Beacon on the Prairie

For many years the tall stacks of the cement plant west of Superior sent a plume of smoke into the sky. The kilns that turned crushed limestone into cement operated at high temperatures. In the winter, the smoke plume was thick when the hot air hit cold air. Even in the summer there was smoke coming out of the stacks.

The smoke would be blown in a particular direction by the wind. When there was a south wind, the smoke would come north and not dissipate for many miles.

When I would come south on Highway 14, the cloud of smoke would be visible shortly after I crested a hill just south of the Fi...