CHARACTER OF STRUCTURAL MATERIALS— LEWIS E. AUBURY. 



New deposits of efficient fireclays are being discovered, and magnesite 

 as a component of refractory brick is being experimented. Magnesite 

 bricks are the most refractory of all the essential bricks employed to with- 

 stand the great heat of an oil-burning furnace. The magnesite bricks em- 

 ployed in the furnaces of this State are imported from Pennsylvania and 

 Germany; but experiments are in progress looking toward the successful 

 manufacture of magnesite bricks in this State. 



The availability of eruptive tufa for employment as building stone is 

 being investigated by owners of quarries and other property containing this 

 long-neglected material. The utility and economy of its use in various 

 characters of buildings are being recognized. 



Iron, though an undeveloped metal in California, is abundant and of 

 excellent quality for industrial uses. The prospecting and developing await 

 only the application of capital, and the successful manufacture of California 

 iron will find a market within the Pacific Coast country. The iron in Placer 

 County has been proven, while Nevada and Butte Counties contain prospects 

 that are attracting attention. Madera and San Bernardino Counties also 

 contain large deposits of desirable iron ore. 



It may be of interest to recite the names of the counties producing 

 some of these materials: 



Granite — Fresno, Madera, Nevada, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San 

 Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Solano, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne. 

 Magnesite — Napa, Sonoma, Santa Clara, Tulare. 

 Marble — Amador, Inyo, Riverside, San Bernardino, Tuolumne. 

 Mineral Paint — Calaveras, Sonoma, Stanislaus. 



Sandstone — Colusa, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, 

 Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Ventura, Yolo. (Every county in the State.) 

 Concrete Gravel — Colusa, Glenn, Yolo. 



Concrete Rock — Alameda, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Monterey, 

 Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Benfto, San Bernardino, San Francisco, 

 Santa Cruz, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Ventura. 



These counties are producers of the materials named. To add the 

 names of counties in which these or others of the forty-six structural and 

 industrial materials occur, undeveloped, would be to include all the counties 

 of the State. The prosecution of the operations of the producers to their 

 full capacity and the development of the latent resources would double the 

 production of the State, which for the years named is approximately 



$20,000,000. 



* * ♦ ♦ * 



IMPORTS TO CALIFORNIA 



( By rail for 2 years ending June 30, 1904) 



Bricks, 142 carloads; clays, 2531 tons; cement, 4770 tons; granite, 

 210 tons; gypsum, 6629 tons; lime, 29 tons; marble and onyx, 3761 tons; 

 macadam, 204 tons; paint, 2080 tons; building stone, 1511 tons; slate. 



45 tons; soda, 6040 tons. 



• • * * * 



BRICK MANUFACTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



Since 1893 more than a million thousands of bricks have been made in 

 California. Previous to that year the California-made bricks were employed 

 chiefly by local contractors, their manufacture and use dating back to 1850. 

 Commercially, the brick trade covers the period of eleven years here men- 

 tioned; the adoption of improved brick molding machines and the con- 

 tinuous down draft kilns enabling the larger producers to furnish this char- 

 acter of building material to the interior and coast towns for quick delivery 

 at the same price that the local contractor could supply them. 



