North American Brick, Tile, and Pottery Company

The North American Brick, Tile and Pottery Company was part of the industry surrounding the Town of Walsh, and was built and running while the North American Mine was being excavated. The company was incorporated October 20, 1910, and its articles of incorporation are featured in the Duluth Herald of that week, also linked in the Newspaper Articles section below. Thomas J. Walsh owned the tract of land that the North American Brick, Tile and Pottery Company factory was situated on, and so the company paid him royalties on the property, to the tune of $27,000 per year.

Progress on the factory was made quickly – equipment was purchased in March of 1911, and by late June of 1911 the plant was producing bricks. The factory was shipping bricks by late August of 1911, the first shipment going to Eveleth by train.

The company claimed to be able to create 100,000-150,000 bricks per day at full capacity of the plant.

The factory’s property spanned 120 acres of decomposed slate shale that was determined to be of the purest quality for the manufacture of “blood red building and face brick, Spanish red tile for roofing, vitrified paving brick, sewer pipe and all varieties of red pottery.” The North American Hotel nearby was originally planned to have a stucco exterior, but upon completion of the brick plant, plans changed to using brick from the factory instead. Buildings in Walsh were planned to be built from the brick as well.

A layer of peat covers the shale and so the peat was used as fuel for the plant. There were also plans to use the peat for heating in the Town of Walsh once buildings were built.

To learn more about the North American Brick, Tile, and Pottery Company, please see the full article on LakeVermilion.net.