CLAYS. 233 



The Chester Area. 



A number of outcrops of clay are seen in the railroad and trolley road 

 cuts in the vicinity of Chester. None of them, however, are suited to the 

 manufacture of brick. About two miles south of Chester along the Atlantic 

 Coast-Line Eailway there are several cuts, which show outcrops of a sandy, 

 bluish fossiliferous clay. The material is not uniform in character, certain 

 layers being highly fossiliferous. others very sandy, and still others very 

 plastic. The exact thickness of the deposit is not known, but from the 

 exposures, it is evidently not less than 30 feet thick. No attempts have 

 been made to use it. 



The general characteristics of the clay may be summed up as follows: 

 Bed burning, low fire shrinkage, and low fusibility. Difficult to burn. It 

 is not to be recommended for anything but common brick, and even for this 

 purpose it should be avoided if something better can be found. 



The Bermuda Hundred Area. 



Much clay is exposed at a point along the railroad from Chester to 

 Bermuda Hundred and about 1 mile from the railroad station at the latter 

 locality. The same material is also seen in the gullies in the neighboring 

 fields. This clay is at the same level as that which is worked at Broadway, 

 on the Appomattox River, and it is probable that the deposit extends in that 

 direction, but it does not belong to the same formation. 



The exposures in the railroad cut show a thickness of not less than 10 

 feet, and a thickness of 49 feet was proved by boring in one place. Although 

 the clay along the railroad track does not show much variation on inspection, 

 it is stated that at the northeastern end it is brick clay, while at the south- 

 eastern end it is tile clay. The properties of the brick clay (No. 1306) are 

 given in the table opposite page 325. 



Judging from the dense body of this material it would be worth experi- 

 menting with for paving brick, or perhaps pipe. The most serious objection 

 to it is its high air and fire shrinkage. 



This clay has been dug and shipped occasionally to the works of the 

 Powhatan Clay Manufacturing Company, at CUiyville, near Richmond. 



The Petersburg Area. 



There are several yards in operation near Petersburg. Two of these, 

 the W. R. Turner, and Brister and Harrison, are located in Ettricks, across 



