TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. 83 



mile?, and afford the most comprehensive, though not the most complete, 

 section to be found in the county. 



Fire-clay and Fire-brick. — In the notes on Coal No. 5 it has been men- 

 tioned that this is underlain by a bed of fire-clay of peculiar character 

 and excellence, being non-plastic, or " hard clay," and specially adapted 

 to the manufacture of fire-brick. 



As this has already become the basis of a considerable industry in the 

 county, it deserves a somewhat fuller notice than it has received. 



The day under Coal No. 5 varies from three to six feet in thickness, 

 and also considerably in its character. In places it is nearly all plastic, 

 in others mostly non-plastic, but more generally the bed is somewhat 

 irregularly composed of the two varieties. The hard clay is the more 

 valuable, and is similar in character to that of Mt. Savage, Maryland, 

 "Hawes's clay," Mineral Point, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, and that 

 of Kier Bros., Salina, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, all of which 

 are largely used and highly esteemed for the manufacture of fire-brick. 

 Judging from the composition of the clay under Coal No. 5, in Tusca- 

 rawas county, as well as from trials that have been made of the various 

 objects manufactured from it, we may claim that it is fully equal in 

 quality to any of those that have been mentioned, and that the articles 

 made from it are equally resistent to the action of fire. 



The area over which the clay of Coal No. 5 assumes this peculiar char- 

 acter is apparently limited, as in Stark county, on the north, and in the 

 southern part of Tuscarawas county it is of the ordinary plastic charac- 

 ter. The points where it is chiefly dug are near Bolivar, at Mineral Point, 

 and at one or two places between the latter town and Canal Dover. Two 

 quite extensive establishments, those of Mr. C. E. Holden, at Mineral 

 Point, and of Messrs. Barrett and Rhodes, at Canal Dover, have been con- 

 structed for the manufacture of fire-brick from this clay. Both factories 

 are quite complete, and capable of producing any article in this line 

 which the industries of the country demand. 



Analyses of fire-clays are given at the end of the chapter. 



Fire-stone. — Many of the sandstones found in Tuscarawas county would 

 doubtless prove, upon trial, very resistent to fire, and capable of serving 

 a good purpose in the construction of furnace-hearths, etc. Only one, 

 however, has attracted special attention in this connection. A nearly 

 white sandstone, quarried by the Tuscarawas Coal and Iron Company, in 

 the Valley of the Tuscarawas, below Zoar Station, has been, for some 

 time, used as a firestone, and has proved so refractory as to merit special 

 notice and commendation. 



Building Stone. — Nearly all the sandstones which occur in the Lower 



