Continental B & T Traditional Cache
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ACCESS TO THIS CACHE SHOULD ONLY BE FROM THE TRAIL. DO NOT ATTEMPT FROM THE HIGHWAY.
YOU MUST SIGN THE PAPER LOG TO RETAIN YOUR SMILIE...IT IS IN THERE!!
What’s a Continental B & T you might ask. We moved into the area a few years ago. Mr. G. grew up here and the site of this cache has great significance and memories for him. Does anyone remember when they used clay weeping tiles around home foundations? Clay drainage tiles were also the best way of draining farming fields to make them more viable.
The original Continental Brick and Tile Co. was located in Shallow Lake, just west of Owen Sound. Mr. G. Senior bought it in 1963. It used two beehive style kilns fired by coal which required round the clock manual labour. These kilns were not suitable for winter use, so a more productive facility was needed. Meaford being a natural shale (clay) base, provided the perfect natural resource used in the manufacture of these tiles.
Two and a half years of planning and building led to the opening on October 4, 1969 of the Continental Brick & Tile Co. in Meaford. At a cost of approximately $115,000.00 this was the most modern facility in Ontario at the time. The facility consisted of a 2500 square foot processing building, a 12’x40’ kiln and a drying building measuring 24’x70’. The kiln itself was the most expensive part of the construction. It was the first shuttle kiln for drain tile in Ontario. With a capacity of 10,000 tile it operated on a 24 hour day, manufacturing 40,000 tiles each week. (For the math whizzes….they were clay tiles…there was breakage!!) They employed 10 people during peak season. (No frost!)
The raw clay was dumped into a crusher with two large six foot diameter by 18” wide steel wheels that ran on a flat carousel, crushing the clay into a powder that was then screened and taken by conveyor into a large steel hopper. When production starts this clay dust was again fed by conveyor to the mixing station where water was added while mixing to establish a perfect slurry. Constant mixing in two separate mixing stations fed the slurry into the compression chamber where it was force extruded through a die to create the perfect circular tubing of clay in 4, 6, 8 or 12” diameters. That constant feed of tubing was then run through a wire cutter that cut to a perfect 12” length. These “soft” tiles were then carefully taken off the cutter by hand and stacked on a three-tier pallet. (Mr. G remembers Dad being less than enthused (read: cursing) on many occasions when Jr. set them down to firmly, which created a belled end…which was unusable…but recyclable.) Once the pallets were full they were picked up with a lift truck and taken to the dryer, where the moisture content was pulled from the soft tile creating a hard but still delicate product. Once they were dried to the proper consistency they were removed from the dryer by lift truck and taken to one of 4 railway style platform cars. Again, they were hand stacked to the maximum height and width the kiln opening would allow. Once full, all four rail cars were loaded into the massive, gas-fired kiln. They remained in the kiln for at least 12 hours until they reached the required hardness. The kiln door was then opened to allow gradual cooling. Once cooled somewhat (no longer glowing) the platform cars would be pulled out. Using a secondary track they were allowed to air cool to touch, and then loaded onto special crates that could be loaded onto a truck for delivery. Optional T, Y’s and elbows were manually manufactured, dried and fired along with the regular tile. Along with this production the plant did make some brick. There are two houses, (one of them ours), that were built using this tile still in Meaford.
Doesn’t the process sound easy? Not at all!! A lot of sweat and labour went into the finished product. Mr. G. was a “minor” part of the labour process and says it was tough work…and this was the easy process. The original plant in Shallow Lake, was all done by hand!!!
This Cache is being put out in Memory of Mr. G. (Sr.), who passed away in 2012. The plant is no longer there and the property is privately owned. As you look towards the bay from the Georgian Trail near this cache, one can now only imagine this state-of-the-art (for it’s time) facility.
This cache spot was meant to be!! As we were placing it we discovered one of Dad's bricks nearby. We have left it with the cache.
REMEMBER: YOU MUST SIGN THE PAPER LOG TO RETAIN YOUR SMILIE...IT IS IN THERE!!
Please, as always respect the No Trespass signs, and our beautiful Georgian Trail.
****CONGRATULATIONS TO: gypsy625 and FerrettingtheEarth for FTF!!!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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