River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1890-05-01
THE MODERN eRIcK-YARD.
Changes In Brick-sIaking Brought About
Within Twenty Years.

shhHEes IN brtck-3takfng brought ABOUT
Within Twenty Years.
Twenty years ago brick-yard labor
was looked upon as the hardest work in
the land. At that time there were but
few yards employing steam power. A
spiral plastic clay machine was dam
gerous financial experiment; pug-mill
plunger machine an improvement to be
envied; semi-dry process was the no.
ton of some semi-insane crank. Dry
houses were almost unknown. To go to
work at seven o'clock in the morning
and quit at six in the evening was the
practice of only few new hrrss. who
were predicted to be failures on account
of it. The yards were mostly small
and made their bricks by hand on soft
clay horsepower machines.
The briekmaking season was about
nine months in the Northern and West
ern States. The hours of labor COM
menced generally at four o'clock in the
morning, in order to get the days work
nodded by ten or eleven, so as to have
the bricks dry and under ''houses" the
same day. A day in the brick-yard
When the days task was done
then the anxiety began as to
whether it would storm or something
else turn up to interfere with the regu-
lar work. 1t was common occurrence
to call all the help together at midnight
to cover up brick hacks and then wait
all next day for the yard to dry off.
Many yards away from the towns pro-
vided for board and lodging for their
men by running boarding houses in con-
nection with the yard-and queer board
ing houses they were. salt horse" the
common name for pickcl beef dried APP
pies, boiled potatoes and black coffee
was the fare three times day for the
eight or nine months. and baked beans
with pork, strip and apple or pumpkin
pie, of kind that could only be di-
gested by brick-yard employe, would
cap the glories of day of rest. Beds
for the men, in many of the yards, were
unknown luxuries; a bunk made of
rough boards, with a mattress of straw
and blanket. completed the outfit. If
the mosquitoes were lively it was
found advisable to keep on boots
and clothes during the entire
night. A roughly-made table of boards
with single candle was allowed
for every eight men, and green brick
with a hole punched into it filled the
bill for a candlesticl; these, with a
greasy, WORKOUT deck Of cards, would
be the center of attraction and the chief
amusement during evenings and Sun
lays.
Trade journal reading was thing I'M
know, for none existed; the only thing
B. II uh 20, lraE .. month
and kill time on rainy days and Sun
lays.
But the times have changed. A brick
yard man is somebody now; he goes to
work like other mechanics; his work. by
the assistance of machinery, has become
more mechanic-like and in many cases
less laborious With the introduction
Of machinery the work has become
simpler and more productive. This
change Influenced the condition of brick
yard labor to such an extent that it has
outgrown the reputa ton of trough and
tough;" more educated labor sought its
employ, and with it came the disappear
ance of the brick-yard shanty and its
degrading influences.
Machinery has elevated every branch
Of the trade; it is making high-grade
man of the once ignorant worker, who
had no opportunity to study and de-
velop himself. Machinery is making
better materials, and making them
cheaper. Machinery has removed every
kind of drudgery which had tendency
to make life miserable. When men were
machines every effort required muscle;
their hours of toll were long and sey ere,
and the consequences were brutalizing
and degrading.
1t is to be hoped that the time will
come when the perfection of all the ma
chinery will be such as to require only
the presence of an attendant, without
any manual labor to speak of.
Many laborers condemn machinery,
saying that it does away with their
labor; but when the comparison is made
between the labor twenty years ago and
at the present day, it can safely be said
that with the introduction of machinery
there have only been taken away long
hours ana hard work, and in their place
came opportunities for cultivation and
the improvement of the social and do
nestle condition of those following
brick-making as a profession. Clay
l. F..