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Carnegie Brick and Pottery Company
History
When steel magnate Andrew Carnegie began donating part of his fortunes to new libraries across
the country, a new brick plant was being erected in Corral Hollow Canyon, about 10 miles
southeast of Tracy, in San Joaquin County, California. Four miles west of the brick works
were the Tesla coal mines, where owners John and James Treadwell had supplied the much
needed fuel to Californians since 1896. Now they were to realize the economic value of
clay abundantly adjacent to the steeply dipping coal beds. This package of coal and clay
was later called the "Tesla Formation" of Eocene Age (50 million years old). The Treadwells
found the fire clay, gray clay, and kaolin to be excellent for making brick, sewer-pipe, and
refractory products. This was fortunate for the Treadwells at a time when coal was losing the
fuel market to oil.
From 1902 to 1905, the Treadwells built 14 round kilns, four chimneys, seven long drying sheds,
a grinding and pug mill, a boiler room, a compressed air plant, loading docks, and a three-story
brick building for the extruding and pressing machinery. By May 1903, the plant and kilns were
put into operation. Because the Tesla coal mines already had a railroad built to Stockton,
transporting the clay to the plant only required a spur line to the loading docks and some
gondolas.
On August 18, 1903, the Carnegie Brick and Pottery Company was incorporated with a capital
stock of $1,000,000, divided into 10,000 shares. The first directors were James H. Swift,
Charles A. Gray, O.K. McMurray, M.B. Maynard, C. Bosse, M.A. Murphy, and W.C. Gregg. Michael
A. Murphy was the general manager. Their headquarters was at the Safe Deposit Building in
San Francisco. The company name honored the great industrialist and philanthropist who was
greatly admired by the Treadwells.
Views of the brick works of the Carnegie Brick and Pottery Company.
The plant consisted of the latest patent pressed brick machines, which had a capacity of
20,000 bricks per day. They used the stiff-mud extruding process, and the clay bars were
cut by the Raymond and Berg brick cutting machines. The brand name "CARNEGIE" was stamped
in capital letters on the face of each brick with or without a frog. The sides of the brick
are smooth with even edges and sharp corners. The faces usually display the curved wire cut
marks, except for the pressed brick.
The kilns were Nonzone kilns, also known as the California round down-draft kilns, 32-feet
in diameter with a dome roof. Each kiln had a capacity of 110,000 bricks per day. Oil burners
provided the heat. Hot air was drawn from the burning kilns through the drying tunnels by a
large Sturdyvant exhaust fan, seasoning 100,000 bricks in 10 hours. Four of the kilns were
served by a 175-foot chimney and another set was served by a 225-foot chimney. Six of the
kilns were served by a 317-foot chimney. Nearby were the long wooden drying sheds, where
the green clay was cured before firing in the kilns. Inside these drying sheds were
additional kilns.
Power was provided by a 400-horsepower Corliss engine, a 150-horsepower gasoline engine, a
90-horsepower engine, and two 40-horsepower engines. Elephant boilers provided the steam.
All types of bricks were manufactured at the Carnegie plant. These included face, pressed,
paving, fire, and enamel brick. Carnegie produced a wide range of colors: white, cream, gray,
buff, salmon, red, and brown. They typically display freckles caused by tiny to large black
spots of iron oxide or specks of black coal.
The enamel bricks are glazed in white, orange, or brown. The glaze was applied to the sides
or on all faces by dipping and brushing. Enamel bricks were pre-stamped with the brand name
on the flat face or in a shallow frog.
The pavers were made of a mixture of clay and shale, and were subjected to a rattling test
of 2,000 revolutions with a loss of only 6.7 percent, and a crushing test of 8,000 pounds
per square inch. Pavers have the name stamped on a flat face.
High-class pressed and face bricks were popular with the local architects for facing buildings.
They came in various shades of buff, cream, and salmon colors. These commonly have the brand
name stamped in a shallow frog.
Fire brick typically display a coarser texture with visible grog of white to gray shale. Fire
brick has the name with or without a model number stamped on a flat face, with no frog.
Locomotive fire blocks, arch bricks, decorative bricks, split pavers, architectural terra cotta,
drain tiles, chimney flues, electrical conduits, sewer-pipes, pottery, and artistic sculptures
were also made by this company.
High class brick sold for four cents and pavers for two cents each. Four to ten carloads of
brick, or as much as 80,000 brick per day, were shipped out by rail over the Western Pacific
railroad. Carnegie brick was wrapped in heavy paper for protection against breakage. This
care is demonstrated in the high-class buildings built of perfect Carnegie brick. Total brick
production from Carnegie is unknown, but the writer estimates that the company produced over
68 million bricks in the eight years of operation.
In 1903, there were 110 employees on the payroll, but there may have been as many as 300
employees in later years. The company town of Carnegie was built to supply and shelter the
workers and their families. Carnegie had a store, bakery, school, saloon, and hotel. Two
large bunkhouses were built for 200 single men. 17 cabins were available for families. Carnegie
was mostly an Italian community.
The plant closed permanently in 1911 following a flood that knocked out the railroad and
destroyed many buildings and bridges in the canyon. The stockholders did not want to invest
more money into repairing and rebuilding property that was by that time under the receivership
of a defunct bank. On February 6, 1916, the property was auctioned to the highest bidder
and competitor, the Gladding McBean and Company, for $35,000. The following year, Gladding
McBean and Company razed the Carnegie plant and transferred the equipment to their plant at
Lincoln, California.
Such was the reputation of Carnegie bricks that for many years afterwards, Carnegie brand
bricks were produced at two other plants. From 1914 to 1932, the Stockton Fire Brick Company
in Stockton, California, made Carnegie fire brick using clays from Amador and Placer counties.
This Carnegie brick was grogged with calcined fire clay, hand-made in sanded molds, and repressed.
It was the best grade of standard brick being produced for resisting high temperatures under
adverse load and spalling conditions. The Gladding McBean and Company purchased this plant
in 1931 and closed it in 1932. Carnegie brick from the Stockton plant is not easy to distinguish
from the original white Carnegie fire brick. The sanded surface and lack of curved wire cut
marks on the face are the only distinguishing features for the Stockton brick.
In 1929, the Stockton Fire Brick Company built another plant in Pittsburg, Contra Costa County,
California, to continue their line of fire bricks. In 1934, Gladding McBean and Company purchased
this plant and continued their own line of Carnegie fire brick until 1958. The lower temperature
fire brick was produced from clays from Amador and Placer counties. Carnegie brick from the
Pittsburg plant is easily distinguished from the original by the yellow color, quartz grog,
the oblong shaped outline of the name plate (typical of Gladding McBean and Company bricks),
and the use of the lower case letter "n" in the brand name.
Original Carnegie brick and terra cotta products can still be seen today in many cities and
towns in California. Some of the finest examples include the Sheraton Palace Hotel in San
Francisco, the Oakland Hotel in Oakland, the Daniel Best Building and Masonic Lodge Building
in San Leandro, the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, and the Bank of Stockton in Stockton.
Carnegie bricks were even used in some of Andrew Carnegie's libraries, such as those still
standing in Livermore and Lodi, California.
Carnegie Brick
Face Brick
View of Carnegie face brick at the Oakland Hotel, Oakland.
View of Carnegie face bricks at the Sheraton Palace Hotel, San Francisco.
View of Carnegie face bricks at the Belshaw Theater, Antioch.
View of Carnegie face bricks showing name impressed in rectangular frog.
Carnegie face brick is white, gray, buff, cream, or salmon. The faces are flat and smooth, with occasional
transverse grooves and curved wire cut marks. Edges are sharp and straight, corners are sharp. Repressed
face bricks will display the repress marks around the top and bottom faces and have rounded edges and
corners. Black or brown iron spots, round to blotchy, are commonly seen in some face bricks. The larger spots are
centered with a tiny hole. The iron spots appear as freckles that range up to 1 inch across. Some of
the buff, white, and gray face bricks display a few tiny iron spots. Curved wire cut marks are visible on
both faces. For the bricks that have been branded, the name "CARNEGIE" in block capital letters is impressed on a
face or in a rectangular frog. The letters span 5 inches in length and 3/4 inch in height. The rectangular frog
is 6 1/4 inches in length and 2 1/4 inches wide, with beveled sides 1/4 inch deep. Extruded, stiff-mud process.
Length 8 1/2 - 9, width 4 1/8 - 4 3/8, height 2 3/8 - 2 1/2.
Fire Brick
View of Carnegie fire brick showing the name impressed into the face.
View of the back face of a Carnegie fire brick.
View of the side of a Carnegie fire brick.
Carnegie fire brick is buff, white, or salmon. Sides and ends are smooth. Faces have a granular texture of
of coarse, angular, white to gray shale or white feldspar, up to 1/4 inch across. Brown iron spots
are also present in small amounts. Pits may be abundant on the surface. The name with or without
a model number is impressed into the face in block capital letters. The name spans 5 1/2 inches in
length and 3/4 inch in height. Curved wire cut marks are visible on the face, more so on the back
face. Edges are straight and corners are sharp. Extruded, stiff-mud process.
Length 9, width 4 1/2, height 2 1/2.
Enameled Brick
View of brown and white Carnegie enameled bricks. White enameled bricks donated by Stuart Guedon.
View of the face of Carnegie enameled bricks. Donated by Stuart Guedon.
Carnegie enameled brick is white or brown. White enamel may be found on one side or one side and
one end. Brown enamel, or salt-glazed, may be found on all faces and sides or on two faces and two
ends. The brick itself may be white or cream color with tiny spots of iron. Enamel bricks were
pre-stamped with the brand name in block capital letters on either the flat face or in a shallow frog.
The name when impressed on a flat face spans 5 inches in length and 7/8 inch in height. The rectangular
frog is 6 1/4 inches in length, 2 1/4 inches in width, with beveled sides 1/4 inch deep. The name in
the frog spans 5 3/4 inches in length, and 3/4 inch in height. Extruded, stiff-mud process.
Length 8 1/4- 8 1/2, width 4 - 4 1/8, height 2 3/8.
Source
Alameda and San Joaquin Railroad Inspection Report, 1904. Unpublished report.
American Refractories Institute. Directory of the Refractories Industry. 10th Edition.
St. Louis, MO: American Refractories Institute, 1942.
Aubrey, Lewis E. The Structural and Industrial Materials of California. Sacramento, CA:
California Mining Bureau Bulletin 38, 1906.
Clark, William B. Mines and Mineral Resources of San Joaquin County, California. Sacramento,
CA: California Journal of Mines and Geology, v. 51, no. 1, 1955.
Davis, Fenelon F. and Goldman, Harold B. Mines and Mineral Resources of Contra Costa County,
California. Sacramento, CA: California Journal of Mines and Geology, v. 54, no. 4, 1958.
Davis, Fenelon F., and Vernon, J.W. Mines and Mineral Resources of Contra Costa County, California.
Sacramento, CA: California Journal of Mines and Geology, v. 47, no. 4, 1951.
Dietrich, Waldemar F. The Clay Resources and The Ceramic Industry of California. Sacramento,
CA: California State Mining Bureau Bulletin 99, 1928.
Huey, Arthur S. Geology of the Tesla Quadrangle, California. Sacramento, CA: California Division
of Mines Bulletin 140, 1948.
Mosier, Dan L., and Williams, Earle E. History of Tesla - A California Coal Mining Town. 2nd Edition.
Fremont, CA: Mines Road Books, 2002.
Post Dispatch. Progress Edition. Pittsburg, CA: February 28, 1975, p. 7.
Stockton Evening Mail, Carnegie Industries, Stockton, CA: April 22, 1905, p. 9-10.
U.S. Bureau of Mines. Minerals Yearbook. Volume 3-Domestic. Washington D.C., 1959.
Copyright © 2006 Dan Mosier
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Please send email to Dan Mosier at danmosier@earthlink.net.