Instead of shoveling the concrete from the mixing board into place, the mixers loaded it into barrows and wheeled it to place. The men worked with great rapidity.
Mr. Irving E. Howe gives the cost of a 6-in. foundation of 1-3-5 natural cement at Minneapolis, Minn., in 1897, as $2.80 per cu. yd., or $0.467 per sq. yd. Cement cost 76 cts. per barrel and stone and sand cost delivered $1.15 and 30 cts. respectively. Mixers received $1.75 per day.
Mr. Niles Meriwether gives the cost of materials and labor for an 8-in. foundation constructed by day labor (probably colored) at Memphis, Tenn., in 1893, as follows:
| Per sq. yd. | |
| Natural cement at $0.74 per bbl | $0.195 |
| Sand at $1.25 per cu. yd | 0.075 |
| Stone at $1.87 per cu. yd | 0.355 |
| Labor mixing and placing | 0.155 |
| —— | |
| Total | $0.780 |
Labor was paid $1.25 to $1.50 per 8-hour day and 1.16 bbls. of cement were used per cubic yard of concrete. The cost of materials, as will be noted, was high and the labor seems to have been inefficient.
FOUNDATIONS FOR BRICK PAVEMENT, CHAMPAIGN, ILL.—The concrete foundation for a brick pavement constructed in 1903 was 6 ins. thick; the concrete used was composed of 1 part natural cement, 3 parts of sand and gravel, and 3 parts of broken stone. All the materials were mixed with shovels, and were thrown into place from the board upon which the mixing was done. The material was brought to the steel mixing board in wheelbarrows from piles where it had been placed in the middle of the street, the length of haul being usually from 30 to 60 ft. The foundation was 6 ins. thick and it cost as follows for materials and labor:
| Cost per cu. yd. | |
| 1.2 bbls. cement, at $0.50 | $0.600 |
| 0.6 cu. yd. sand and gravel, at $1 | 0.600 |
| 0.6 cu. yd. broken stone, at $1.40 | 0.840 |
| 6 men turning with shovels, at $2 | 0.080 |
| 4 men throwing into place, at $2 | 0.053 |
| 2 men handling cement, at $1.75 | 0.023 |
| 1 man wetting with hose, at $1.75 | 0.012 |
| 2 men tamping, at $1.75 | 0.023 |
| 1 man leveling, at $1.75 | 0.012 |
| 6 men wheeling stone, at $1.75 | 0.070 |
| 4 men wheeling gravel, at $1.75 | 0.047 |
| 1 foreman, at $4 | 0.027 |
| ——— | |
| $2.387 |
This is practically 40 cts. per sq. yd., or $2.40 per cu. yd. of concrete for materials and labor. It is evident from the above quantities that a cement barrel was assumed to hold about 4.5 cu. ft., hence the cement was measured loose in making the 1-3-3 concrete. The accuracy of the quantities given is open to serious doubt. It will also be noted that the labor cost of making and placing the concrete was only 35 cts. per cu. yd., wages being nearly $1.85 per day. This is so remarkably low that some mistake would seem to have been made in the measurement of the work. The authors do not hesitate to say that no gang of men ever made any considerable amount of concrete by hand at the rate of 5.75 cu. yds. per man per day.
