The Ford Files No 113

At first glance, it could be a palace in the mist, arising mysteriously from the pages of history. At night, hundreds of lights create an image of a sparkling Manhattan Island or of a cruise ship beckoning across the water. The landmark Lehigh Southwest Cement plant has been producing construction materials for homes, roads and infrastructure in California since 1908. With the supervision of engineer William Mulholland, the Los Angeles Board of Public Works built the plant to supply cement for the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Mulholland named the site Monolith because of the massive limestone deposit that provides the raw material for the plant. Nothing but trees and remnants of foundations remain of the little company town of Monolith that was located across West Tehachapi Boulevard from the plant. A consistent major employer for Tehachapi, the plant is one of 2,300 facilities owned by the German corporation the HeidelbergCement Group, which employs 44,900 people world-wide. Photo taken Jan. 20, 2016 afternoon by Tina Fisher Cunningham.