The Jersey City news., 1901-09-14
TERRA GOTTA
Perth Amboy Produces
1t in Enormous
Quantities.
FIRE BRICK AND PROBING
All Sorts of Things Made
From Middesex County
Clay.

of firebrick was begun in the first halI
of the Nineteenth Century, the making
of terra Gotta and fire proofing began less
than thirty years ago.
The late Alfred Hall is recognized as
the founder of terra Gotta making of the
United States. Out of that grew the
present enormous production of fire
proofing material composed of clay and
sand yariously burned to suit the re-
quirements.
Mr. Hall was a firebrick manufacturer
in the early days of that industry in
Perth Amboy. He was Originally in that
business in Cleveland, O. He patented a
brick machine and spent year in Eng
land. securing patent rights and study
ing the methods in use there. He return
ed to this country in 1S45, and began the
erection of a large plant in Perth Amboy.
1t was destroyed by fire, and then he
built new firebrick works and soon
afterward began to experiment with terra
Gotta. He produced fancy building brick
in the meantime, the firm of Hall & Sons
being represented at the Centennial in
Philadelphia by a large chimney which
attracted a great deal of attention
In 1876 Mr.. Hall organized the Perth
Amboy Terra Gotta Company whose
works are today the oldest and the larg-
est in this country. The first specimen
of terra Gotta work produced in the Unit
ed States to attract widespread attention
was that on the building of the Long
Island Historical Society. The erection
of the New York Produce Exchange
Building shortly afterward gave an OPP
portunity to display the ability of Amer
ican workmen. The handsome orna-
mental work on that structure was all
made in Perth Amboy, of Middlesex
county clay.
From that time the terra Gotta indus
try has grown rapidly, and with its
growth the uses to which clay has been
put have greatly increased. The success
of the Perth Amboy company encouraged
others to enetr the field, and in 1890 five
young men employed there resigned and
formed the Standard Terra Gotta Com
pany, which built large works here.
All of the clay used in these factories
is mined in or near Perth Amboy. Short
railroad spurs run to the clay pits, and
others provide means of getting the clay
to the factories. There is no long dis
tance hauling necessary, and there is
thrive.
That terra Gotta is not the only product
that can be made of Middlesex County
clays is evidenced by the manufacture OF
drain pipe, all kinds of fire brick and
building brick porous and hard fireproof-
ing of all kinds and pottery. Years ago
the old fashioned Yere made
here, and great quantities of Rocking
ham and yellow ware were produced.
Recently the Perth Amboy Ceramic
Works entered the field, and out of clay
mined in Woodbridge Township tubs and
sinks are being made.
The factory of Adam Weber's Sons
turns out thousands of gas retorts annu-
ally. and the clay pits from which the
raw material is secured are only mile
from the factory.
Terra Gotta lumber is a production OF
which little is known outside of the build-
ing trades. 1t is generally light In color
and very light in weight. 1t is porous and
is made in all imaginable shapes for use
In constructing freproof walls and floors.
1t is made light and porous by the use
of certain quantities of sawdust mixed
with the clay. When the clay is burned
the sawdust is consumed and the hard
ened clay remains. In its commercial
form it can be sawed, like board, and
nail can be driven into it with no trouble.
IT will not crunble or break away from
the nail.
Most of the factories engaged in MAX
ing clay products are on the north side OF
the Raritan. Large brick works are at
Sayreville, on the south shore, and at
South Amboy there is large pottery
Almost all of the clay pits have been
dug where a few years ago there We're
green fields and pasture lands Many
families have been transformed by the
discovery of the uses to which clay can
he nut, from farmers in ordinary circum-
stances to people of wealth and vast in
terests. It has been done with no effort
on the part of those most benefited.
The old Benjamin Valentine farm, on
the Raritan River near Perth Amboy, was
regarded as burden by those who owned
II twenty-five years ago. Recently
small portion of it, from which clay had
been dug for fifteen years in large guam
titles. was sold for $4,000. In some IN
stances the farmers have quit farming
and they are now clay miners and ship
ners although most of the companies
onerating factories own their own clay
pits.
The clay banks vary in depth, width
and general extent Some of those con-
tanning the most valuable clay lie close
to the surface and are very thick. reach
ing from twenty to thirty feet. The clay
lands of Middlesex county embrace an
era of sixty-eight square miles. The
beds are so situated along the Raritan
and South Rivers and Staten Island
Sound that no point in the entire clay
district is three miles from navigate
water. This is another feature which has
assisted very materially in the growth OF
the clay business.
Large quantities of clay are shipped,
lust as 1t is mined, to other parts of the
country, where the various kinds of clay
are not SO plentiful. In distinction to
this there Is but one concern in this
vicinity that does not find all of the clay
ii wants almost at its very doors. That
is tbe G. Pardee Tile Works. which uses
a grade of clay found only IN the SOUTH
ern part of the State.
The clay using concerns IN the imnle-
date vicinity of Perth Amboy employ
more than 5000 men. and probably half
that many more are employed in different
branches of the business throughout the
rest of the country. Machinery is most
important factor in the manufacture OF
clay products, SO that the mention OF the
number OF men emplGyed does not irdi-
cate to those unfamiliar with the industry
the output of a factory. Henry Maurer
e., Son are the largest producers of fire