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Location DB >
United States >
California >
Niles >
Brick Yard
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created by DrRJones
on 4/20/2009 6:21 AM
last modified by Evilbunny
on 3/29/2014 4:34 AM
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Publically Viewable |
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This location has been labeled as Demolished, and therefore can be viewed by anyone.
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Tall Brick Furnace stacks still remain as well as a water tower and some piles of unfired bricks from various different time periods. Lots of old rail road equipment next to tracks and scattered ruins of the Terracotta pipe factory that used to inhabit the sight, till around the late 90s, at that time it was known as Mission Pottery.
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Type: Outdoors
Status: Demolished
Accessibility: Easy
Recommendation: worth the trip
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rust
flooding
water
air quality
Cattle Rancher with shot gun, Poison oak
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Right next to the Sp rail line which is now part of the Niles rail road, also next door neighbors to the secret side walk (aka- the aqueduct)
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fences
barbed wire
razor wire
locked gates
Cattle Rancher With shotgun, Poison Oak
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flashlight
breathing mask
binoculars
long pants / sleeves
towelettes
Technu, Good boots
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I like to bring a freind to help me look out since its a wide open area.
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istory
In 1907, a large deposit of clay was discovered in the mouth of Niles Canyon while making an excavation for the new Western Pacific Railway Company's line. This deposit was located one mile east of Niles (now incorporated as the City of Fremont), on the south side of Alameda Creek. Several businessmen in Niles quickly formed a company to purchase the 53-acre tract, mine the clay, and build a brick-making plant. They formed the California Pressed Brick Company, with a capital stock of $1,000,000, divided into 1,000,000 shares. The first officers and directors of the company were Jackson Dennis, President; J. J. Rutledge, Vice-President; and F. A. Allardt, Clarence Crowell, and Paul Furst, Directors. The company headquarters was located at the Niles State Bank, Niles, California.
John S. Smith was hired as the ceramic engineer and who was responsible for the building of the brick plant and kilns. He was a native of Durham, England, born on December 31, 1845. He came to the United States in 1869, and first went to Jackson County, Missouri, where he embarked in the trade of carriage maker. He then studied ceramics and found a position with the C. W. Raymond Company, Dayton, Ohio, for which he erected several brick plants in Minnesota and South Africa. Shortly after returning from South Africa in 1905, he came to California and found employment with the California Pressed Brick Company to design and build their brick plant. Smith remained with this company until 1910, when illness forced him to resign. He died on February 6, 1911, at his home in San Leandro.
The plant and machinery was described to be similar to that used at the Carnegie Brick and Pottery Company in San Joaquin County. Using horse scrapers, clay was taken from a pit located on the hillside behind the plant and stored in corrugated iron sheds with a capacity of 2,800 yards of clay. The clay was conveyed to the dry pans by a tram and hoist drums. There were two 9-ft. dry pans, made by Raymond and American. From the dry pans the material was taken to screens by elevators and after mixing, taken by a belt conveyor to a 12-ft. Raymond pug mill, which discharged by gravity into a Raymond auger brick machine. After passing the Raymond delivery and cutting tables, the bricks were carried on drying cars to concrete drying tunnels. 500 cars were used to pass through two sets of tunnels of 12 each by gravity. The dried bricks were stacked in six round down-draft kilns, each with a capacity of 85,000 brick, one continuous 7-chambered gas-fired kiln, with a capacity of 65,000 brick to the chamber, and an oil-burning case kiln with a capacity of 750,000 brick. The plant was powered by two large boilers and one small one fitted for oil burning, the oil being delivered direct from cars into a pump, and a large Bates-Corliss engine.
The deposit contained plastic clays, soft yellow and blue shales, surface clay mixed with disintegrated sandstone, and soft sandstone. This clay was tested and suitable for pressed building brick and conduits for electric wires. Early products from the Niles plant were common building brick and vitrified paver. The paver was light-fired and embossed with large raised letters on the face spelling "NILES". The pavers were not good enough for streets, but San Francisco architects liked to use them for building bricks. These bricks were produced from 1909 to 1911, and sold to local brick yards around the San Francisco Bay. About 50 men were employed at the plant during this period. Because the price of building bricks was depressed, this company was not successful in selling its bricks, and was forced to close by August 1911.
The clay was tested for other products. A. L. Solon, a ceramic chemist from England, made exhaustive tests of the Niles clay. He found that the clay was suited for the manufacture of wall and floor tile, sewer pipe, conduit, roofing tile, terra cotta, and pottery. On that note, the company planned to produce wall and floor tile, glazed brick, and vitrified pavers. In May 1912, they hired L. H. Mueller, from the Denny-Renton Clay & Coal Company, Seattle, Washington, to manage the plant. Edward A. Ellsworth was elected the new President and William Curtner, Secretary. Ellsworth had an insurance partnership with F. V. Jones in Niles. It was during this period that the brick plant became locally known as the Ellsworth and Jones brickyard. Mueller had experimented with vitrified paving brick which continued to be sold. But by 1913, the California Pressed Brick Company had failed to make mortgage payments and foreclosure proceeding were filed by the Oakland Bank of Savings. Numerous litigations were filed against this company forcing its closure.
View of the plant when is was called the Mission Pottery, with
stacks of clay pipe in the yard. Note the plant and the two round
down draft kilns. The old brick plant was modified to manufacture
sewer pipe when this picture was taken in 1992.
In 1915, the California Pottery Company, based in Oakland, made an offer to purchase the Niles plant and property for $60,000, for the purpose of expanding its sewer pipe operations. In 1923, the California Pottery Company shipped clay from the Niles clay pit to the its plant in Oakland. From 1929 to 1931, the California Pottery Company operated under name of the Western Clay Products Company, which closed its Oakland plant in 1931 and moved it to the Niles site to produce tile, terra cotta, flue linings, and sewer pipe. In 1960, Ben Garrett of Mission Clay Products, based in Orange, California, purchased the sewer pipe plant and continued the manufacture of sewer pipe and roofing tile. The plant was operated by SRDC, Incorporated, when it closed in the late 1990s and has since been dismantled.
Taken From Dan Mosier the Brick makers He is an excellent researcher and lover of old bricks. heres his site http://calbricks.netfirms.com/index.html
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As far as i know there are no future plans for the sight and its just gonna rot away under the owner ship of said cattle rancher. Ass the land is disputed for Niles railroad as well.
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Niles brick yard
Mon, Apr 20th, 2009
posted by DrRJones
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The moderator rating is a neutral rating of the content quality, photography, and coolness of this location.
This location has not yet been rated by a moderator.
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This location's validation is current. It was last validated by
Steed on 5/26/2014 8:16 AM.
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on May 26 14 at 8:16, Steed validated this location
on Mar 29 14 at 4:34, Evilbunny changed the following: Status, Accessibility, Security Measures
on Apr 20 09 at 21:16, Emperor Wang validated this location
on Apr 20 09 at 7:46, DrRJones made this location available
on Apr 20 09 at 7:46, DrRJones changed the following: History, Year Closed
on Apr 20 09 at 7:44, DrRJones updated panorama Niles brick yard
on Apr 20 09 at 7:39, DrRJones updated a panorama image
on Apr 20 09 at 7:34, DrRJones updated gallery picture Old radio next to tracks
on Apr 20 09 at 7:34, DrRJones updated gallery picture More shoots of the yard
on Apr 20 09 at 7:34, DrRJones updated gallery picture Oh theres mario
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