Willmar Brickyard One of the Oldest Industries in City. By Phil Clark. Production is carried on at the C. (Clarence) Flykt Brick and Tile Company yards just west of Willmar much as it was over sixty years ago when the brickyard was established. One of the oldest Willmar industries still in operation, it has gone through several ownership changes and has been re-organized many times. It has missed only a couple years of operation since its founding in 1887. Few as the production method changes have been, they have been significant ones. Small narrow gage railroad dump cars have been in use for moving clay and bricks for some time. Thursday morning a new contrivance for picking up and stock piling completed bricks was put in use for the first time.
Develop New Machine. The new stock piling machine was developed out at the Willmar concern’s own machine shop. Mounted on the front of a tractor, the device is able to pick up 336 bricks at once and lift them as high as 65 inches. A previous machine, also developed at the Willmar yards, could lift the bricks only 10 inches. The machine looks something like a hay loader.
Little Changed. The over-all system of production, however, is little changed since the early days. Clay is brought from the pit to an elevated platform in a narrow gage dump cars. The clay itself comes from the only such deposit in a wide area. The deposit covered about 40 acres in 1887 when extraction first began. Today there are 25 acres remaining, eight acres having been used up during the more than 60 year period of brick production and seven acres being included in the state highway right-of-way.
How it is Done. The clay is dumped from the cars into a hopper just below the platform. From there it falls into a crusher and finally into a pug mill, where it is mixed with water to just the proper consistency. An auger forces the wet clay from the pug mill into the die, where it is shaped and from which it flows in continuous column to the cutting tables, where the individual bricks are cut separate by hand. From the cutting tables, the bricks are moved on pallets mounted on tractors to the drying sheds, where as much of the moisture content as possible is removed, without the use of artificial heat. When the bricks are dry, they are taken to the kiln. It takes about five days to fill a kiln, capacity of which is about 100,000 bricks. The two kilns in use at the brickyards were built in 1907 and 1920. They replaced an earlier type kiln.
Fired 8-9 Days. The kilns are fired from eight to nine days. When the temperature reaches 2,000 degrees, firing is stopped. Coal is used in the kiln furnaces, although in the early days wood was used exclusively. The bricks are allowed to stand in the kiln for about a week, during which they gradually cool off. Then, they are removed and piled for shipment.
Wide Shipping Area. Bricks are shipped by the concern to points all over west central Minnesota, North and South Dakota. Last year the firm produced 600,000 bricks, 60,000 hollow building tile, and 15,000 drain tile. Production goes on only during the summer months.
Clarence Flykt Owner. The concern is owned by Clarence Flykt. Mr. Flykt’s father, Nels Flykt, is also a one-time owner of the yards. The older Flykt still is active in the work. The firm has been organized under many names. It was owned by Dalbom (Dehlbom) and Samuelson, Dalbom and Johnson, was later called the Ruddy Clay Tile & Brick Co. and the Willmar Brick & Tile Co. It was bought by the younger Mr. Flykt in 1926. An average of 10 men are employed at the yards. (Willmar Tribune, Saturday, July 10, 1948, Volume 21, Number 162, Page 1)