1 ½ miles north-east of Alexandria, Douglas county, by John A. McKay, 500 M. yearly, at $6 to $10; (The Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, The Eighth Annual Report for the Year 1879, Submitted to the President of the University, Feb. 18, 1880, The Pioneer Press Company, St. Paul, MN, 1880, Page 120)
Bricks. The Alexandria brick-yard, owned by John A. McKay, one and a half miles northeast from the village, was first worked in 1877. The section is soil, 1 foot; yellowish laminated clay, 3 feet; the same, with occasional sandy layers, about 4 feet in the excavation, thinning out farther north, but extending 12 feet below the surface in a well on the south. Below this modified drift the well went 4 feet in yellow till, under which was a vein of sand one inch thick, with water; then the well continued 40 feet lower in blue till, but no additional supply of water was obtained. No sand .is needed for tempering, besides that which is interbedded with the lower part of the clay. The product was 200,000 bricks in 1878, and 500,000 in 1879, sold for $6 to $10 per thousand. (A Report on the Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, 1882-1885, Volume II, N. H. Winchell and Warren Upham, Pioneer Press Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1888, Page 496)
At the northeast edge of the town of Alexandria, the McKay Brick Company for several years made brick from a bog of more than 5 feet, but the bog was so wet that only 5 feet have been used. It should burn to a very excellent hard vitrified product, though apparently it has been used only for a good grade of common brick. It is unfortunate that a disagreement among the owners caused the abandonment of the plant. (Clays and Shales of Minnesota, Frank F. Grout and E. K. Soper, The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1914, Page 97)