Reclamation

The Don Valley Brickworks had many positive and negative attributes when it was founded in 1889, that had a great effect on the wildlife and environment in the area, but also on the city. The quarry provided many bricks that helped to build a great number of houses and buildings in the area, and also provided work for many people that were suffering from unemployment at the time. Geologist A.P. Coleman was able to study the rocks and ground in the quarry, and discovered information that made the Don Valley Brickworks famous worldwide to geologists. Unfortunately, the environment was greatly effected by the development of the quarry, destroying the wildlife, and making it a very unattractive place for both humans and animals that lived there prior to the mining. At last in 1994, regeneration projects for the site began in order to benefit the natural environment, and to continue to gain from the quarry. The quarry was filled in using material from the excavation of the ScotiaBank Tower, enabling ponds and meadows to be created, and trees to be planted.

Once the quarry was filled, three ponds were created in order to divert water through brick plant, under Bayview Avenue and back into the Don River. This whole process acts as a form of purification for the water, while helping to maintain a peaceful and beautiful area for people to visit.

The quarry became a meadow once it was filled in, with ponds, rivers, plants, and grass. Animals such as fish and birds live in the meadow, as well as turtles that have outgrown their habitat. This has helped to benefit the natural environment, as it has brought back animals to their previous habitat after leaving before the mining began, while attracting people to see the beautiful scenery. 

Trees, plants and grass have been planted and grown in the restored site, allowing life to exist again in the former quarry, while attracting animals and other wildlife. The reclamation projects have been very beneficial for the Don Valley Brickworks site, turning the quarry into a park and historical site, reminding us of the past, while letting us enjoy the present, and even benefiting those to come in the future. 

Information about the Don Valley Brickworks

Introduction 

The Don Valley Brick Works is a former quarry and industrial site located in the Don River valley in Toronto, Ontario. Currently the buildings sit mostly unused while the quarry has been converted into a city park which includes a series of naturalized ponds. The Don Valley Brick Works operated for nearly 100 years and provided bricks used to construct many well-known Toronto landmarks, such as Casa Loma, Osgoode Hall, Massey Hall, and the Ontario Legislature.

History

The Don Valley Brick Works were created in 1889 by the Taylor brothers. John Taylor and his brothers, William and George, had purchased the site in the Don Valley in the 1830s where they established a paper mill. While digging post holes to make a fence, William came across some good quality clay. He took a sample to a local brick works where it was confirmed that it would make a high quality brick. A quarry was soon established at the north end of the site and a brick making plant was built at the south end of the property near the Don River.

The reclaimed quarry today

The Rock

Shale Vs. Clay

Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained minerals. Clay deposits are mostly composed of clay minerals, which harden when fired or dried; they also may contain variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure. Clay minerals are typically formed over long periods of time as rocks are weathered through chemical means. Clay deposits are most often found near sedimentary depositional environments, such as large lakes, and marine deposits. Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals, as well as quartz and calcite minerals. When clay sediments that have formed in or near marine environments are buried, the compacted clay becomes shale as Iron Oxides help to settle the particles together. In short, the difference between clay and shale is that clay is a naturally occurring mineral, while shale is composed of several minerals including clay.

Shale

The shale at the quarry is gray, layered, and does not have visible crystals. It is quit soft, and can be easily crushed between fingers, or be broken off from other pieces of shale. The following video will demonstrate the weak durability of the shale, and will give you an idea of its feel and texture.

Shale is composed of several minerals, though clay is the most abundant mineral that makes up shale. Among the clay minerals, quartz sand, gypsum and pyrite minerals are sometimes compressed and hardened to form shale.

A close-up picture of a rock with a fossil 

Formation

Shale is formed through a process called compaction, as sediments and fine grains which compose the rock are consolidated at the rock bed over the years. The particles which form shale, being of fine nature, tend to float in water long after the other dense particles settle down. With the tendency of these fine particles to settle in slow moving water, shale rock formation is most often observed in lakes, river deltas, flood plains and even in deeper regions of continental shelf, where water is relatively calm. It is due to this process of compaction that the clay minerals settle and are combined in calm water, forming shale. 

The image above is is a document found in one of the buildings at the Don Valley Brickworks site, explaining observations made by geologist A.P. Coleman. In short, clay, shale, and sand sediments had been trapped under the Toronto ground by a tropical sea more than 400 years ago, making clay and shale very abundant in the quarry as it was the North Slope of the glacier. The shale itself, which is not a natural mineral, was formed when the clay was compressed by the tropical sea more than 400 years ago, creating the many layers of shale that attracted the Taylor brothers to the site. 

Maps of Don Valley Brickworks Site and Location

The Quarry and the Brick Making Process

The Don Valley Brickworks Quarry, Past and Present

A Photo of the Quarry in 1977

A Photo of the Quarry in 2010

Mining Process

1. The level that the ground is at today, after being filled in with the material from the excavation of the ScotiaBank Tower. 

2. The "benches" or levels of the quarry that were extracted, in order to get to the minerals at the bottom of the pit. 

In this photograph, taken in 2010, the North Slope is at the top left side of the picture, with the East slope in the middle of the picture. The rock was mined in an area beneath the river in this photograph, with the surrounding slopes part of the benches created during the mining process, in order to get to the many layers of minerals, clay and shale beneath the ground. 

The Open Pit Mine

Another example of an open pit mine

Open-Pit diamond mining or "Open-Cast Mining" (top of page, middle) is a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by removal from an open pit or burrow. Open pit mines are used when deposits of minerals are found near the surface or along kimberlite pipes. Open pit mining is used when the "overburden," or surface material covering the deposit, is relatively thin or the minerals are imbedded in structurally unstable earth (cinder, sand, or gravel) that is unsuitable for tunneling. "Pit lakes" tend to form at the bottom of open-pit mines as a result of groundwater intrusion. When mining began for the Don Valley quarry, open-pit mining was more cost efficient, and was more practical considering that the ground was unstable for tunnels, and the minerals they were mining for were fairly close to the surface. Underground mining would have been far more costly, as well as dangerous, considering that the ground that they were uprooting was not suitable for tunnels, and could have collapsed. 

Welcome

To The Don Valley Brickworks Information Blog

If you would like to find out more about Don Valley Brickworks, visit:



http://ebw.evergreen.ca/

http://www.theholestory.ca/index.php

http://www.lostrivers.ca/BrickWorksPark.htm