CHARACTER; ORIGIN, OCCURRENCE, AND USES. 29 
Uses. — In many parts of the State these buckshot clays are used 
for making common bricks, but they are not very well adapted to 
such use. The iron lumps cause hard black spots in the bricks, and 
the clay is more or less troublesome to work by hand, for the nodules 
tear the hands of the brick molders and catch on the sides of the 
molds These difficulties could be averted by crushing or screening 
the clay, but it is doubtful whether the expense of such a process 
would be warranted in making ordinary bricks. 
It is of much importance to find that some of these lowland clays 
have been used successfully in the manufacture of Portland cement 
at WhiteclifTs, in Little River County. In reply to inquiries about 
the clays employed, the secretary of the company, Mr. W. J. Kelly, 
kindly furnished the following information. : 
The first clay we used for making cement was taken from the SE. \ SE. \ sec. 35, 
T. 11 S., R. 29 W., on the west side of Little River, the analysis of which is as follows: 
Analysis of cement-making clay mined on Little River near Whitecliffs. 
Si0 2 .' . . 72. 64 
Al 2 6 3 13. 91 
Fe 2 3 3. 72 
CaO 20 
MgO 45 
Total volatile 7. 53 
As this deposit is across the river from the works, we experimented with the clays 
on the east side of the river and found a bed of clay one-fourth of a mile south of the 
plant. 
The bed of clay on this side of the river is several acres in extent and 16 feet thick 
in the SW. \ SW. \ sec. 36, T. 11 S., R. 29 W. The analysis of this clay is as follows: 
Analysis of brick clay mined on Little River near Whitecliffs. 
Si0 2 7*4.54 
Al 2 6 3 14. 47 
Fe 2 3 1. 79 
CaO 73 
MgO 41 
Total volatile 6.26 
Alkalies not yet determined. 
From this clay we also made 2,000,000 red brick in 1897 and 1898. There is no 
stripping whatever, as the deposit starts at the surface. We have a narrow-gage railroad 
from the plant to the pit. 
THE LOESS. 
The loess constitutes the upper 30 to 90 feet of the higher portions 
of Crowleys Ridge from Dee post-office, in Craighead County, south- 
ward to Helena, in Phillips County. At Helena it attains its maxi- 
mum thickness. Throughout the areas of its distribution, both in 
Arkansas and in other States, it usually contains large numbers of 
limy concretions, or puppets, which are highly characteristic of its 
soils. 
