BRICK MAKING Brick making in Morgan County dates back to the year I865, when two brothers, Thomas and Samuel Brough, opened up a brick business in Porterville. They bunned the brick for the two first brick houses that were built in Morgan County, These houses were built by two brothers, John P. and Lyman W. Porter. Both houses are still used as homes (1953). Thomas followed the brick making trade in connection with his farming until the time of his death in 1882, then the bus¬iness was taken over by his son, William George, who also fol¬lowed this occupation until his death in 1904. His son C. R. Brough writes the following description of the process of early brick-making. The first step was to excavate a pit in the ground about twelve to fifteen feet in diameter and about three to four feet deep, at the end of each day this pit would be filled with clay, which was of course, the proper quality and mixture of black and red. It was scraped into the pit with a horse and a sluch scraper, after it was filled, a small stream of water was turned into it and the fresh dry clay would soon absorbe it, and the following morning it was ready to be molded. The equipment for molding consisted of a so called pug mill, which was built and stood firmly on the edge of the pit, described above. It was one mans job to shovel the mud from the pit into this mill and it was indeed a good honest days work for any man to do. The pug mill was a square structure about four feet square and I would say off hand about the same height. Standing up in the center of this square box was a post which was placed with the bottom end in a cup shaped hole which allowed it to turn around and around. It was provided with a cross piece through the lower part of it, and as it turned, the well mixed clay was forced thru a hole about 1 foot square in the side of the mill. Standing by this hole where the mud was pushed out onto a platform is where the brickmaker, who was my father, forced the mud into wooden molds which were well sanded to prevent sticking. As the molds were filled they were carried out to the flat, level yard floor which consisted of well packed hard surface, making a very nice smooth place for the bricks to dry. Carrying these away and dumping them very carefully from the molds was called off-bearing. I have watched my brother and others off-bear them by the thousands. As each mold was filled the mud was smoothed on the top with a wire making them perfectly even. I have mentioned so far the part taken by the men, but one of the most important silent partners in the game was one "Old Dobbin", the trusty horse that was hitched to the end of a sweep which was anchored to the top of the upright mast in the pug mill. He would travel many miles each day aroung and around the pit mentioned above, forcing the mud out of the mill on to the platform. The bricks or rather adobes were now finished as far as molding and drying were concerned and now ready to be put into the kiln and burned which I will explain briefly. They were piled or rather skillfully stacked in am manner which provided crevices for the fire to creep thru so as to make them a uniform color. They could not be piled too high, possibly ten feet, and 15 feet wide with fire holes about every four or five feet apart running full length thru the kiln. These holes were wide enough to put several sticks of cord wood in at one time, this had to be repeated at regular intervals around the clock for about three days and nights. The kiln had to be these demensions for height and width, but could be of any length desired. Of course the longer you made the kiln the more fire holes were needed. I remember so well what an attraction it was for the people in the neighborhood to come to the brickyard about the third night and look in the fireholes when they were opened, as it did present a beautiful sight indeed. Almost a pure white heat. I still remember the look of satisfaction on my father's face when the bricks had cooled enough to open the kiln and see what he referred to as a good A- No. 1 first class -Burn. This is the story of the old method of making brick in Morgan County and as time went on the off-bearing was replaced by trucks-hand trucks, similar to wheelbarrows, taking about six molds to each load, and from then to now where the large brick and tile plants with their great smoke stacks and modern machinery are operated, but still when the bricks are being taken fresh from the kiln they have that same old smell or if you prefer odor. C.R. Brough Two other brick kilns were set up a year or two after the Brough kiln was established. One by John Ager and the other by Charles Turner, They all made very good brick. One house that is still in use and has just been remodeled (1952) was built before the lime industry was established and the bricks were laid up with mud. The walls are still in good condition.