Brickmakers
CALIFORNIA BRICKS
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John B. Hill
History
John B. Hill, a native of New Brunswick, New Jersey, came to Eureka, California, in
1864 and started a brick manufacturing business on the Eureka Slough on the northeastern end of town.
Today, the plant site is near the intersection of Essex and John Hill streets. John
married and had four sons, all of whom worked along with their father as brick makers or as
contracted brick layers.
The clay was dug from the banks of the Eureka Slough on the property of about 4 acres.
The clay was dumped into a hopper and elevated to a pug mill and disintegrator. Originally the mix
was sand-molded by the soft mud process until replaced by a Brevan stiff-mud
wire-cut machine. The wet bricks were delivered to boards for stacking and drying for about
two weeks before firing. After drying the bricks were fired in a 30-foot round, down-draft kiln,
with a capacity of 75,000 brick. Wood was used as the fuel. Steam power was used to run the
machinery. The plant employed from four to eight men.
The Hill brick was used for many buildings in the Eureka area, many of which are still standing.
Common face and ornamental bricks were made.
In 1905, John Hill sold his operation to the Eureka Brick and Tile Company, and retired from
brick making. He died on September 27, 1916.
Hill Brick
View of the side of John B. Hill brick. Note the stratified layers and white shell fragments
typically found in this brick (405-407 Second St., Eureka).
View of the side and end of John B. Hill brick with sand-molded surface and irregular lip (403 Second St., Eureka).
Bottom face of John B. Hill brick (207 F St., Eureka).
View of a clam shell, 1/2 inch long, in the side of a John B. Hill brick (403 Second St., Eureka).
Common brick is light orange with light and dark mottled shades on the surface. Uneroded surfaces show
darker shades, sand coat, pits, and rounded lumps of orange clay up to 2 inches across and white shell
fragments up to 1/2 inch across. Edges are irregular with irregular lip around the top face on some.
Eroded surfaces may show wavy, stratified layers. Bottom face is smooth with longitudinal strike marks.
Sand-molded, soft-mud process.
Length 7 5/8 - 8 1/8, width 3 3/4 - 4, height 2 3/8 - 2 1/2.
View of the side of the John B. Hill brick. Ornamental shaped brick on the second row from the top.
(Carnegie Library, Eureka).
View of the ends and sides of the John B. Hill brick Note wire-cut, bullnose ends on the left (Carnegie Library,
Eureka).
Common face brick is orange-red with a mottled lighter shade color. Smooth extruded surfaces on the sides.
Minor crackles and pits and longitudinal striations on the surface of the sides. Some show
fine screen imprint of the conveyor belt. Ends show a velour texture with wire-cut marks
at a slight angle, indicating an end-cut process. Top and bottom faces could not be observed but
expect them to be smooth and similar to the sides. Edges are sharp and straight. Extruded, wire-cut,
stiff-mud process.
Length 8 1/4, width 3 1/4 - 3 7/8, height 2 3/8.
View of the Carnegie Library, Eureka, made of John B. Hill wire-cut bricks in 1902.
Source
Aubury, Lewis E. "The Structural and Industrial Materials of California."
California State Mining Bureau Bulletin 38, 1906, p. 374.
Brick and Clay Record, 1916, v. 49, no. 8, p. 723.
Eureka City Directories, 1893-1904.
Humboldt County Directories, 1885-1898.
Root, Lloyd L. "Mining In California." California State Mining Bureau, 21st Report of the State Mineralogist, 1925, p. 301.
Copyright © 2006 Dan Mosier
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Please send email to Dan Mosier at danmosier@earthlink.net.