Digital Exhibits

Bricks drying in Wilkesboro

Stacks of bricks drying at a brickyard in Wilkesboro near the town of Banks, Oregon circa 1910-1914. In this image, two men are working in a shed that holds brick-making machinery, which is powered by a belt that the steam engine tractor (left, background) drove. The wooden tower structure (center) may be a water pump. The photographer, William Alonso Clapshaw, exposed half of a glass plate negative to create this image. The other half of the glass plate was used to make another photograph of the same brickyard; see image PUA_MS154_036a.

This is one image from a set of glass plate negatives created by William Alonso Clapshaw. Clapshaw was a clerk and shopkeeper who lived near Forest Grove, Oregon for most of his life. He was born in 1880, probably at the family's home in the Hillside neighborhood of Forest Grove, on what is now Clapshaw Hill Road east of Gales Creek. Around 1910-1914, William took an interest in photography and created a set of glass plate negatives documenting scenes near his family's lands as well as images of himself, his friends and family members. He most likely used a silver gelatin dry plate process. The photographs were donated to the Pacific University Archives in 2023.

Clapshaw, William Alonso, 1880-2015

circa 1910-1914

PUA_MS154_036b

Brickmaking

Brickworks

Wilkesboro, Oregon

Banks,Oregon

Gelatin silver negatives

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Pacific University Archives