CLAYS. 235 



DESCRIPTION OF CLAY AREAS* 



The Alexandria Area and Vicinity. 



This area is the most important brick-making district in the Virginia 

 Coastal Plain region. It cannot be said that this marked local expansion 

 of the claj'-working industry is due to the more abundant occurrence of clay 

 at this point, but rather to the fact of its nearness to an active and important 

 market, namely, the city of Washington. Nearly all the brick yards of this 

 area are situated so close to the city, that the product is hauled across the 

 river by teams, and the daily continuous procession of wagons loaded with 

 brick indicates the demand for the Virginia product. 



The clays used in the Alexandria district are the Columbia loams, which 

 underlie the low hills around Alexandria, Arlington, xA.ddison, Eiverside, 

 etc. They are all sandy loams of variable color, yellow, red, brown, and 

 bluish-gray, and are frequently of a mottled character. Most of the clays 

 burn to a red brick, but certain ones show a tendency to fire buff, and since 

 these lighter burning parts are oftentimes tougher, they do not mix readily 

 with the red-burning clay when the run of the bank is used, so that the buff 

 spots show in the brick after burning. At the yard of the Washington 

 Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company, the several clays are carefully separated 

 and burned alone, thus giving several different shades of product. 



The firms in operation in this region are : Washington Hydraulic 

 Pressed Brick Company; Jackson-Phillips Company; Potomac Brick 

 Company; Virginia Brick Company; Estate of Charles Ford; Walter 

 Brick Company ; West Brothers ; Alexandria Brick Company ; Washington 

 Brick and Terra Cotta Company; and American Hygienic Brick and Tile 

 Company. The last is located near Eiverside. 



The Fi'edericksburg Area. 



The most prominent clays in the region around Fredericksburg are those 

 belonging to the Eocene formation. While these no doubt underlie a 

 considerable area between Fredericksburg and Stafford to the north, still 

 prominent outcrops of them are not very abundant. 



The nearest of these to Fredericksburg is located along the road from 

 Fredericksburg to the Cartwright and Davis granite quarry on t]ie hill 

 leading up from tlie canal. This material, which is of a bright red color, 

 is known, locall}', as paint clay, and is said to have been used by the Indians 



o-Abstraeted from chapter on clays in Mineral Resources of Virginia, 1907. 



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