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

On Thursday of last week our We
mont Yankee friend j. &. Hancoc
came i'm from the Morris brick var
and invited us to ride out there wit
him and see what was going on there
We gladly accepted the invitation
had Il pleasant ride and II pleasan
time while ut the works, and beside
we learned some facts about the man
ufacture of brick i'll Morris Whlcl
were new to us.
We were told that the first brlcl
made in this vicinity were made nea
Mr.. Shuman's house in the village o
Morris in 1880, by Kenner X Moore
The first kiln was Il failure, on nc
count of too much lime i'll the clay
Then some clay was taken from thu
present grounds of the Norris Brlcl
| Co, the same season, by certain par
ties to Norris. but the next year, 1881
they moved their plant to where the
brick yard is now located, where they
made Il success with hand moulding
Brick continued to be made ut thai
| point for two OF three seasons.
Soon after stock company was
organized and Il 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 Norris Brick
Co. in one season a thousand or more
cords of wood. Eastwood is general
ly used. Thirty or 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 Vermonters.
Slim" remarked to us, Il am gen.
eral 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 on the lands of the company, at
least there is enough to last for gener-
ations. The amount of stripping OF
soil over the clay is very light, rang
ing from six inches to q foot. Then
there is a stratum of the finest kind
of clay for brick, eleven feet deep.
Under the clay is layer of fine
moulding 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
ldlllOUIl LldCh 1IOl1 UIl1o ClUy
to the works, and it seems to us that
a track might be laid from here along
the side of the bluff out to the land of
the brick company without any great
damage OF 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, 1t is quite probable how
ever that the railroad company will
be inclined to put in Il track as soon
us the company manufacture five or
six million brick i'll " season, which,
no doubt, they will do in the future.
We must not fail to ment'"--
fact that Mrs, Ch,,~' o1I the
class hoo -oinS runs hrst
"Iulng house near the brick
works and that the men are greatly
pleased with the fare and treatment
received at her house,