Valley Brick Works

1904 -

History

In 1904, George Valley* with assistance from the Federal Government established and put into operation the Valley Brick Plant. Production continued until World War II but re-opened in 1945 by William Valley.* Production continued until William's death in 1953 and the Valley Brick Plant was shut down forever.

Note:*Names have been changed to protect the site

Mission Write-Up

Although I did not find any ghost towns I was quite pleased with how many buildings I was able to explore that day. On my "planned" route there was a gravel road that appeared to have some ghost towns on it. Some locals had told me that there was an abandoned brick works down the road I planned to go down so I was mindful for it as I prepared to travel down the road.

This could be one of the most bizarre roads I have ever driven on as one minute I was driving on the flat prairie, the next minute I was in a deep trench whose walls rose maybe two hundred feet above me. As the road rose and declined winding in each and every way I was enjoying the scenery when I came upon a towering brick smokestack in the middle of a clearing. As I drew closer the kiln and the red tin sheeted building where the grinding, screening and shaping machines were located.

I was giddy with joy as I walked across the field towards the building that did not disappoint as I stood beneath them. I stepped first into the darkness of the kiln and was amazed by the fact that the bricks were formed into a giant arch. In the floor of the kiln were slots that allowed heat to pass through the floor to dry the bricks. In the corner was some sort of table that I assume was for holding bricks.

After getting worked up about the kiln I proceeded to go into the main building. All of the equipment used to grind, filter and power everything was highly concentrated on all the floors and made taking decently framed photo's quite difficult. As I looked up to going to the second level the condition of the stairs and floor made me somewhat apprehensive. But nonetheless I climbed up the frame of the stairs and went tiptoed toward what looked like a grinder.

Once again everything was cramped together and getting a decent angle was quite difficult. Since there was nothing else to take a picture of I went up to the third story only to find that the equipment had been removed and the only thing left were two slides, one going down to the first story and out of the building while the shorter and much steeper one going to the second story I assume.

After seeing everything I decided to leave and continue on my adventure to find some ghost towns.

Picture Gallery

A close-up of what I saw from the road

The normal doorway to the left of the large entrance is where the long chute came out of. The shorter chute is located where the steeple is on the third floor.

The Kiln

The view from inside the Kiln: note the drying table in the corner.

Not too sure as to what the purpose of this was.

The grinding equipment.

Looking at the second level from the third level stairs.

The shorter chute.