38 
NATURAL RESOURCES OF QUEBEC 
to a red colour. They are chiefly used in the manufacture of cement, 
brick, field drain-pipe, hollow building blocks, fire-proofing brick, and 
sewer pipe. 
Brickmaking.—Brickmaking is an old industry in the province of 
Quebec. Fortunately, such vast deposits of clay exist throughout the 
St. Lawrence valley that material for construction will never be lacking. 
The wooden house, successor to the stone house, is now giving place to 
brick, and the demand for clay products must continue to increase. Face 
bricks of the finest quality have been manufactured for the past 10 vears 
at Montmorency and for 25 years at Laprairie. 
The brickmaking industry in the province increased both in quantity 
and value of production in 1927. This was due chiefly to the construction 
of factories, pulp and paper mills, power development plants, and resi- 
dences. The total value of stock produced from domestic clays and 
shales amounted to $2,336,677. 
The chief centre of the brickmaking industry is at Laprairie where 
several plants have an output of 20,000 bricks an hour and produce com- 
mon, face, and fancy brick, smooth face or rustic, and of various colours. 
Brick is manufactured from shales on a large scale at Boischatel, 
near the city of Quebec, where common and face brick of various shades 
and finish are made. At Scott Junction a large company produces 50,000 
wire-cut brick a day, having three cylindrical perforations one inch in 
diameter perpendicular to the large face. Advantages are claimed for 
this type of brick in drying properties, lightness and strength. 
At Deschaillons, Lotbiniére county, where a number of individual 
plants are in operation, there exists a large bed of stratified clay having 
a different origin from any of the low-level clays on the south side of the 
St. Lawrence. It is of good plasticity, easy to handle, dries quickly in a 
temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit without cracking, and makes the 
best of common bricks of hard red body with a good ring. The plants 
located at Deschaillons have the added advantage of wharfage and schooner 
transportation. oo 
At L'Islet station, on the Intercolonial railway, several plants manu- 
facture building brick of high quality from a deposit of varied stratified 
clay. There are other important brick-vards in the province. all of which 
ise clav as raw material 
Kaolin or China Clay.—One of the most valuable of all residual 
clays is that known as kaolin or china clay, white in colour, composed 
nearly of silica, alumina, and chemically combined water. The only 
workable deposit of kaolin, so far known in Canada, occurs at St. Remi 
d’Amberst, about 70 miles northwest of Montreal, where it is found in 
unexposed veins of varying width. When the raw clav is washed free