Little Falls Fire Clay Company advertisement. From Dilley 1909.
History
The Little Falls Fire Clay Company was originally established in 1896 at Little Falls, Lewis County, Washington. Company office
was based at 726 Pacific Avenue in Tacoma. In 1909, the company decided to expanded its operations to King County, Washington, which
is the subject of this article. In December 1909, the company had leased property at Bayne to build a new brick plant.
Eocene shales of the Puget Group found in the Bayne area were thought to be excellent for manufacturing vitrified paving brick. It was
a dark gray carbonaceous shale on a hillside above the plant. In January 1910, the company placed an order for $55,000 worth of machinery
from the C. W. Raymond Company of Dayton, Ohio. In May 1910, Joshua Pierce, company president, placed an order for a Youngren continuous
kiln by the Raymond Company and it was expected to have the kiln installed by July.
There is no description available for the Little Falls Bayne plant. However, from the surviving brick, it can be determined that
the process was similar to that used at their Little Falls plant. The shale was ground in a dry pan and then mixed and tempered
in a pug mill. From there, the clay was fed to the Raymond brick extruding machine. The wire-cut bricks were then sent to the Raymond
repress machine to be made into paving brick.
The bricks were fired in a Youngren 18-compartment continuous kiln which was fired by gas. The plant had a capacity of 75,000 brick
per day. In February 1911, the company put out an advertisement for hackers, pitchers, setters, press-feeders, and
burner.
In 1910, it was reported by geologist Shedd that the plant was producing only common building brick. By August 1911, the first paving
brick was produced. But the paving bricks were inferior and not salable. The plant was closed by October 1911.
In May 1911, J. T. Mackintosh resigned from his general manager position with the company and he was succeeded by W. S. Dimmick.
In October 1911, the company went into receivership with Dimmick as the receiver. The brick plant was closed. During the spring
of 1912, Little Falls Fire Clay Company was declared insolvent when the Raymond Company brought suit for nonpayment of machinery
purchased by the former company. This resulted in the dissolving of the Little Falls Fire Clay Company and abandonment of the
property. Geologist Glover wrote in 1941, "For products other than paving brick these shales are probably satisfactory and the
venture shows the desirability of thorough testing of clays before plants are designed and built."
Little Falls Brick From Bayne
Little Falls Paving Bricks
Little Falls paving brick is red and uniform in color. Form is good with undulating
dull edges and dull corners. Surface is smooth with no sand coating, but clasts of gray shale and quartz may be visible. Sides may
be deformed by stack indentations. Faces display a velour texture with wire-cut grooves and pits. The marked face displays the company
name on an arc "LITTLE FALLS" above "PAVER" in raised block letters. The letters are inside a deep rectangular frog with beveled sides.
This brick was made using the stiff-mud process and repressed. No dimensions are available.
Photo courtesy of JoAnne Matsumura.
References
Brick, v. 5, no. 1, July 1896, p. 29.
Brick, v. 31, no. 6, December 1909, p. 241.
Brick, v. 32, no. 1, January 1910, p. 78.
Brick, v. 32, no. 5, May 1910, p. 245, 277.
Brick and Clay Record, v. 41, no. 8, October 1912, p. 322.
Clay Record, v. 8, no. 6, 28 March 1896, p. 23.
Clay Worker, v. 55, no. 2, February 1911, p. 378.
Clay Worker, v. 55, no. 5, May 1911, p. 780.
Clay Worker, v. 56, no. 2, August 1911, p. 175.
Clay Worker, v. 56, no. 4, October 1911, p. 438.
Dilley, W. R., Little Falls, (Sopenah) Washington, The Coast, May 1909.
Glover, Sheldon L., Clays and Shale of Washington, Washington Division of Geology Bulletin 24, 1941.
Matsumura, JoAnn, written communications, 2017.
Shedd, Solon, The Clays of the State of Washington, State College of Washington, Pullman, Washington,
June 1910.
The Little Falls Fire Clay Co., Clay Record, v. 8, no. 12, 29 June 1896, p. 17.
The Ranch, Seattle, Washington, 1 September 1907, p. 5.
