Page 324. Aitkin. Brick and Tile – 1903. Hodgeden & McDonald. Total Number Wage Earners - 10. Adult Males - 10. Number of Hours Each Day - 10. Number of Hours Each Week - 60. Average Number Weeks Operated During 1902 - Not Listed. Number Employed between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. – Not Listed. Number Persons Regularly Employed Sunday – Not Listed. Established in Year – Illegible.
Page 325. 1904. (Ninth Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor of the State of Minnesota, 1903-1904, Volume 2, Great Western Printing Company, 1904)
Page 63. At the town of Aitkin there apparently existed a large depression into which the Mississippi River and its glacial predecessor have brought great quantities of fine-grained clay. The surface here for many miles is practically a flat swamp and for a considerable distance on either side of the Mississippi is subject to an occasional flood. The Mississippi and its tributaries have cut their channels only a few feet below the general level, but at low water as much as 8 feet of laminated clay may be seen in these shallow gorges. The clays now exposed are rather sandy, yellowish gray in color, and have probably been formed by the recent river. Well records show that the deposit extends to great depth with only an occasional sandy layer. In Sec. 24, at the northeast edge of town, a brick yard was built 26 years ago and rebuilt in 1900, but the product has been small. The pit was located so close to the banks of the river that probably a large proportion of the clay used was alluvium, but the main part of the deposit here described must be classed as a lake deposit because of its great extent in all directions. The former shore lines can be traced by beach ridges, one of which passes directly through the town of Aitkin.
Page 64. So far only common brick have been made from them, but their great extent and accessibility should make them the subject of further experiment. The fact that they are gray laminated clays, but burn to a red color, would indicate either that the upper portion of the deposit has been greatly leached of lime, or that the red drift has contributed largely to their formation. (Clays and Shales of Minnesota, Frank F. Grout and E. K. Soper, The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1914)