7. Brick Making, Near Portland, Oregon

This lithograph served as the cover for the October 4, 1890, issue of West Shore magazine. The magazine, headquartered in Portland, was published from 1875 to 1891 by Leopold Samuel. This image depicts Chinese laborers working in East Portland or Albina — then towns outside Portland — making bricks from clay and sand. By 1890, brickmaking had become an important business in the Portland area: in 1889, 8 million bricks were shipped to the Seattle area. This boom in production was possible due to the availability of inexpensive immigrant labor and the introduction of new machinery, such as the brick presses shown in the illustration.