Geography of Ohio 153 



GLASS SAND 



In recent years Ohio has attained an important position as a 

 glass sand producing state. The rank, however, that any state 

 may assume in reference to this natural resource is conditioned 

 general^ upon the development of glass factories within its bor- 

 ders. About twenty-five years ago this state began to produce gas 

 extensively. As a result many industries were started, and among 

 these the manufacture of glass. If it had not been for the natural 

 gas of Ohio, it is doubtful whether the state would now rank 

 fourth as a producer of glass sand. 



Sources. Long before the discovery of natural gas fields some 

 glass sand was prepared for the market . This came from the Silu- 

 rian rocks outcropping in Lucas County. Interstratified with the 

 Monroe formation at Sylvania, are beds of sandstone, 15 to 20 

 feet thick, which contain very pure silica. In 18G3 quarries were 

 operated at this place, the sand being shipped to Pittsburg for 

 the manufacture of "pure flint glass/ '^ and later at Holland in the 

 same county. These quarries doubtless contain the purest silica 

 for glass sand of any in the state. More sand is prepared for the 

 market, however, in the central part of the state, where the Mis- 

 sissippian and the Pennsylvanian rocks come to the surface. The 

 Black Hand formation of the former period furnishes a quality 

 of sand that is prized for certain manufactures. At Toboso a 

 remarkably thick deposit of this rock is operated by the E. H. 

 Everett Company; the sand there produced is used chiefly by the 

 American Bottle Company at Newark. Other quarries involving 

 either this formation or sandstone horizons of the Pennsylvanian 

 period are worked in Perry and Hocking counties, particularl}- by 

 the Central Silica Company of Zanes ville. Quarries in Tuscarawas, 

 Holmes, Summit, Wayne, Coshocton and other counties in east- 

 central Ohio furnish the glass sand for local consumption ; many 

 of these glass plants, however, were forced out of business by a 

 shortage in the supply of gas. 



Preparation for market. After mining, the rock is crushed and 

 ground, usually to the extent of reducing the sandstone to its 

 original components. This loose sand is then washed, dried, and 

 screened. The principal reason for the fine grinding and washing 



» Gilbert, G. K., Geological Stirvey of Ohio, vol. i. (1873), p. 582. 



