Morris tribune., 1891-08-05
About the Manufacture OF
Brick.

mont Yankee friend j. G. Hancock
came in from the Morris brick yart
and invited us to ride out there VIII
him and see what was going on there
We gladly accepted the invitation;
had a pleasant ride and pleasant
time while at the works, and besides
we learned some facts about the man
ufacture of brick in Morris which
were new to us.
We were told that the first brick
made in this vicinity were made near
Mr.. Shuman's house in the village OF
Morris in 1880, by Kenner Il Moore.
The first kiln was failure, on ac-
count of too much lime in the clay.
Then some clay was taken from the
present grounds of the Norris Brick
Co., the same season, by certain par
ties to Morris, but the next year, 1881,
they moved their plant to where the
brick yard is now located, where they
made a success with hand moulding
Brick continued to be made at that
point for two or three seasons.
Soon after II stock company was
organized and a dry press put in, but
was not successful, not being able to
burn brick in the old fashioned kiln.
The works laid idle for one year,
when Hancock, Judson and Pierce
took hold of the works and run them
for two years, J. C. Hancock acting
as foreman,
Last spring the Hancock brothers,
w. b. and J. c.. succeeded the former
company and are now running the
yard with good success, having intro
duced new and improved machinery.
They will make this season one and a
half million of brick, probably, and
could make and sell six or seven mil
lion provided they had more drying
space. Another year the capacity
will be greatly increased and almost
an unlimited amount of brick will be
manufactured.
The quality of brick made at this
yard is not surpassed any where in
the country and the company is over
run with orders. They are now ship
ping brick to Iowa, the Dakotas, Mon
tana and other states and also to the !
twin cities.
There is used by the Morris Brick
Co. in one season a thousand or more
cords of wood. Eastwood is general |
ly used. Thirty OF more men are en- |
ployed by the company in different |
capacities. We noticed quite Il num-
Der of men at work in the yard that |
we saw at work there two years ago,
which is evidence that the Hancock
boys are pretty good fellows, even if
they are Vermontefs.
"Slim," remarked to us, Il am gen.
er&l utility man; can do any kind of
work that there is to do about the
yard" Jack quietly said to us,
''Slim can't even pile bats
There IS an unlimited supply of
clay Oh the lands of the company, at
least there is enough to last for gener-
atoms. The amount of stripping of
soil over the clay is very light, rang
ing from six inches to a foot. Then
there is a stratum of the finest kind
of clay for brick, eleven feet deep.
Under the clay is u layer of fine
sand, two feet in depth,
then comes clay again, the depth of
which has not been ascertained.
We examined the clay closely and
are of the opinion that it could be
used in the manufacture of pottery.
One thing is greatly needed to make
the manufacture of brick at the above
yard more successful, and that is a
branch railroad track from this city
to the works, and it seems to us that
u track might be laid from here along
the side OF the bluff out to the land of
the brick company without any great
damage or expense, but to run track
out diagonally through the fine farms
between here and the brick yard
would do great damage and be very
expensive: It is quite probable how.
eyer that the railroad eOmnaDv
be inclined to put j. Will
as the ~~ ...a track as soon |
company manufacture five or
six million brick in season, which,
no doubt, they will do in the future.
We must not fail to mention the |
fact that Mrs. Cousins runs q first |
class boarding house near the brick
works and that the men are greatly |
pleased with the fare and treatment |
received at her bOuSp