CHAPTER II. 



THE CLAYS OF OHIO, THEIR ORIGIN, COMPOSITION AND 



VARIETIES. 



By Prcf. Edward Orton. 



In Volume V, Geology of Ohio, published in 1884, a chapter 

 prepared by Edward Orton, Jr. was devoted to the clays and the 

 industries established on them in the state. The chapter contained 

 an excellent review of the various substances which the com- 

 prehensive title above given includes. In its first section was 

 discussed the question as to the origin and composition of clays. In 

 the second section the several divisions of the clays of Ohio were pointed 

 out, so far as their places in the geological scale are concerned, and in the 

 third section a careful review was made ot all the leading lines of manu- 

 facture in which the clays of the state at that time were being employed. 



In the several years that have passed since the publication of Volume 

 V there has been a great expansion of clay working industries in Ohio 

 and in the country at large. One of the most important of these indus- 

 tries in the state at the present time has been introduced within this 

 period and other older lines of manufactures have been greatly increased 

 and strengthened during the same interval. 



Districts from which the coals have been mainly .taken are the prin- 

 cipal theaters of this development ; and it is now evident that the clays 

 which have hitherto been entirely neglected, after the coals ceased to be 

 mined in the large way, will prove far greater sources of wealth to such 

 districts than the coal itself ever proved to be. Higher grades of labor 

 and more stable industries are built on the clays than the coals could be 

 made to support. The remnants of coal in such places are generally 

 ample to supply cheap fuel for the manufacture of the clay, for a few 

 years, at least. 



The new and general interest with -which the subject of clay is now 

 invested demands more than a simple supplement to the chapter con- 

 tained in Volume V. There is need of the same elementary and extended 

 statements that this chapter presented and since it cannot be presumed 

 that the volume in question is accessible to the great majority of persons 

 who are now disposed to study the subject for the first time, it has been 



