230 NEW TOEK STATE MUSEUM 



clays, being of a more sandy nature, prevent this. The clays of 

 Long Island when used alone for the manufacture of stoneware 

 give a creamy colored product, if burnt medium hard, but if 

 burnt hard they produce a ware of a light blue or drab color. 

 The sandy nature of the Long Island clays makes it difficult to 

 turn them on the potter's wheel. 



Elm Point. About one and a half miles northwest of Great 

 Keck on Elm Point is a deposit of dark gray clay, worked by G. 

 W. Mahan. The clay is overlain by about 20 feet of yellow 

 gravel and drift. Lignite occurs abundantly in the clay, and 

 nodules of pyrite are occasionally found. Several pits have been, 

 sunk in the clay, one of them 30 feet deep and 10 feet in 

 diameter. Much of the clay is used by ^the ]^ew York Archi- 

 tectural Terra Cotta Co., at Ravenswood, Long Island, and some 

 is also shipped to Boston where it is used for the manufacture of 

 clay pipes. 



Glen Gove. Carpenter Bros, have a bed of stoneware clay, 

 fire sand and kaolin on the east side of Hempstead Harbor. The 

 clay is of a white and pink color, the layers being four inches to 

 one foot thick and interstratified with layers of quartz pebbles. 

 jN'earer the shore this dips under a bed of the clay free from 

 pebbles. Associated with the clay is a deposit of kaolin and 

 fire sand. The clay burns a cream color. The quartz pebbles 

 which contain small cracks crumble easily and seem to have 

 been subjected to the action of some alkaline solution.* When 

 ground they can be used for the finest grades of pottery and 

 stoneware. The fire sand and kaolin are screened and sold 

 according to grade. 



This clay is used chiefly for the manufacture, of stoneware, it 

 being shipped to various cities in Connecticut and ]N"ew York 

 states. It is also used by Perkins and Pit of Stamford, Conn., 

 for the manufacture of stove lijaings.. In this latter case about 

 15 per cent, of it is mixed with [rlSTew Jersey clay. Under 

 ordinary fire this clay burns to a light color, but with a 

 hard fire it is said to blacken. The fire sand found associated 

 with^this clay bears a most excellent reputation as regards its 

 refractory qualities. 



* F. J. H. Merrill. Geology of Long Island, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., 1884. 



