Arizona republican., 1900-11-28
BUSINESS OF BRICKMAKING
Something of the Operations Near
 Alhambra.

One of the most important manufac- ! turing interests of the valley. in fact.
 one of the most important in the ter
 ritory, has never been described in
 print. 1t is the little he'll conduct
 ed by the Alhambra Brick company near Alhambra. The foregoing name 1 of the industry is an expression of en- 1 dearment and pride applied to 1t by
 the pegp.e of the village and is not
 wholly inappropriate The Aldambr.t
 Brick company was incorporated last | April The officers are: President, Vernon L. Clark; secretary and treas
 urer, H. L. George, and manager. J.
 J. Cottrel! Brick had been manufac-
 tured at Alhambra by the old process for several years. The company, though, determined to put in the new est machinery and before making any other move looked about for the best location. Fifteen samples of clay Were sent east for analysis and the one taken from the old site was pronounced the best. It was said to be better clay even than could be found anywhere in California The company secured twelve acres on which the clay is thirty feet deep.
 
 the clay to the rollers. It is carried from the bottom of the pit on tram way. which is the most complicated railroad system in Arizona, little tracks and switches running in every direc- tion. The rollers knead 1t into the proper consistency and 1t is then forced into molds inserted into the great ma chine to receive it. The mold with its cargo of bricks is then pushed out and taken off by a man who leads a very strenuous life. He has hardly time to wink properly, and cannot think or splitting. The men who wash and sand the mods are kept equally busy. There is never any talking among the men who work about this machine who's daily capacity Is 36,50O bricks.
 The bricks are then carried to racks and left to dry in the sun for day or two If the wind Is blowing they are covered with great sheets of canvas to prevent checking. Then they are put into the great down-draft continu- ous kiln, the latest thing in brick kilns An idea of the size of this big oval-shaped structure may be gained from the circumstance that 45O,OOO bricks were used in the construction of it and the 101-foot stack. The daily ca pacity of the kiln is 240O0. Men are eternaHy putting green" bricks into one part of it and taking burnt bricks out of another. That Is why it $ called continuous. Fires are started in one compartment and then follow along after the green bricks. The fires are fed from the top by man who has no time to talk politics or religion or explain the operations of the kiln. He throws little coal In here, a little more there, keeps track of the sweep of the flames below, and removes the caps from the. holes in parts of the kiln where the fire has been allowed to go out. The air on top of the kiln, notwithstanding its immense thick ness. is always a-quiver with heat. Since last May when the kiln was first fired, until the present moment there Is no authentic record of a fireman hay ing had his feet seriously frozen on top | of the kiln.
 IA good idea of hotness may be gained | by looking down into one of those little openings into which coal is poured | when the flames are at full blast. It was this view of the interior that sug- gested to the Alham'brans the name of ''the little hell"
 The company has furnished nearly | all the brick used in this valley and in Prescott since it began operations. The Prescott contracts alone amounted to no carloads, 10000 bricks to the car. The company will shortly put in ma for making pressed bricks. men are employed and the pay roll Is about S2, GOO.