps, into the spreader unit, mounted on the wagon’s circa 1924. end gate. No. 1 VIRGINIA MINERALS 5 Table 1.