Herman Pillatzki of Big Stone, South Dakota, will shortly leave for Barnum, Minn., to start a brick yard. (Clay Record, Clay Record Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, February 28, 1908, Volume XXXII, Number 4, Page 37)
Paul Pillatzke is the manager of a new concern that will manufacture 30,000 wire cut brick at Barnum, Minn. (Clay Record, Clay Record Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, April 30, 1908, Volume XXXII, Number 8, Page 36)
More definite information regarding the establishment of a new brick plant at Barnum, Minn., recently announced in these columns, can be obtained by addressing Paul Pillatzke, Cloquet, Minn., who is to be manager of the concern. The plant is to have a capacity of 30,000 wire-cut brick daily. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, Volume XXVIII, Number 5, May 1908, Page 244)
The Barnum (Minn.) Brick Works have their drying sheds completed and will be turning out brick within a few days. (Clay Record, Clay Record Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, May 30, 1908, Volume XXXII, Number 10, Page 34)
Work is progressing at the Barnum brick yards, at Moose Lake. Paul Pillatzke, the manager, has been in Duluth making arrangements with the N. P. for putting in a spur. The company has the very latest machinery for the manufacture of wire-cut brick. The plant will have a capacity of 30,000 brick per day of 10 hours. Mr. Pillatzke is very enthusiastic about the prospects for good business in Barnum. He has devoted a number of years to the manufacture of brick and says that the conditions are just right in this new location for a very successful industry. The yard is right next to the N. P. tracks, giving excellent transportation facilities, and the clay cannot be surpassed. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, IL, June 1908, Volume XXVIII, Number 6, Page 292)
The railroad and warehouse commission of Minnesota issued an order to the Northern Pacific Railway, directing them to put in a switch at Barnum, Minn., to the brick plant of Pillatzke Bros. Brick Co., the company to pay part of the installation. (Clay Record, Clay Record Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, June 30, 1908, Volume XXXII, Number 12, Page 34)
Page 221. Before the Railroad and Warehouse Commission of the State of Minnesota. In the matter of the petition of Paul Pillatzke, John Pillatzke and Herman Pillatzke, co-partners as Pillatzke Bros. Brick Company for a spur track to their brick manufacturing plant near the station of Barnum on the line of the Northern Pacific Railway Company in Carlton County. This matter came on for hearing before the Commission at Barnum on the 12th day of May, 1908. The petitioners appeared in person. The Northern Pacific Railway Company appeared by Emerson Hadley, Esq., its Attorney and D. C. Blanchard, its Division Superintendent. A number of witnesses were sworn. The Commission find the following facts: The Northern Pacific Railway Company, hereinafter called the Railway Company, is a corporation organized and incorporated under the laws of the State of Wisconsin, and is and for a long time has been operating a railroad between St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota and Duluth, St. Louis county, Minnesota, and that said line of railroad is wholly within the State of Minnesota, and passes through the Village of Barnum in the County of Carlton.
The petitioners are the owners of a clay bank, which is well adapted to the manufacture of brick. The petitioners propose to engage in the manufacture of brick and to that end have erected a brick kiln of a daily capacity of 30,000 brick adjacent to the right of way of said Railway Company’s line of road in the Village of Barnum. There is a good market in Duluth and Superior for all brick the petitioners can make at said kiln. It is necessary in order to successfully operate said brick kiln that it should have spur track from the main or side track of the Railway. The Railway Company concedes that the brick kiln should be furnished with a spur track upon the condition that the petitioners should pay for the grading and ties, but claims that such track should be built from the end of the Railway Company’s side track, a distance of about two thousand one hundred feet (2,100) with a total estimated cost of about Four Thousand ($4,000) Dollars, of which the company would pay Nine Hundred eighty-six and 58-100 ($986.58) Dollars and the petitioners Three Thousand and thirteen and 42-100 ($3,013.42) Dollars. The petitioners claim that their kiln can be served by a much shorter track which they estimate would be only Four hundred (400) feet in length and could be constructed at a considerable less cost. The Commission find it will take Five hundred (500) feet of track.
Page 222. The Company object to the shorter track for the reason that it will cut their main line outside of the yard limits and be another element of danger. It is true that every switch on the main line of a railroad adds to the danger of operation, just how much no one knows, but switches are necessary in the operation of railroads, and it is impossible for the Commission to lay down any fixed rule in regard to the putting in of switches where it involves the cutting of the main line of track. Each case will have to be governed by its own facts. The petitioners are able and willing to pay for the grading of the shorter track, while if they are required to pay for the longer one it will be such a burden that it will seriously embarrass, if not totally defeat the enterprise. If the petitioners do business at all, it must be at the place where they have erected their kiln for it is impractical to carry the clay further before making the brick. Taking all the facts and circumstances surrounding this case, the Commission find that it is reasonable that the Railway Company build the shorter track.
It is therefore ordered that the Railway Company construct and operate a spur track at the Village of Barnum, in the county of Carlton and State of Minnesota, for the purpose of serving the brick-yard of the petitioners; location of said track is further described as follows: Said track to be located on the right-of-way of the Northern Pacific Railway Company, in the southwest quarter of Section 36, Township 47 North, Range 19 West; said track to be located and constructed 45 feet easterly from and parallel with the main track of said Railway Company; and to be connected with the said main track of the Railway Company, with a switch, which point of switch is to be located in the said main track of Railway Company, at a point, which point is 150 feet northerly from the northerly end of what is known as bridge No. 112. Location of said point of switch might further be described as being at or near station 5966 plus 15. Said side track to be 500 feet in length over all, as shown on exhibit "A" hereto attached and made a part of this order.
This order is made on the express condition that the petitioners either do the necessary grading and furnish the necessary ties for said track or pay the Railway Company for the same, and in case the petitioners do not wish to do the work and furnish the ties themselves, they furnish the Railway Company with security satisfactory to it, or in case they cannot agree on the sufficiency of the security, such security as may be approved by the Commission, that the petitioners will pay said Railway Company for the grading and ties, all rails necessary to the construction of said track to be furnished by the Railway Company. In case the petitioners elect to have the Railway Company do the grading and furnish the ties, they shall within ten (10) days after the date of this order notify the Railway Company in writing that they elect to have it do the work and furnish the ties. The Railway Company shall complete said track within sixty (60) days after the furnishing of satisfactory security and the receipt of the notice herein provided. By the Commission, A. C. Clausen, Secretary. Dated, St. Paul, Minn., June 10, 1908. (Twenty-Fourth Annual Report of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission of Minnesota to the Governor, For the Year Ending November 30, 1908, Syndicate Printing Company, Minneapolis, 1909)
Wanted, brick setters and burners. Barnum Brick & Tile Co., Barnum, Minn. (The Princeton Union, Thursday, July 8, 1909, Volume XXXIII, Number 28, Page 5)
Extensive improvements are being made to the Barnum (Minn.) Clay Products Co.’s plant, where a force of men is now at work rebuilding kilns and repairing engines and boilers. Building and hollow brick, drain and roof-tile would be the principal products of the yard when it starts up for the season. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Publishing Company, Chicago, May 15, 1913, Volume XLII, Number 10, Page 890)
Page 822. Wilson & Lovejoy, who operate a brickmaking plant at Barnum, Minn., have an order from a Duluth building sup-
Page 823. ply firm which warrants them running the plant all winter. An additional kiln, holding 65,000 brick will be erected at once to facilitate getting out the brick. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, October 21, 1913, Volume XLIII, Number 8)
Red drift, of the common pebbly character, was made use of some years ago for red brick, just north of the town of Barnum. The entire region around Barnum seems to consist of pebbly clay, and the pebbles must be crushed before the clay will make satisfactory products. (Clays and Shales of Minnesota, Frank F. Grout and E. K. Soper, The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1914, Page 81)
The Barnum (Minn.) Brick Company has begun to manufacture floor tile, having installed a repress and other equipment. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, February 3, 1914, Volume XLIV, Number 3, Page 377)
New Carlton Road. Barnum, Minn. – The Carlton county board having let the contract for the new county highway, work is expected to start soon. According to the plans, the new road will begin at the J. A. Bell crossing and, instead of going over the hill and then entering Barnum, it will follow the railroad track and go through the old brick yard… (Western Magazine, November 1, 1920, Volume XVI, Number 5, Page 224)