70 THE CLAYS OF ARKANSAS. 
From the eastern end of the town of Alma to Dyer station, in sec. 
36, T. 10 N., R. 30 W., on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern 
Railway, this brownish-yellow brick earth lies on both sides" of the 
railway track. At Dyer it has a yellowish color. It is exposed in 
the cuts east of Dyer as far as Mulberry. 
No bricks are made at Alma. In 1886 two or three kilns were 
made from the brick earth in sec. 9 for local use by Hon. M. F. Locke. 
They were hand made and burned to a gray color and are spotted 
with iron. 
The fuel used at Alma is chiefly wood, but coal can easily be 
obtained from Sullivant's mine, 2 miles from town. Wood ranges 
in price from $1.25 to $2 a cord, and coal costs $2.50 a ton delivered. 
On the west bank of Clear Creek, at the place where it is crossed 
by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, lj miles west 
of Alma, the following section is exposed : 
Section on Clear Creek, near Alma. 
Yellow brick clays. 
Mottled fawn colored and yellow clay. 
Waterworn cobbles. 
Black shales of the "Coal Measures." 
The yellow and mottled clays of this section aggregate about 25 
feet in thickness. These clays become thinner west of Clear Creek. 
Bricks were formerly made at Van Buren, but work there has been 
discontinued. They were manufactured from a brownish clay found 
lying between the line of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad 
and the shale escarpment to the west. This ground lies chiefly in the 
SE. i sec. 24, T. 9 N., R. 32 W., and the SW. J sec. 19, T. 9 N., R, 
31 W. The clays used for brickmaking are similar to clays in other 
districts in the western part of the State. The beds are divided by a 
colored line into an upper and a lower division. The low x er division 
is darker and contains more iron than the upper. This upper divi- 
sion is a light-brown sandy clay and is about 2 feet thick in the 
vicinity of Van Buren. 
CRITTENDEN COUNTY. 
Crittenden County lies entirely in the overflowed land of the Missis- 
sippi, its surface standing but a few feet above low^-water mark along 
the river. The lowest point along the Kansas City, Fort Scott and 
Memphis Railroad (Frisco System) between Memphis and Decker- 
ville is 223 feet and the highest point 228 feet above sea level. 
The surface of the county is marked by small lakes, abandoned 
stream channels, and sluggish streams. Near Marion, Grassy Lake, 
and other places there are deep depressions, doubtless representing 
former channels of the Mississippi. The one north of Marion is about 
1 mile wide and has trees growing in it 3 to 4 feet in diameter. The 
