Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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August 23, 1902. RECORD AND GUIDE. 259 The Hudson River Brick Industry. "Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly." When the children of Noah made this resolve they had a better outlet for their product than the brick manufacturers of the Hudson River valley can find at the present time. They were at out to begin tbe building of one of the greatest cities that the world has ever seen, and to ornament it with a memorial tower to reach unto Heaven. There was a market for all the brick they could manufacture, a quick dispatch, and sure and equitable pecuniary returns. The brick business has never since been carried on under conditions so favorable. Soon it became a royal monopoly, and every brick bore the name of the king; in Egypt, under the Pharaohs, the children of Israel were shame¬ fully abused with hard slavery in brick and mortar. It is noteworthy here that two of the most momentous crises in tbe earth's history were connected with the brick industry: (1) Tbe confusion of tongues and the consequent formation of separate nations; (2) the strike of the Israelites and their exodus from Egypt. A complete history of brick-making would be an¬ alogous to that of civilization. Machinery Is doing much to lighten labor, but in all ages the toil of the brick-maker has been of the hardest kind. The business is beset with difficulties and vexations for both master and man. New York City is largely constructed of material that was dug from the banks of tbe Hudson. The deposits of brick clay ex¬ tend along both sides of the river more or less continuously from Sing Sing to Albany. The exceptions are principally those parts of the two shores between Jones Point and Cornwall, and be¬ tween New Hamburgh and Staatsburgh, where but little clay is found. The embankment containing clay most often rises abruptly from the shore. On tlie average the clay is of good quality and capable of producing a good brick. Tbe Croton Point clays and portions of those below Peekskill are very "fat." Again, at New Windsor and Haverstraw, the clay contains nu¬ merous patches of quicksand, but there is scarcely a clay bank anywhere that does not show layers of quicksand. Two kinds of clay are found, blue and yellow, the blue always underlying the yellow. The blue makes the better brick, and does not shrink so much in drying and burning. Eut tbe yellow gives a better-colored brick and is tougher than the blue. The best re¬ sults are obtained by combining the two. The Hudson River clays are situated so as to afford the greatest ease and economy in working. The yards are nearly all on the river's edge, with the clay and sand immediately be¬ hind them. In many cases, on the Haverstraw shore, tbe mining has reached a level below that of the yards, and the beauty of nature has been sadly marred by seventy-flve years of exca¬ vating. The clay for four yards on that beach is now obtained from tbe bed of the river, by means of floating steam-dredges. Eight cents a cubic yard is tbe price paid for clay by the manu¬ facturer to the owner of the dredge. Sometimes the shore clay suddenly thins out, as in one instance at Fishkill, where a flrm was obliged to stop manufacturing this spring on that account. The number of manufacturing concerns along the river is about one hundred and ten. Forty are in the Haverstraw dis¬ trict, which has thus far been the leader in this line of busi¬ ness. Many manufacturers who are now located elsewhere emi¬ grated from Haverstraw. Brick was manufactured there be¬ fore the Revolution, but work stopped at the outbreak of the war, not to be resumed until 1815, when James Wood began manufacturing. This man has been termed the father of modern brick-making, inasmuch as he revolutionized the business by discovering the efficacy if coal dust and by making other im¬ provements. Of late years Newburgh Bay has rivaled Haver¬ straw Bay for supremacy in the trade.' In the last twenty years especially many improvements have been made in manufacturing. The forward stride has been a prodigious one, and is principally represented by the new or dry-clay system of brick-making. In manufacturing by this sys¬ tem vastly more depends upon manipulation and treatment of the clay than in the case of manufacturing from tempered clay. It is quite true that there are some clays naturally unsuitable, but where one manufacturer fails on this account a dozen fail for lack of skill. Different clays require different treatment, and experience with one sort does not entirely qualify a person to deal with another sort of clay. Tbe first brick machine used in this country was Invented In 1835 by Nathaniel Adams, who died at Cornwall-on-the-Hudson. He was also the first to use an iron tempering wheel. Tbe flrst tempering wheel of any sort in America was fashioned by James Wood, of Haverstraw, about 1825. Previously tbe feet of oxen did the tempering, or else the iron spade wielded by human arms. The first brick house was erected in this country in ir>33, on Manhattan Island, for Governor Van Twiller, with bricks im¬ ported from Holland. Walsh Brothers & Company, of Stockport, are the largest manu¬ facturing concern on the river. Other large manufacturers are the Rose Brick Company, near Newburgh; the Brockways and Aldridges. at Fishkill; and tbe Pecks, Fowlers and Washburns, at Haverstraw. The largest plant at Haverstraw operates twelve machines. Fifteen workmen are reckoned for each machine. That is to say, a two-machine yard needs the services of thirty workmen altogether. The annual output of one machine is roughly estimated at two million bricks. All but a fraction ot the hundreds of millions manufactured annually on the river are shipped to New Tork in boats. The fraction is used locally and sent inland by rail. Clay lands are very valuable. At Haverstraw good clay land on the river front is worth at least $10,000 an acre. ' A two- machine yard requires a strip no less than ISO feet wide by 475 long. The last sale at Haverstraw was to the Excelsior Brick Company, which paid ,$75,000 for six acres, partly improved. Considerable of the brickyard property is under lease. What the tenant puts on a yard in order to get ready for business is worth $4,000 for each machine he will operate. Thus, on a two-machine yard the tenant must spend for equipment $8,000. The permanent improvements owned by the landlord (over and above the cost of the land) represent an expenditure, on a yard of that size, of $10,000. For running capital the tenant should have not less than $4,000. The cost of manufacturing and marketing brick is of course variously estimated. Some manufacturers can do it for from $4 to $4.15 per thousand. Others declare that they cannot put brick into this market for less than $5 per thousand. The tenant usually pays his rent in the form of a royalty on every thousand bricks he makes. River towing costs the brick manu¬ facturer about $40 a round trip, from Newburgh. Harbor tow¬ ing costs about $15 a trip additional. Unloading costs 40 cents per thousand, paid to brickbandlers. Wharfage and watching are other expense items. The royalties paid by tenants vary from twenty-five to eighty cents per thousand bricks manufactured, according to the situa¬ tion and conveniences of the property. In the last twenty years the brick product of the Hudson has been greatly enlarged, the increase mainly represented by the numerous plants that have been established within that period north of the Highlands. There has been a considerable emigration of manufacturers from the lower to the upper reaches of the river, owing to the in¬ creasing difRculties of getting clay along Haverstraw Bay. The inland encroachments of tbe clay miners have at Haverstraw nearly reached a limit, and the river bed is now being depended on in a number of cases to supply material. In some instances cofferdams hold back the river from the clay-pits, and some other yards are supplied, as has been said, by under-water dredging. The up-river manufacturers obtain their material with much less difficulty, but have a longer journey to market. There Is still much clay land unoccupied along the upper Hudson, and most of it is purchasable at reasonable prices. As a rule, the nearer the metropolis a clay bank is, the greater its value, but this is for reasons not altogether geographical. Tax Valuations. The Merchants' Association passed a resolution in favor of property being assesed for purposes of taxation at "tbe market value." The resolution was due to a belief on the part of the Board that tax valuations in Manhattan are only 67% of real values. The President of the Board of Tax Commissioners, James L. Wells, declined to discuss the merits or demerits of the reso¬ lution further than to say that it would be discussed at a meet¬ ing of the Board to be held early next week. The assessed value of realty in New Tork City under the last report is $3,237,778,- 2G1. An increase in this value of 33%, while it would not affect the property-owners in tbe least, would raise the city's debt limit to an extent which would be of great benefit. The law however, says that assessors shall place a taxable value upon property equal to what, in their opinion, it would bring in the market, and it is probable that the strict letter of the law is not disregarded to the extent of 33%. The effect, with the exception of the city's debt limit, is the same under any percentage of as¬ sessment, as 100% values would of course be taxed on a de¬ creased ratio. The assessment of realty is to be commenced on Sept. 2. The law will then be read to the assessors by the Tax Commissioner and they will be handed printed Instructions on the manner in which they are to carry on the work. This will be the flrst as¬ sessment under Mayor Low's administration. Improvements in The Bronx. Among tbe more important work which will have a stimulating tendency on property in the Bronx, besides tbe Grand Boulevard and Concourse, the bids for which were taken this week, either in progress or contemplation, are: A bridge across the Harlem R. R. tracks, at Woodlawn Station, for which negotiations have just been completed; a public bath in tbe vicinity of 138th st, for which plans have been prepared but no location fixed; the new court house, at IGlst st and 3d av. Improvements initiated by property-owners involve aggregate expenditures of $4,000,000 in regulating, grading and paving streets, laying sewers, etc.