CONSTRUCTION: Bases in Spain

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In the Pacific, U.S. Air Force pilots do most of their flying from bases that Manhattan's Raymond Concrete Pile Co. had a hand in building. The company headed a combine that constructed $1.4 billion worth of U.S. naval and air bases at Guam, Wake, Midway and other Pacific islands in 1939-43. Thus, it was no surprise in the construction industry last week when the contract to build U.S. bases in Spain went to a combine that included Raymond. Other members of the winning team, picked from a 230-company list of bidders, were Manhattan's Walsh Construction Co. and Houston's Brown & Root, Inc. Plans call for air bases at or near Madrid, Seville, Zaragosa and El Copero, a naval base at Cadiz' port facilities and pipelines. Cost: $250 million.

Tunnels Under the Huds n. Raymond Concrete Pile Co. was built upon the tapered concrete pile that Founder Alfred A. Raymond invented in the 1890s to replace the wooden foundation pile. He had a hard time selling his idea, and some of those who invested savings in his tiny firm did so largely for friendship's sake. But by 1946, a share of stock purchased in 1902 for $2.50 was worth $888, including stock splits, and had already paid $992 in dividends.

The company's growth was the work of two men with strikingly different personalities. Maxwell Mayhew Upson. now 77 and board chairman, joined the still-wobbly firm in 1907 as secretary and general manager, soon had it on its feet. In 1911, searching for a man to take charge of a tough dock-construction job. he hired an engineering prodigy, who. at 24, had supervised the building of four railroad tunnels under the Hudson River. That was the beginning of a prosperous partnership between Upson and William Vincent McMenimen, who, at 72, is vice-chairman of the board. Each man contributed special gifts: hard-driving Upson gave off engineering ideas like sparks from a busy grindstone. He pioneered in the development of prestressed concrete pile, i.e.., using steel wire under tension to make concrete much stronger. Shy, quiet-voiced McMenimen was first-rate at organizing, getting things done, dealing with labor. He was the troubleshooter who headed up the bases-building combine in the-Pacific. In 1952 he stepped into the U.S.'s bogged-down airfield-construction program in France, soon got things humming. Between them, Upson and McMenimen built up a far-flung empire that in 1952 netted $2,576,273, had $16,771.964 in assets.