CLAYS OF PASSAIC COUNTY. 493 



PASSAIC COUNTY. 



So far as known, the only clays in Passaic county which are 

 commercially important are of Glacial age, and probably con- 

 nected in origin with the glacial Lake Passaic. They are exten- 

 sively developed north of Singac and Little Falls, where common 

 brick are manufactured by the Singac Brick Company (Loc. 287) 

 and Geo. Conners (Loc. 286), and at Mountain View, where 

 there are extensive brick plants belonging to the Standard Brick 

 Company, of Newark (Loc. 288), and Uschwold & Ulrich (Loc. 

 289). These deposits are not limited to the localities where 

 worked at present, but are known to extend as far north as 

 Preakness, although over much of this area they are buried by 

 silt and sand. 



The clay is usually dark colored, often black, sometimes dis- 

 tinctly laminated, the latter beds being free from stones. At 

 some pits the clay is overlaid by sand ; in others, notably that at 

 locality 286, the laminated clay is covered by several feet of stony 

 clay — glacial till — (PI. XVI, Figs. 1 and 2), which is also used, 

 the bowlders being rejected in digging, the larger stones being 

 separated by a rotary sieve, and those under an inch in diameter 

 often finding their way into 1 the brick. All these clays burn red 

 and are rarely used with the admixture of sand. The brick are 

 made by the soft-mud process, and since all the yards are located 

 either along the railroad or on the Morris and Essex canal or its 

 feeder, shipping facilities are excellent. 



Small local deposits of surface or glacial clay doubtless exist 

 elsewhere in the county, but they have never been developed. 



