As
with the other industries in Medicine Hat, clay products plants benefited from
the advantages of natural gas, notably, cheap gas reduced the cost of basic
utilities. The principal expense in manufacturing clay products was
maintaining a heat source capable of hardening pliable clay into vitrified
ceramic. Natural gas provided reliable, consistent heat at the intensely high
temperatures needed for firing the kilns. The fact that it was also inexpensive
made it even more attractive. The availability of gas assured clay products as one of
Medicine Hat’s earliest and most successful industries.
Medicine Hat’s other natural advantage for the clay products industry was
an abundant supply of clay. For centuries, the North Saskatchewan River
deposited alluvial silt along its banks, creating rich deposits
of clay as it wound through the lowlands of Medicine Hat . As early as 1885, these clays were
tested for their brick making potential and found to be of excellent quality.
"Were the manufacturing of brick commenced," wrote the Editor of the
Medicine Hat News prophetically in that year, "there’s ‘millions in it’
for some energetic individuals." Continued testing only served to confirm
the value of Medicine Hat’s clay beds, and the first brick yard appeared in
1886.
The industry slowly grew over the next twenty years, and in 1907 reached a
level of unprecedented activity. Four new companies opened up in one year,
representing an investment of a quarter of a million dollars. The success of the
industry prompted the News’ Editor to observe, "With the clay, fuel and
power why should Medicine Hat not make the pressed brick, common brick, sewer
pipe, tile and cement for the whole west."
Many of the clay products factories established in Medicine Hat were small
businesses. However, the two plants which dominated the industry were both
large-scale operations: Medicine Hat Brick & Tile
started out as a small,
family-run operation, whereas Alberta Clay Products was from the start an
industrial giant.
