In 1913 excitement ran high in Haven Township when an inexhaustible deposit of material that could be used for making bricks was discovered. The shale deposit was tested and found to be the type to make the highest grade of pressed brick, with a possibility of forming the highest ingredient of Portland cement.
The shale deposits covered some 200 acres on sections 19 and 30. It extended at least 70 feet down. The soil cover varied from two to twenty feet.
Working on the project was Henry Ewen, Jay Blakely, and T.N. Putnam. Mr. Ewen took several hundred pounds to Chicago and had the material made into bricks. They were pale red in color, smooth and of as fine a quality as made anywhere.
Reasons are not clear why the development of the brick factory was curtailed. Some speculation was the lack of funds or the distance from the railroad. For whatever reasons, the deposit was never developed.
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 303