320 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



in a very neat style, from clay found in the immediate 

 vicinity. I noticed among many other handsome articles, 

 some spittoons, ornamented with vines and bunches of 

 grapes, in raised work. These might be called parlor 

 ornaments, provided they were not defiled with tobacco 

 spittle. Designs of agricultural products or implements, 

 would make far more sensible ornaments for such ware, 

 than the miserable, unmeaning daubs often seen upon 

 articles of every-day use in farm houses. 



Potter's Clay. — About two miles along the shore from 

 the railroad wharf, is one of the most valuable and long- 

 est-worked clay banks in the country, formerly owned by 

 the late Gen. Morgan,^ and now by his son. Col. Charles 

 Morgan, who also has a well-improved farm of rich soil, 

 part of which was once blowing sand. The fertility of 

 Col. Morgan's place has been brought to its present state 

 by salt-marsh mud, and leached ashes; the latter ob- 

 tained from Burlington, Vermont, in vessels that came 

 for clay, which is also taken to points along both the 

 Northern, and Erie Canal, and eastward as far as Maine. 

 The price of the clay at the pits, is about ten cents a 

 bushel, delivered on board vessels. Some 30 men, and 

 several ox and mule teams, are constantly employed. The 

 deposit, where the pit is now open, is 30 feet thick, with 

 a superincumbent mass of sand of equal thickness. The 

 earth is removed in railroad cars and tipped into the 

 water, and carried off by the surf. The pits are then dug 

 down some 40 feet square, and the clay hoisted out in a 

 tub by a mule, and carried off in carts and deposited in 

 heaps, from whence it is again taken in ox carts along 

 side of vessels at low water. Many acres have thus been 

 dug over, and an almost inconceivable quantity of clay 

 taken out; and the demand is still increasing. 



Leached Ashes, used by Col. Morgan, as a fertiliser, 

 cost 121/2 cts. a bushel. Would not guano be cheaper? I 



'James Morgan, born Amboy, New Jersey, December 29, 1756; 

 died in South Amboy, November 11, 1822. Congressman, 1811-1813. 

 Engaged in agricultural pursuits. Major general of state militia. 

 Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1333. 



