It all started on Christmas Eve 1925 with the first crank of cold machinery. While an iron locomotive wheezed along the nearby tracks, a handful of workers fired up a small factory, sending its inaugural puff of smoke into the chilly air.
That’s how the Western Clay plant came to life nearly a century ago. The company, known for mining and producing high-quality bentonite products, has a long and storied history that’s deeply intertwined with its rural community and industry partners.
A Cornerstone in the Community
For almost 100 years, Western Clay has operated continuously in Aurora, Utah. The plant and its loyal employees have weathered the Great Depression, World War II and other challenges while providing stable employment for many people.
“It’s kept quite a few families in the valley going through some pretty hard times,” said Brad Boyter, president of Western Clay.
Boyter’s own connection to the company runs deep. He began work at the plant at age 12, building pallets, and witnessed the company’s evolution under various owners. After serving as the company accountant, he became president and CEO in 2001, playing a critical role in negotiating a merger with Redmond Minerals two decades later.
Boyter is also the proud custodian of a treasure trove of company artifacts unearthed by workers prying up floorboards in the packing room. The dry clay environment helped preserve the historical documents, which include vintage stationery, receipts, telegrams, iconic photos, and correspondence from an employee who embarked on a business trip to Death Valley in a Model T.
“These fragments of history are really meaningful to us,” Boyter said. “A letter from a hundred years ago is tangible, hold-in-your-hand proof of the millions of hours good people have spent working to build this company.”
Western Clay workers mine a bentonite clay deposit above Aurora, Utah.
Trials & Triumphs: Wagons, Rails, Fires & Floods
Initially owned by a California company, Western Clay first hired local farmers to mine a calcium bentonite deposit above Aurora then haul the clay by wagon to the plant for processing. Later, it acquired rights to a sodium bentonite deposit near Redmond, Utah.
The railroad, which ran directly in front of the plant in Aurora, played an important role in the company’s early success. Product was loaded onto trains via a rail siding and transported to destinations along the Denver & Rio Grande. It provided a viable shipping option, allowing Western to economically send and receive bulk product within and across state lines until the early 1980s.
In 1983, however, a flood of the century changed transportation methods. A landslide wiped out the railhead and town of Thistle, 87 miles to the north of the plant, cutting off the line that served Western. Today, supplies coming by rail drop in Salt Lake City and ship on special trucks to Aurora at a significant increase in cost.
Another setback struck the company two years earlier. In 1981, a coal pile at Western Clay caught fire, prompting action from the small Aurora volunteer fire department. The firefighters saved half of the plant and ultimately the business by heroically cutting a burning belt line and preventing the fire from spreading into the main plant from the dryer. The incident helped spur the decision to phase out coal-fired drying of product in favor of a cleaner natural gas dryer.
Despite wars, natural disasters, and some personnel tragedies, Western has continued to be successful, diversifying its bentonite products and relationships. Here is a look at some of the company’s significant partnerships and operations over the past century.
Production By Decades
- 1920-30: Mined and processed calcium bentonite to filter industrial and household oils; processed fuller’s earth, an industrial clay for cleaning wool.
- 1940: Processed calcium bentonite for soaps and industrial laundering during World War II.
- 1950: Began mining and processing sodium bentonite for use in industrial drilling.
- 1970: Processed limestone rock for “dusting” coal mine walls for safety; crushed coal into powder.
- 1980: Mined and crushed gypsum, lightweight aggregate, anhydrite, barite, kaolin, and limestone.
- 1990: Mined and processed bentonite, gypsum, limestone, dolomite, kaolin, wollastonite, and other minerals.
- 2000-current: Western produces Swell Clay, Swell Gel, and other sodium bentonite products for Redmond.
Owners & Partnerships
- 1925: Western Clay & Metals opens an operations plant in Aurora, Utah.
- 1973: Mortensen family and partners acquire Western Clay.
- 1989: Western Clay implements an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).
- 1992-1995: Long-term business collaborations begin with Diversified Minerals, Redmond Minerals, and Diamond K Gypsum.
- 2011: The ESOP buys all Western Clay assets, and the company becomes 100% employee-owned.
- 2014: Western Clay begins a long-term business collaboration with Imdex AMC.
- 2021: Western Clay is acquired by Redmond and becomes a Redmond LLC.
Joining the Redmond Family
In 2021, Western Clay officially became part of Redmond Minerals. For decades, both companies, known as industry leaders mining and producing quality bentonite products, had collaborated and occasionally competed for customers.
They operated under a handshake partnership until Western tragically lost two key members and experienced health scares with a few more. It forced the managers to take a hard look at the business and determine the best way to secure its future.
“We’re a tightknit company and hated to bring people in from the outside to fill important management positions,” Boyter said. “It made a lot of sense to reach out to Redmond because of their sheer talent and ability to attract quality people, and see if they’d be interested in talking.”
Redmond, which had offered to buy the company twice before, was indeed interested. The merger united two of the longest-running businesses in the valley and was built on mutual respect and shared values.
“We’ve always tried to be a good neighbor, a good steward of the land, produce a quality product, and take care of our people,” Boyter said. “We wouldn’t have made the deal if Redmond didn’t do business the same way and feel the same way about their people.”
“The merger was just a formality to an already great relationship,” said Troy Fielding, head of industrial bentonite sales at Redmond. “Western Clay was a successful company before, and we’re excited for the possibilities we’ll have together in the future.”
Pallets of industrial bentonite product produced by Western Clay.
Looking Ahead
As Western Clay enters its second century of business as a member of the Redmond family, it continues to honor its rich and meaningful past while looking forward to a secure and successful future. Like the historic plant standing on the edge of town, Western is a testament to the resilience and commitment to excellence that will carry it through the next hundred years.
© Western Clay 2024. All rights reserved.
