67 



ety as well as abundance of clays, we shall include it here, al- 

 though it is not one of the Paleozoics. 



Coal Measures. In this group are numerous beds of shale 

 which have been utilized in the manufacture of vitrified brick 

 and fire brick, but many of them will probably be adapted to ce- 

 ment making. A great body of these shales occurs in connec- 

 tion with the coal seams of the Horse Creek or Mary Lee group, 

 in Jefferson and \Yalker counties, and in position where they 

 are conventienly situated with reference to limestone and coal 

 and also tot transportation lines. They are therefore well worth 

 the attention of those contemplating the location of cement 

 plants. 



On the property of Mr. W. H. Graves, near North Birming- 

 ham, overlying the coal seam mined by him, there are two beds 

 of shale one yellowish, the other gray. These two shales have 

 been tested and analyzed, and their composition is shown in 

 Nos. i and 2 of the Table D. 



Similar shales are known to occur at Coaldale, in Jefferson 

 County, at Pearce's Mills in Marion, and at Cedar Grove Coal 

 Mines in Tuscaloosa. The Coaldale shale is manufactured 

 into vitrified brick. The other two have not yet been utilized. 



Analyses 3 and 4 of Table D will showi the composition of 

 the shales at Coaldale and Cedar Grove. 



It may be of interest to note that Cedar Grove is, so far as 

 yet known, the nearest place to the Gulf ports, where the three 

 essentials in the manufacture of Portland cement, viz., limestone, 

 shale and coal, occur together, and on a railroad. 



So also most of the coal seams mined in Alabama rest upcn 

 clay beds which have not as yet been specially examined as to 

 their fitness for cement making; but, in view of the proximity 

 of the coal mines to the limestones, it might be worth while to 

 investigate these underclays of the coal seams. 



Lower Carboniferous. Associated with the cherty lime- 

 stones of the lowermost division of the Lower Carboniferous of 

 some of the anticlinal valleys are beds of clay of excellent qual- 

 ity, much of it being of the nature of china clay. 



Probably the best of the exposures of these clays are to be 

 seen in Little Wills Valley, between Fort Payne and the Geor- 

 gia border, and on the line of the Great Southern Railroad, 

 where for many years quarries have been in operation in sup- 



