Cañon City record., 1900-05-10
FIRE BRICK INDUSTRY.
One Of canoa Clty's nany Promlsins
lndustrsss Which the Future
BIDS Fair Of . 0rsat and
Lasting Benefit.

| have been requested te wriIe q
few lines ON fire brick and fire clays
Of Fremont county. In responding
to this call will say that | do not
wish to convey the idea of any par
ticular knowledge along this line for
l feel myself to be more of a student
than = teacher.
The Importance of the fire brick
industry in the United States, and
especially in our own State, is increas-
ing more and more every year.
Probably large majority Of our pso-
pie do not realize the value of this
industry to the country generally.
1t il fact that the development of
this industry during the last twenty
years has bsen enormous. Not only
have such large numbers of new con-
Germs been added, but also old estab-
lishsd works have doubled and trebled
their capacity. Such commonplace
thing az fire clay and brick may ap-
pear to many of the good people Of
Canon as Of secondary Importance in
comparison with other industries Of
this county, and yet it il so directly
connected and interviewer with other
great industries in our State, the
manufacture III iron and steel and
also smelling operations, that the
modern achievements of metallurgi-
cal science would be impossible with
out the assistance of its humble and
perhaps to some extent dsspissd, SER
want. Every improvement IN the iron
and smelling business calls for bet
ter and more refractory fire brick.
A correct definition Of the term fire
brick, may in fact be described as
any brick made from any clay or any
material capable of resisting fire,
thus all brick in that sense are FIRE
brick, for all will resist fire to cert
ain dsgree.l lin fact there are common
brick that are really more refractory
than some which are classed a. fre
brick. OF course the first requisite
for good IRE brick is good fire clay.
This il the foundation, after this
comes proper and intelligent manu-
featuring. Nature has certainly done
her part in Fremont county in giving
US the different varieties Of clay suit
able not alone for fire brick, but also
for paving brick, sewer pipe, pottery,
etc. and We, the people of Canon
City, should begin to recognize this
fact, and make an intelligent spplica-
tion of it. The deposits of lower
grade fire clays that are more easily
pressed or vitriied are more common
than the higher or refractory class.
This latter class while probably hav-
ling about the right proportion Of
silica and alumnia for . good fire
brick contain impurities Or fluxing
ingredients to such a degree as to
cause them to readily vitrify At a
good heat, and on this property de-
pends their value. These impure are
clays find their highest adaptability
and are of the greatest value in the
manufacture Of sewer pipe, paving
brick, roofing tile. etc. The clays
along the hog back north Of the river
also on south side for some two miles
are Of just this class and are suitable
for the above purposes. The term
clay is applied to varying and often
dissimilar substances, the only prop
critics in common being silica, alumina
and water. These are its essential
elements. The composition Of kaoli-
mite or pure clay, % the essential
basis of all clay, is as follows:
Silica ......... ........ 46.33
Alumina .... ......... 39.77
Water .................. 1890
10000