Around 1898, horizontal beds of shale useful for the manufacture of natural cement were discovered in a ravine beside the recently constructed Northern Pacific and Manitoba Railway, east of the Deerwood siding, in the Rural Municipality of Thompson. In August 1899, the Manitoba Union Mining Company was incorporated to exploit the deposits, with railway superintendent G. W. Vanderslice as President and railway supervisor John Robert Spear as Secretary.
Construction of a cement manufacturing plant at newly constructed Arnold siding (named by an employee in the firm’s Winnipeg office) began in June 1900. Thirty to forty workmen built a dam, 100 feet long and six feet high, to hold water needed in the manufacturing process. They built a coal-fueled, circular kiln where shale quarried from the surrounding banks of the ravine would be burned, and a two-storey wooden mill building where chunks of clinker were ground into natural cement. A cable car system carried the powder up to the top of the ravine where it was poured into sacks and stored for shipping.
The cement manufacturing plant began operating in February 1901, the first of its kind in Manitoba, and by October 1901, 55 railway cars of cement had been shipped from Arnold. The facility was operated by the Manitoba Union Mining Company until 1904 then by the Manitoba Gypsum Company before closing in 1908.
Concrete blocks manufactured using Arnold cement were used in the construction of several buildings in and around nearby Miami as well as concrete bridges and culverts in the region.
Arnold Cement Quarry (no date)
Source: Miami Railway Museum
Aerial view of the former Arnold Cement Quarry site (June 2025)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Iron boiler at the former Arnold Cement Quarry site (June 2025)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Concrete base and auger at the former Arnold Cement Quarry site (June 2025)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.39437, W98.34595
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Leary Brickworks (Learys, Municipality of Lorne)
“City and general,” Manitoba Free Press, 7 August 1899, page 6.
“Cement works,” Winnipeg Tribune, 5 June 1900, page 6.
“A developed home resource,” Manitoba Free Press, 26 April 1902, page 17.
“Local notes,” Winnipeg Tribune, 12 March 1904, page 5.
“Arnold Cement Works,” Manitoba Free Press, 23 October 1905, page 3.
Miami & R.M. of Thompson Chronicles by R.M. of Thompson History Book Committee, 1998, pages 203-205.
We thank Don Orchard, Joan Driedger, Ed Driedger, and Noah Penner for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 21 July 2025
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