Heritage, Volume 13, Number 1, Winter 1995 Page: 22
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ied bricks and the brick industry for many
years, was called upon to serve as a consultant.
The archaeological crew spent several
days mapping the site and documenting
the features around the kiln to determine a
probable layout before Steinbomer's oneday
visit. Because of his intimate knowledge
of primitive brickmaking techniques,
Steinbomer was able to walk around and,
quite literally, interpret the site. He was
able to recognize the functions of all of the
features, determine the layout of the site,
and reconstruct the brickmaking process at
the Guajardo-Vela ladrillera.
Remains of the Quajardo-Vela Ladrillera
The first concern in any brickmaking
enterprise is locating an area that has suitable
clay for making bricks, along with an
abundant source of fuel for firing the bricks.
The lower Rio Grande valley fits the bill
nicely. Rio Grande clays are not the highest
quality brick clays, but they are quite
suitable in their natural state and require
no special processing or additives. Before
the region was cleared for intensive farming,
there was abundant timber, including
mesquite, which was the preferred wood for
firing bricks. Although it is not known
who built the Guajardo-Vela kiln and when
it was first used, it is clear that its location
along the edge of a natural levee was not an
accident. This spot was intentionally selected
to be just out of reach of even the
largest floods that frequent the valley. Atthe same time, the terrace below the levee
provided the source of clay, and both the
levee and the lower terrace are very flat and
provide large areas suitable for working. A
nearby resaca (a natural lake in an old river
channel scar) provided water for mixing the
clay.
The primary and most obvious feature at
the site is the adobe-walled brick kiln, which
is partially surrounded by a massive mound
of bricks. The kiln had been constructed of
large adobe bricks, each measuring 20 x 8.5
x 3 inches, laid as single rows of bricks with
the long axis perpendicular to the wall or as
double rows of bricks laid with the long axis
parallel to the wall, so that the walls were
about 20 inches thick.
The kiln walls were built directly on the
surface of the levee, but the floor had been
dug down two to two-and-a-half feet below
the base of the walls to create a submerged
firing chamber. The entrance to the firing
chamber was through two small doors, or fire
holes, on the east side, and there may have
been an opening along the south wall to
provide cross-ventilation to aid in firing.
The inside of the kiln walls had been plastered
over several times, and there is evidence
that the south wall underwent one
major rebuilding episode. This evidence supports
the informant histories indicating that
the kiln was used by different people several
years apart.
The interior of the kiln measures 15 feet
9 inches by 12 feet 8 inches. The kiln isAt left is a photograph and plan view of the modified
hackberry tree root, showing where stacks of bricks
had once been.slightly more than six feet tall from the
floor to the top of the walls, but some of the
upper kiln walls have eroded, and it may
have been slightly taller. Based on a minimum
volume of about 440 cubic feet and
historical accounts of brick kiln sizes and
capacities, it is estimated that the GuajardoVela
kiln could have fired about 20,000
standard-sized bricks in a single firing. Standard-sized
bricks in America generally range
from 8-9 inches in length, 3-4 inches in
width, and 2-3 inches in thickness. Interestingly,
the archaeological team estimated
that about 15,000 bricks had been used in
the construction of the nearby Cantu brick
house. Thus, it appears that one kiln-load
produced enough bricks to build one modest-sized
house.
A large depression, measuring about 58
feet by 30 feet and four to six feet deep from
the original ground surface, is thought to
have been the primary source of clay for
making bricks. Because the pit is partially
filled in, it must have been somewhat larger,
and a conservative estimate indicates that
the pit could have produced enough clay to
make more than 100,000 bricks. If the
previous estimate of the kiln's firing capacity
is correct, this burrow pit could have
produced at least five kiln loads of bricks.
A smaller depression to the south also may
have been a clay burrow pit, but it probably
would have produced only enough clay to
make a single kiln load of bricks.
Piles of bricks to the north and west of
the kiln provide evidence that two different
types of bricks, both falling into the
standard size range, were manufactured at
this site. Immediately adjacent to the north
and west sides of the kiln is a massive pile of
bricks that is at least two to three feet deep
but is partially buried by sediment in some
areas. This mound is composed largely of
brick fragments and is interpreted as an
accumulation of platting bricks that were
used on top of the kiln during the late stages
of firing and were discarded when the firing
was completed. An animal burrow into the
mound revealed that the uppermost bricks
were "frogged" bricks, which have a rectangular
indented panel, called a frog, on the
molded face. The frogged bricks were the
latest type of brick manufactured on the
site and were probably made during the
1940s for Eduardo Vela. Bricks at the22 HERITAGE * WINTER 1995
P&A I/94/5H1
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 13, Number 1, Winter 1995, periodical, Winter 1995; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45408/m1/22/?rotate=270: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.