In the late 1870s, the Sacramento Transportation Company, which ran a steamboat business on the
Sacramento River, decided to enter the brick manufacturing business to ship Sacramento brick
to the San Francisco market. Two sites on the east bank of the Sacramento River had good brick-making
clay deposits. At Riverside, 5 miles south of Sacramento, was found a 12-foot thick
section of dark, loamy soil, underlain by micaeous gray clay and river sand extending a quarter
mile from the river. At Freeport, 9 miles south of Sacramento, was a dark, loamy, micaceous
clay extending for a mile from the river. In 1879, the transportation company formed the
Sacramento Brick Company to operate these clay deposits. The company office was located at
Front and N streets, Sacramento.
View of the Sacramento Brick Company's Riverside plant on the Sacramento River. From Root, 1925..
The Riverside grounds occupied 182 acres. A Marion steam shovel, with a 1 1/2 cu. ft. bucket,
along with a dragline scraper was used to dredge the material from the pit, which was 16 feet deep.
In 1955, a 1 1/2 yard Bucyrus Erie dragline was used to mine and stockpile the clay. Initially
a steam locomotive was used to convey the four-ton dump cars from the pit to the plant a distance of
about one quarter mile. There were two locomotive and 32 dump cars. By 1928, gasoline dinkey
locomotives were used for haulage.
The material was put into the hoppers and elevated to the pug mill where it was tempered with water
and thoroughly mixed. From the pug mill, the clay passed automatically to the brick machines, where
it was molded into bricks and sanded by machinery. In 1890, there were five Quaker brick machines, with a pug
mill attached to each, and each having a capacity of 30,000 brick per day. In 1908, these were
replaced by five Monarch soft-mud machines. In 1928, the bricks were dusted with red ground red
grog from an outside grog grinder and storage bin. The excess clay from the molds was conveyed by endless
belts to the hoppers of the pug mills. By 1955, the bricks were made by an extruding machine and
cut by a revolving wire cutter.
The brick machines were connected with a line of
shafting which was run by a 130 h.p. engine, later replaced by a 250 h.p. Corliss steam engine.
In the 1890s, the wet bricks were placed on pallets, six bricks to a pallet, and six pallets at
a time were wheeled to the drying yard, where they were stacked in tiers ten pallets high.
The bricks air-dried for six days. This was later replaced by a wire cableway that transported
the wet bricks to steam-rack dryers, where they were dried in about 18 hours.
The bricks were initially fired in two continuous, 16-compartment, Hoffman kilns, which were oval shaped,
250 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 12 feet high. Each had a capacity of 50,000 brick per day. These
kilns had 16 doorways by which the bricks were taken in and out. The smoke chambers and flues were
connected with a smokestack about 130 feet high. Coal was used for fuel. By the late 1920s, nine open-draft
field kilns were used to fire the bricks for seven days at temperatures of 1700 to 1750 degrees F.
Each kiln had a capacity of 400,000 to 500,000 bricks, and oil was used for fuel.
The finished brick were loaded onto company barges, each with a capacity of 200,000 brick, and shipped to
Sacramento, San Francisco, and all points in between. In 1890, 17 million
bricks per year were shipped, but this rate declined over the years. In 1890, the yard employed 160 men
from April to November, and about 40 during the remainder of the year. Most of the laborers were Chinese.
Employment dropped to 35 to 50 by 1955. In the 1890s, James O'Neil was superintendent of the Riverside plant.
In 1917, H. Rolff was superintendent. The Riverside plant closed in 1969.
Sacramento Brick Company Brick
Sand-Molded Common Brick
Bottom face view of a Sacramento brick showing the brand name in a frog. Donated by Roy N. Anaclerio, Jr.
Side view of a Sacramento brick.
Top face view of a Sacramento brick.
End view of a Sacramento brick.
Common brick is pale brownish red, uniform in color. Surface is sand-coated and undulates, with uneven
edges, rounded to dull corners. Pits are rare on the sides and ends and lack any marks. Top face is highly
pitted with longitudinal strike marks and stack indentations. Bottom face is flat and centered with a
rounded rectangular frog 5 inches long, 1 1/2 inches wide, and 1/8 inch deep. Recessed inside the frog
is the company abbreviation "S.B.Co." followed by the logo for the Common Brick Manufacturers Association,
a circle with a cross inside. The name spans 2 1/2 inches and is 3/4 inch high, except for the little "o"
which is 3/8 inch high. The logo is 1 1/4 inches wide and 1 1/16 inches high. Sand-molded, soft-mud process,
indicating a brick made prior to 1955.
Length 7 5/8, width 4 1/2, height 2 3/8.
Extruded, Wire-Cut Common Brick
Bottom face view of a Sacramento brick showing the brand name in a frog. Donated by Roy N. Anaclerio, Jr.
Side view of a Sacramento brick.
Top face view of a Sacramento brick.
End view of a Sacramento brick.
Common brick is dull brownish red, with a uniform color. Surface is smooth and flat with straight, sharp
edges and rounded to sharp corners. Longitudinal and transverse cracks and pits up to 1/4 inch across are on the
sides. Sides show faint longitudinal striations and longitudinal stack indentations. Ends show transverse
striations, indicating end cuts. Top face
is smooth and flat with longitudinal grooves and striations. Bottom face is flat with some pits and cracks.
Bottom face is centered with a rounded rectangular frog 5 3/8 inches long, 1 1/4 inches wide, and 1/8 inch
deep. Inside the frog is the recessed abbreviated company name "S.B.Co." followed by the logo for the
Common Brick Manufacturers Association, a circle with a cross inside. The name spans 2 3/4 inches and is
1/2 inch high, except for the little "o" which is 3/8 inch high. The logo is 1 1/4 inches wide and 1 inch
high. Extruded, wire-cut, stiff-mud process, indicating a brick made since 1955 and is larger in size than previously
made bricks.
Length 8 1/8, width 3 1/4, height 2 1/2.
Source
Carlson, Denton W. "Mines and Mineral Resources of Sacramento County, California."
California Journal of Mines and Geology, v. 51, no. 2, 1955, p. 131.
Crawford, J. J. "Sacramento County." California State Mining Bureau Thirteenth
Report of the State Mineralogist, for the two years ending September 15, 1896, 1896, p. 617.
Forstner, William, Hopkins, T. C., Naramore, C., and Eddy, L.H. "Structural and
Industrial Materials of California." California State Mining Bureau Bulletin 38, 1906, p. 253.
Hamilton, Fletcher. "Sacramento County." California State Mining Bureau Fifteenth Report of
the State Mineralogist, for the Biennial Period 1915-1916, 1917, p. 403-404.
Irelan, William, Jr. "Sacramento County." California State Mining Bureau Tenth
Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, 1890, p. 506-508.
Root, Lloyd L. "Mines and Mineral Resources of Sacramento, Monterey and Orange Counties."
California State Mining Bureau Report 21, no. 1, 1925, p. 9.
