Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/707

 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY 619 and in other cases references to industrial developmenl lias been treated in the departments devoted to biographies, the histories of the nationalities, etc., in which instances the editors may have found it expedient to omit the same from tins chapter.— Jens K. Grondahl. Since the early eighties the manufacture of stoneware has been the most important of Red Wing's industries, and bids fair to soon place the city far ahead of its rivals in the race for the distinction of being the principal stoneware producing point in the country. Clay has been used in this county since the earliest known times by the Indians, in the manufacture of rough pot- tery, but the modern growth of the industry dates from the rude and crude efforts of one J? Pohl. Pohl. who before coming to this county had seen the results obtained from subjecting clay to a high degree of heat, owned a small farm in the northern part of Goodhue township on the ground now occupied by the clay excavations. To while away the dreary months of the pioneer winters. Fold determined to experiment with the clay underlying his farm. Consequently be dug some of the earth which he deemed best suited to his purpose, and with a turf-covered kiln, baked some crudely fashioned pots which he sold to the women of the neighborhood for flower pots. For some reason, Pohl did not continue the industry, and so far as is known, no specimens of his work are at the present time in existence. During the seventies, clay from the Goodhue beds was used in connection with material from Hay Creek, for the manufacture of terra- cotta and ornamental work by William Philleo, Philander Sprague. David Hallem and Lyman J. Boynton. The business did not prove profitable, owing doubtless to the small scale upon which it was conducted. Mr. Hallem began making pottery and was on the fair road to success when the manufacturers of Akron, Ohio, seeing a rival and desiring to crush opposition, cut the price of their own wares in two, in order to induce the Red Wing merchants to continue handling the Ohio product instead of taking up the local article. The Red Wing merchants, evi- dently not understanding the importance of the industry they were retarding, consulted their pocketbooks rather than local progress, and contracted for the Ohio product. This left Mr. Hallem without business, and he was forced to discontinue his enterprise. In 1877, however, with the starting of the present pottery business, he sold out to the new concern, and made for them their first set of moulds and their first kilns. Thus the clay working industries were first placed on a really substantial footing, but there were many difficulties, mechanical, chemical