Page 113. No clays were worked in this county (Itasca) up to 1900. Since then the development and activity on the iron ranges have led to the use of some clays in the southern part of the county – the glacial lake or river clays at Verna and Grand Rapids.
Page 114. At Grand Rapids bricks were burned from a very sandy laminated clay, which was discovered along the banks of the stream at the northeast edge of town. This clay is yellow in color, and seems to be very sandy when dry. In two attempts at brick making soft-mud machines were used and in another, a stiff-mud machine.
Page 115. None has been particularly successful, and work has ceased. Shipping conditions are not very favorable. (Clays and Shales of Minnesota, Frank F. Grout and E. K. Soper, The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1914)