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XfaxJcemertf: ' production. Engineers now calculate that if properly mixed, poured and cured, concrete, at 100 years of age, should be just coming into its prime. While the Picton plant, originally called Lake Ontario Cement, started up in the late 1950s, cement has been a core industry in Quinte for many decades. The nearby community of Point Anne came to be as a result of a cement plant which operated there for many years. That maker continues to operate a plant east of Bath, whose smokestack can be seen from the top of high-rising structures at Essroc. Spinoff industries include concrete block plants and other specialized products at companies scattered throughout the area. Essroc operates with about 140 hourly and 38 salaried staff, a level which it has maintained in recent years. Product is made throughout the year except for a maintenance shut-down during the early winter. Most of the product, except for some which is trucked, is stockpiled for shipment by water during the navigation season to key company facilities around the Great Lakes. Jack Evans/The Intelligencer '