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Grand Forks Brick Plant Launched in 1909
by
William M. Rozinkin
In 1909, the
Doukhobors of the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood (CCUB)
established a brick plant west of Grand Forks, British Columbia. At its
peak, the factory produced up to three million bricks annually. It was an
important industrial asset of the CCUB, supplying bricks for the
construction of Community buildings and for sale to the outside world.
During the Great Depression, the plant ceased production in 1932 and was
scrapped following the CCUB's demise in 1938. The following article by
Kootenay resident and historian William M. Rozinkin (1923-2007) recalls the
Grand Forks brick plant. Reproduced by permission from the Nelson Daily News
(May 26, 1967).
Early in 1909, Peter Lordly Verigin, leader of the Doukhobors, purchased
over 4000 acres of land for the communities in the Grand Forks area,
including a ranch owned by the Coryell family. On this ranch was a
horse-powered clay mixer, a small hand-operated brick molding machine and a
promising clay pit.
Located three miles west of Grand Forks, the small operation was put to
immediate use and soon reached its capacity as demands grew for quality
brick.
The following year production was increased with the installation of new
steam-powered machinery and equipment that manufactured bricks until 1932,
supplying both employment and materials.
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| CCUB brick factory
at Grand Forks, British Columbia, c. 1920. BC Archives, Koozma Tarasoff
Collection
C-01714. |
Annual production at times reached close to three million bricks with a
large percentage finding a ready market in the Cominco smelter at Trail. The
Doukhobor organization itself, the Christian Community of Universal
Brotherhood, was also a heavy consumer. Its building programs included brick
in the construction of villages, warehouses, canning and preserving
factories, retail stores, packing sheds, community public schools for which
the government supplied English language teachers, community halls and other
buildings. There are also commercial buildings in Grand Forks and Nelson
that were built with these bricks.
Not all the CC of UB brick came from Grand Forks. Another plant was started
in Winlaw in Slocan Valley in 1916, besides the two similar operations
maintained by the organization in Saskatchewan, where its first brick plant
was built in 1904 at Verigin and the second at Yorkton, a couple of years
later.
Mike W. Rozinkin of Salmo worked many years at the brick trade and was
familiar with the operations. His father, William W. Rozinkin, was in charge
of the kiln firing in the two prairie plants previous to moving to British
Columbia. Here, he looked after the Grand Forks plant from 1909 to 1927. In
recalling the history and work of this plant, Mr. Rozinkin named many
workers that spent considerable time at the brick trade.
There was Eli A. Gretchin, who looked after the clay-mixer, with Alec M.
Negraeff, George F. Seminoff and Mike J. Demoskoff on the “Martin” style
power-driven brick machine. The steam engine that turned this 11,000-lb.
“modern” machine was worked by Alec Wishloff. Raw bricks were piled on racks
by John A. Gretchin, John Varabioff and Sam A. Gretchin. Phillilp J. Danshin
transported air-dried brick to the kiln. Here Alec W. Seminoff, John
Pereversoff, John J. Demoskoff and Mike W. Rozinkin stacked it in special
kiln form. The firing operation of the kiln was maintained by four men,
Koozma W. Kalesnikoff, Peter J. Danshin, William Maloff and Nick Jmaeff. In
the Winlaw plant (here a nearby village was named Claybrick) it was William
Salekin and Trofim Makortoff. There were also others who worked in these
plants over the many years of operation.
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| Brick stacks at
Grand Forks brick factory, 1922. BC Archives, Koozma Tarasoff Collection
C-01736. |
The clay pit that fed the brick making machine was worked by four men whose
job was to load horse-drawn dump cars with clay for the feeder who
administered the exact measures of clay, sand and water required for the
mixture. As clay is too dense, sand was mixed with it to give it a porous
texture. This permitted the brick to dry without cracking or warping as
moisture escaped more easily and evenly during the firing.
Fine screened sand was also used to sand or “dust” the molds previous to
their filling, so the clay mass would not stick to them. This was
accomplished by a mold-sanding machine. The sand was dried in a sand-drier
housed in a nearby 12 foot by 14 foot building. Alongside the “Martin” were
mold washing facilities where they were scrubbed clean to keep the excess
clay from building up inside.
Clay was deposited in the hopper of a side mixer from where it passed into a
revolving mass feeder of the brick machine. As the machine turned, it
continuously mixed the clay mass into an even consistency, and filled the
six-brick molds with enormous pressure to ensure a dense, compact brick with
well defined corners and edges. This also eliminated soft centres and
stratified texture when fired. The full mold was then ejected onto the
delivery table where an attendant levelled it with a striking knife. The
third man emptied the molds (the formed clay was now hard enough to maintain
its shape) on wooden palettes that were placed on a 300-foot conveyor
leading to the drying shed. With this repeat operation up to 24,000 bricks
were produced daily.
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| Drying sheds, CCUB
brick factory at Grand Forks, British Columbia, 1930. BC Archives, Koozma
Tarasoff Collection
C-01772. |
These compressed, raw bricks were taken off the conveyor, loaded on special
wheelbarrows and distributed inside the drying shed for piling on racks in a
manner that allowed maximum ventilation. Each row contained 300 bricks that
were still kept on the palettes. During the drying period it was necessary
to turn over each fragile brick by hand for uniform drying. Under favourable
summer conditions this took eight days, other times up to two weeks and
over.
Brick color and quality depended on the amount of iron oxide in the natural
clay and the intensity of temperature it is subjected to. The clay’s oxide
content also may vary from one region to another. The firing stage of the
operation rings out this color as it renders the six-pound raw brick to the
four-pound finished product.
From the bone-dry rows, two men loaded horse-drawn spring carts and
transported them to the kiln shed. Here two men passed the bricks while two
others piled with specified space between each brick to allow free
circulation of heat during firing. At the bottom they were stacked to form
fire boxes or ovens (the Russian term was “pechi”) that measured 16
inches wide tapering to four feet high and stretched the full width of the
pile. These ovens were 16 inches apart and were usually 10 in number.
Special metal doors were installed to control the heat during the firing and
the cooling. This was just as important as the quality of ingredients that
the good product demands.
A ten-oven kiln took 10 days to prepare. It contained about 200,000 bricks
and had to be enclosed by a shell of four walls and roof, roughly
constructed from sub-grade bricks, discards and clay. This construction
contained the heat around the whole pile besides protecting it from the
weather.
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| Doukhobor workmen
at the CCUB
brick factory at Grand Forks, British Columbia, c. 1915. BC Archives, Koozma
Tarasoff Collection
E-00716. |
All this preparation was done in the kiln shed that was equipped with a
special roof constructed on rails. After the ovens were lit and the
temperature rose, the wooden roof was pulled away to the side.
The firing lasted for eight days. Four men, two on each 12-hour shift,
worked on this operation, using from 70 to 80 cords of wood.
When the burning ceased, great care had to be exercised as the kiln had to
be cooled systematically.
In 1928, a year after Peter Chistiakov Verigin assumed the executive post of
the CC of UB, the whole plant was reorganized and the improved production
continued for years after.
Nick D. Arishenkoff of Grand Forks recalled the final years when production
reached close to three million bricks annually. After reaching this peak in
1932, the economic depression of the nation forced the plant to drop to an
annual production of a million bricks. As unsold bricks had to be stored,
production was halted.
In 1938, during the bankruptcy liquidation of the CC of UB moveable assets,
the plant was forced into abandonment and finally scrapped.
Indeed, an industry lost.
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