Visitors driving along the Cascade Range toward Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., tend to focus on the tallest peak in the lower 48: 14,410-ft. Mt. Rainier. Representatives from some of the best known names in cement and concrete — Ash Grove, Lafarge, and Lehigh, plus California's Graniterock — however, have been trekking the area recently for a peek at a plant that has reached a new plateau in ready mixed production.

The nuts and bolts of Corliss Resources' new property in Sumner, Wash., speak for themselves: 10 acres of concrete pavement to support a 70-vehicle fleet, including 35 mixers; a single alley, central mixed plant with output up to 270 yd./hr; 7,000-plus tons of aggregate storage; 6,000 sq. ft. of office and break room space on three levels; a maintenance shop with nine 25 × 100 bays and rails to eventually carry 25 tons of overhead lifting capacity; process water collection and treatment systems to maintain 99 percent water and solids recycling; and a storm water collection plan and settling pond pure enough to sustain fish.

Located in a high growth corridor bridging Tacoma and Seattle, the plant is the product of three years' work overseen by Scott Corliss. He and his brother Tim represent the fourth generation of management from the family of company founder Dr. John Corliss. “Doc” Corliss' grandson, Harry, has turned over day-to-day duties to his sons, but remains active in the company's materials operations and land development. Scott Corliss' son, Eric, is assuming the task of computer system administration — after getting his hands dirty around the Sumner plant and sister operations. His most immediate duty will be to assist in an IT overhaul with Systech dispatch and Timberline accounting software installations early next year.

Scott and Tim Corliss view the new Sumner operation, which replaces a decades old, 90-yd./hour dry plant, as positioning their company for the next 50 years. A second ready mixed plant, with integrated aggregate production, is located about 15 miles away in Puyallap, Wash. Construction of the ready mixed plant, offices and maintenance shop has resulted in a five-year hiatus for aggregate mining at Sumner, which has been receiving material from another company property in Enumclaw, less than 10 miles to the east.

Aggregate production is scheduled to resume at Sumner in 2004. Mining on the scenic property dates to 1912, when Dr. John Corliss had taken title to the foothill site under the homesteading program the federal government sponsored to promote development west of the Mississippi River. Corliss Resources stepped up production in 1919 when Henry Kaiser — of northern California construction materials (now Hanson Aggregates) fame — arrived in town with plans to build a highway. Ready mixed production at Sumner began in 1946.