The West Concord (Minn.) Tile Co. has recently been reorganized, changing its title to the West Concord Clay Products Co. Vac F. Kreycik is president and general manager; T. C. Henneghen, secretary and treasurer, and Chas. F. Hedin, Frank Hoffman and Omar Grevell are directors of the concern. Its capital stock is $100,000, and $15,000 worth of the stock has been put on the market in order to enable the company to make contemplated improvements to the plant. Mr. Kreycik states that prospects for future business are very good. During the past few months the company has built four 30-ft. down-draft kilns and a 70-ft. smokestack and installed eight dryers. Former Superintendent A. Yegge is still in France with the 46th Co., 20th Engineers, A. E. F. (Allied Expeditionary Force). (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, April 22, 1919, Volume 54, Number 8, Page 704)
According to President V. F. Kreycik, the West Concord (Minn.) Clay Products Co. has more orders for building block on hand than they can possibly fill for the next sixty days. The company is now making three-cell building block and Mr. Kreycik says that if business keeps on increasing as it has been, they will be forced to double the capacity of the plant, changing from six to twelve kilns. The company has just purchased sixty three deck dryer cars and are in the market for a 100 horsepower motor. Captain Frank N. Brooks, formerly a lumber salesman, is now sales manager of the West Concord Clay Products Co. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, June 17, 1919, Volume 54, Number 12, Page 1066)
Gray drift, such as is being worked at West Concord for the manufacture of draintile, covers most of Dodge County but contains numerous pebbles. In the eastern part of the county, along the headwaters of the branches of Zumbro River, the Decorah shale and the Galena limestone crop out. The Decorah shale probably underlies most of the county and is the most promising formation for the manufacture of clay products. It can best be developed in the vicinity of Mantorville and Kasson, where it is available within a mile or two of the railroad and has only a moderate overburden. In the brickyard at West Concord a pit has been opened in 8 feet of gray drift, which extends over many acres. Some of the land is swampy. The pebbles are not so numerous as in the average gray drift but they nevertheless caused the failure of an attempt to use the clay. The geologic relations, as well as the scarcity of the pebbles, indicate that the gray drift belongs to the older (Kansan) ice invasion. The plant has a capacity of about 8,000 tile a day. Fine grinding and burning to a fairly high temperature would probably make it possible to use this clay with satisfactory results. Similar deposits in other [?] abandoned. Samples of better clays have been sent in from the West Concord Clay Products Co., indicating new discoveries. (Clays and Shales of Minnesota, Frank F. Grout with contributions by E. K. Soper, United States Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1919, Page 153)