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Show " ABOUTJRiGlT The Provo Pressed Brick Company's Works Visited. A Few Words Relative to Provo's New Industry, that of the Manufacture of Pressed Brick, which are Equal to the Best Made-Also as to the Output of Brick bv Provo Eurners to Date. Monday morning, being part of ye J veary newspajrman's Sunday, a couple of The Disi'AiUi reporloiial force took i a pleasant ride to the southward. Business was connected with pleasure., however, and a brief w rite up ol the j brick industry is here given. j The newspaper men called first at j the Provo pressed brick company's works. Here the scribes were wel-j coined and received most pleasantly bv t Mr. Van Gundy, the principle owner, I who showed them about the grounds , and in a ineudlv chat gave them a neat ; little lecture upon the manufacture ol j brick. , The Disi'.'.Tcn is lead first to speak of the men and then of the enterprise, j The lirm name is Van Gundy .S: Co.. composed of C. Van Gundy, I). O. Waid and F. Wilson who all three are Nebraska men, but are permanent residents resi-dents of Provo, being here to stay. Thev have an actual cash investment in the plant of 47,500, all paid up. Mr. Van Gundy is the principle owner and chief one interested and is the practical brick man. lie is a small man, light compltixioned and of wiry build and looks as though he is not afraid ol hard work, and we doubt not out what he has seen and done a good deal of it. He is most genial and engaging even in Ins working work-ing clothes. He landed in Provo last February on bis way to Olympia looking for a' location, lie was favorably favor-ably impressed with Provo and thought he could not strike a better place than this, so he concluded to settle in the Garden City.' Notwithstanding the stringency of the money market this season, and the consequent temporary stagnation of building, he has not become be-come discouraged, but, on the contrary, is highly gratified with the outlook. Ik-is Ik-is turning out some good brick ami every consignment turned out is giving the best of satisfaction and sells more, as the brick is of a superfine quality. The works are located on the Springville Spring-ville road, some two miles or so south of Provo. The first feature of the grounds that attracts the visitor is the peculiar shaped kilns, which will be described, and the cleanliness and neatness neat-ness of the yards. This latter is due to the new process of brick manufacture, which is the latest. There has been used 300 tons of coal, and 700,000 bricks have been manufactured this season, and all the ashes and refuse about the yards could be hauled away in three wagon loads. It is a rare thing that a brick breaks in the manufacture or that any are melted in the burning. The "mud is lirst put through a Quaker pressed brick machine, which is one of the most simple and perfect made. It is run at present by horse power, but can be manipulated bv steam at any time. The mould is tilled under a pressure of ten tons, guaranteeing a good, solid brick. The bricks are not jarred in handling nor made rough by being laid upon the ground when wet. They are taken from the machine on a revolving rack, lifted to a truck and then wheeled to a covered s'led near by, and there stacked carefully, where they are air dried instead of sun dried as is usually the way in the old process of manufacture. manufac-ture. This keeps the bricks sniooih and neat with corners well defined. When burned, these are intended for the regular building brick, but so smooth and neatly finished are they, and being so solid with so sound and clear a ring that many have used them for fronts. These bricks have been selling at an advance of $1.00 per thousand thou-sand over other brick, but the company are now competing with other manufacturers manu-facturers of brick and selling at the same price as that asked for the product pro-duct manufactured in the usual way. Bricks designed especially for f ronts, flue tops, mantel and ornamental work go through another process, and are equal and superior to the far famed Omaha and Ogden pressed brick. A t-ter t-ter passing through the first press and being dried for thirty-six hours, each brick separately is" put through a perfection repress, under a pressure of twenty tons. They are then allowed al-lowed to dry slowly out of the sun, and burned in a special manner. The kilns are what is known as Cotton down draft kilns. A red brick is burned by this company from the lirst press, for ordinary building, but they can not be, and are not, so solid and" durable as the white brick, as the clay in this vicinity vicini-ty when burned properly turns white, and red bricks made from it are more or less rotten. The high-priced, extra-pressed extra-pressed brick, made especially for fronts, are of a beautiful white or bull' color, and this is the only objection to them by anyone. It see'uis that the people have been educated up to seeing rod bricks, and they think all brick should be red. The white, or buff color, however, is preferable in the east, and in places wiiere nothing but red brick can be made. The brick made by Van Gundy Gun-dy fc Co., would sell anywhere for the far-famed Milwaukee lirick for color, and are far superior to them in quality, and equal to them in finish. The Pay-son Pay-son bank-front will be of this brick, as will also be that of The Dispatch's Dis-patch's new building, which is to be commenced soon. Tins w ill have the effect of ameliorating the objection to the. color, as its beauty will he shown and thereby advertised. Of course the brick can be stained. It is a product of Provo's manufacture of which two much cannot be said and which cannot be surpassed anywhere in the world. '.'"he works are now turning out lo.OoO brick dailv, although thev have a capacity ca-pacity of 20.000. L1DDIAUD & CO.'S YARDS. On theirrcturn The Dispatch scribes cadedin at the various other brick yards. A call was made first at Lid-diard Lid-diard & Co. 's southern yards situated immediately north of Van Gundr .V. Co.'s. These works were found idle j :-t at present, while they are draining tl clay bank. These works have a capacity of 24.000 bricks daily, and are ri"i to their full capacity. Upwards of a million and a quarter" of bricks have b:vn already manufactured there this season. tiffany's tards. Those busy yards were the next vis-! vis-! bed. They "are situated at the head of T'oiirth street. Here were found two nulls busy, and although the old si vie of hand moulding is in vogue they are turning out a very superior brick. Here are tin ployed nineteen men with an average daily output of 10,000 brick. Upwards of 800,000 have been turned out from these yards to date. flemming'b yards. These are situated just across the street from those last visited. These were also found going full blast. They manufacture daily 14,000 brick and have turned out 375,000 to date this season. LIDDIARD'S NORTH TARDS, Situated a block north of Flemining's were visited next, and twenty-live men were found busy as bees. These yards have turned out, since May 1st, a "million and a half of I. rick and every brick they have made, sold, and many J more contracted for. |