128                 HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

by W. L. McCarel, D. W. Mathias, John H. Taylor. J. V. Ayer and
H. B. McMillan later become associated with the business, and its man-
agement was largely in the hands of these men until Mr. John T. McRoy
purchased the plant in 1900. In 1902 the business came into the hands
of the present company, whose officers are A. W. Beidler, president, E. R.
Beidler, vice president, and L. M. Christie, secretary-treasurer. The two
latter reside at Brazil. The monthly payroll of this industry is about
$6,500, distributed among 150 employes. The output is about 100 car-
loads (or 2500 tons) a month, and there are 29 kilns.
    One mile northwest of the city is the Brazil plant of the American
Sewer Pipe Company, which has numerous factories in other states. This
plant was originally established by the Monarch Sewer Pipe Company.
The clay for manufacture is taken principally from beneath a vein of
block coal, which is mined by this company. and used in burning the clay
and shales that enter into the manufacture of the sewer pipe and similar
wares made at this plant.
    The Monarch plant was built in 1894, and at first had four kilns and
about 25 employes. Under the present management about thirty kilns
are in constant operation, and it is probably the largest plant for making
sewer pipe in the state. The main offices of the corporation are at
Pittsburg, and only a local manager resides at Brazil.
    The Chicago Sewer Pipe Company, on the E. & I. Railroad, one mile
southwest of the city, was one of the first large clay industries to locate
in the Brazil district. It began making sewer pipe in 1893, and for many
years its product has been shipped almost entirely to Chicago. The
burning of a kiln of sewer pipe is of daily occurrence, there being over
a dozen kilns in the plant. It is said that the members of the Chicago
Sewer Pipe Company investigated the clays of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana
before locating their plant at this place, and chose Brazil because of the
superior quality of the clay and for its excellent fuel and transportation
facilities.
    The output of this plant is about 1200 cars annually. About 75 men
are on the payroll, which amounts to about $3500 a month. Fifteen kilns
are in operation. The original promoters of this company were George
Page of Jackson, Michigan, and William Joyce of Chicago.
    The Standard Pottery Company, whose plant is conducted in connec-
tion with the Chicago Sewer Pipe Company, was for some years consid-
ered the largest stoneware factory in the state. Jugs, jars, crocks,
churns, fruit jars, water coolers, etc., were the chief output of this plant.
This factory has not been in operation for several years.
    The oldest paving-brick plant in the state is the Indiana Paving
Brick Co. of Brazil. The first vitrified brick and block were made by
the company in 1891, and three years later it furnished the material for
the first street paving in Brazil. The product since that time has reached
proportions that are not readily comprehended in mere figures, and from
the beginning this has been more than a local industry. Many cities and
towns of the state have their streets paved with the bricks made at this
plant, and the product has gone by train-loads to Louisville, Cincinnati
and other cities beyond the state borders.
    The plant is in the western part of the city just north of the
Vandalia Railroad. The raw material was formerly obtained altogether
from the shale deposits near the intersection of the C. & E. I. Railroad