WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 6OT 



"From these results it appears that this shale burns to its best 

 condition at about 1175 C. Above this temperature overburned struc- 

 ture is developed. It would seem that this clay is suitable for the 

 manufacture of vitrified brick, and is promising as far as the produc- 

 tion of paving blocks is concerned. 



"Very truly yours, 

 (Signed) "P. H. BATES, For the Director." 



Weston Brick Works. The Weston Brick Works, located 

 on the West Fork River, opposite the mouth of Murphy Creek, 

 1 mile south of Weston, and built in 1900, makes common 

 building brick and paving brick, according to Dr. Geo. I. 

 Keener, President, the output being about 15,000 daily, and 

 capacity 25,000. The equipment includes a Frieze combined 

 brick machine and pug mill, an American dry pan, 5 tunnel 

 driers of 6,000 capacity, each, and 3 rectangular up-draft kilns 

 of 180,000 capacity each. The brick remain in the driers 24 

 hours and in the kilns from 17 to 18 days. 



The clay is obtained from a pit alongside the plant, and 

 consists of a stratum of river clay 5 to 8 feet thick, underlain 

 by the Redstone Limestone and Weston Shale, the latter for- 

 mation being 10 feet thick, as appears in a section published 

 under its description, page 128, where an analysis of it is also 

 given. The river clay and the Weston Shale are mixed half 

 and half to make building brick. A valuable description of 

 this plant by Dr. G. P. Grimsley was published in Volume III, 

 page 273, of the Survey, the portion of which referring to the 

 clay is herein repeated, as follows, it being evident that the pit 

 is much deeper now than at the time of Dr. Grimsley's visit: 



"Clay Pit. The river clay is obtained in pits back of the plant and 

 hauled in dump carts. The bottom of the pit is about twenty feet 

 above the river, and the section shows two and one-half feet of red 

 clay with six feet of yellow or buff sandy clay above covered with one 

 foot of soil. 



"In making the brick the yellow and red clays are mixed in equal 

 proportion and some surface soil added. The mixture burns to a 

 brownish red color and makes a good common building brick. These 

 clays are found in nearly all the valleys of this section and under the 

 town of Weston. 



Silica 

 Alumina 



