The Discovery of Fire-clay In British Columbia In the Early 80’s a Young Pioneer, J. C. Maclure, Found Clay in Matsqui— After Many Disappointments, Success Was Achieved and Today the Fire-Clay Industry Is One of British Columbia’s Important Industries, Its Products Used in Many of the Largest Buildings on the Cost. Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang internunable changes On one everlasting whisper day and night repeated—so : “Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges— “Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you, Go! Tue ExpLorerR—by Kipling. AN OLD COPY of the B. C. Saturday Sunset of February 29th, 1908, published in the boom days when Vancouver was begining to coax up a million dollar tour- ist trade, recalls the discovery of fireclay in British Columbia, of the finest quality, if not the best on this continent, in “The Romance of a Fireclay Mine”. Who would ever think of looking for a mining romance in clay? In the early *80’s, while everyone else seemed to be gold miners at heart, whatever their work- a-day occupation, and sought adventure in prospecting for gold ore, one young pioneer, J. C. Maclure was a prospector too, but he found his mining romance in clay. He was content to mine for fireclay, for he had seen too much hard muscle- grease wasted on “promising mining pro- jects” that did not pan out. Clay would not bring gold-brick prices, but when he started digging it out, he knew what he Best Wishes for the Success of THE SHOULDER STRAP * THE ELKS CLUB NEW WESTMINSTER, B. C. WHELAN’S CONFECTIONERY DExter 2780 @ FOUNTAIN SERVICE @ LIGHT GROCERIES @ MAGAZINES @ STATIONERY Kingsway at Royal Oak Burnaby EIGHTEENTH EDITION would get—fireclay—and he would make his own bricks, which would one day build a skyline along the forest’s edge. Today, our skyline is our pride, as we gaze across the harbour at the ever- growing waterfront of twinkling lights. How many of us realize that only sixty years ago the world’s largest trees ran down to that same waterfront—trees with undergrowth so dense that travel by foot was almost impossible? The first settlers stood on the floor of this untracked forest, where only deer trails beckoned them, not knowing what surrounded them, nor what was beneath, but realizing that hidden resources were only waiting to be found, and produced. So this young prospector set out alone into the wilds, with no thought of “Union Rights” nor eight-hour-day, but relying only upon compass bearings to guide him, determination to make good by hard work. s * Mup Nor FIREcLAY His first publicity was short-lived, when this heading appeared in the old newspaper, ’orld—“Discovery of Fire- clay in Matsqui’. When advised by an expert chemist that his sample from a cellar which he excavated was fireclay, he sent it to an old established brick works in Seattle. But Matsqui clay held no romance for him when the disappointing news came back that it was only mud. Until 1906, everyone pooh-poohed the idea of finding real fireclay which could compete with imports from Scotland. Someone did make an attempt to turn out the first firebricks, but were doomed to disappointment. The clay only melted into a sort of molasses when subjected to extreme heat. But worse still, their $30,000 already spent in the experiment had melted away, too! So they sent to the young prospector for advice. “You are too far up the slope,” he ad- vised. “Go down near the coal seams.” Still smarting after the set-back in Matsqui, he determined not to be beaten, but to spend the next three months in hard tramping, only this time he would search nearer the coal seams at Sumas. A rough old settler, Rube from Caro- lina, who lived up in the high levels, * By SYLVA ROBERTSON * wanted no stranger with new fandangle ideas, nosing around his district for gold. “T’ve seen you around here a lot. Say, what in hell are you doing up here any- way?” he threatened. Tramping through the bush together a few weeks later, Rube stumbled and fell, injuring his lee which caused him considerable pain, bringing forth more oaths and cussing. But in his fall, he had kicked up the moss, uncovering a deposit of clay which caught the prospector’s eye. This “find” was sent to the Trail smelter where it was analyzed as real fireclay, although not of the highest grade. However, this was some encourage- ment, so he then began to comb the country for fireclay, systematically. But it was just one battle after another ; fight- ing clouds of mosquitoes, hacking his way through tangled undergrowth with a long sharp knife, or climbing over giant fallen logs. Yet those days of back-packing eventually led him to his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Lucky STRIKE Many a hopeful day ended in frustra- tion when he first tried out his samples in the fire at night, only to find them heat to the disappointing red glow of all common garden clay. Then one night, when he was too weary to worry, dozing McKAY DRY GOODS & MEN’S FURNISHINGS STORES 3966 and 3968 Kingsway at McKay, B.C. CITY PRICES RELIABLE GOODS E. PITMAN, Prop. Telephone 2159-L-3 PETT’S MEAT & GROCERY Dubin & Son, Proprietors e 1234 BRUNETTE ST. MAILLARDVILLE Page Sixty-one