74 THE CLAYS OF ARKANSAS. 
It has been found that potteries here can not compete, except in 
local markets, with potteries that are situated on railways and that 
work clay equally good. The future of the pottery industry in 
Dallas County therefore depends on facility of transportation of the 
product to markets. 
CLAY BEDS WORKED. 
Since the stratigraphy of these cla3 T s has not been worked out in 
sufficient detail to permit their discussion in natural sequence, it is 
perhaps best first to describe in detail those beds which have at one 
time or another been opened and worked, together with those of which 
the clays have been analyzed, and afterward to take up the miscella- 
neous outcrops and well records. 
Butler clay. — The first clay bed opened in Dallas County was prob- 
ably that which became known as the Butler bed. This bed is in 
sec. 4, T. 8 S., R. 15 W., about 400 yards east of the southwest sec- 
tion corner, on the west bank of a head of East Tulip Creek, at an 
elevation of 350 feet above sea level. Clay has not been taken from 
this pit for many years, and the only traces of early operations are 
seen in a hollow that was scooped out of the creek bank and has 
since filled with debris. In a gully about 100 yards north of this 
opening 4 feet of lignite outcrops and is overlain by a plastic white 
clay, similar to Tail's clay, which occurs about one-half mile north 
of this place. (See p. 76.) Clay was also taken from an old field 
about one-fourth mile south of the opening first mentioned, but the 
old pit has long been filled with debris. 
Cheatham clay. — The next bed opened was the Cheatham bed, on 
Dry Tulip Creek, in the NW. \ NE. \ sec. 22, T. 8 S., R. 15 W. The 
clay was worked back a little way from the creek on a small drain, 
but no exposure can now be seen on account of the debris that con- 
ceals the bed. On the creek bank about 100 yards south of this 
locality the following section is exposed at an elevation of 260 feet 
above sea level : 
Section near Cheatham's upper bed, Dry Tulip Creek. 
Feet. 
Soil and gravel 2 
Argillaceous shale 4 
Soft sandstone 3J 
< 'lay and shale 2 
Lignite 1 
Stiff clay (partly concealed) 4 
Lignite 3-4 
White; plastic clay 5 
Clay has also been taken from a bluff on the west side of the creek 
one-half mile farther south, in the southwest quarter of the north- 
east quarter of the same section. The elevation above sea is 255 
