JOHNSON COUNTY. 123 
BRICK CLAYS. a 
So far as the Clarksville brick earths are concerned, there is but 
one bed that requires attention. Bricks were formerly made by 
W. P. Farrish in his yard north of the town, in the northeast corner of 
the SW. I NW. I sec. 32, T. 10 N., R. 23 W. These appear to be 
good sound bricks of a rather dark-gray color, very similar in appear- 
ance to the bricks made at Beebe and elsewhere along the Iron 
Mountain Railway. They hold their color well, for bricks used in 
buildings erected in Clarksville as long ago as 1878 still have a good 
color. The material from which these bricks were made is not very 
plentiful nor of a great extent, being confined principally to the flat 
tops of a few ridges. It is underlain by a lighter-colored earth con- 
taining great quantities of iron in the form of nodules ranging in size 
from that of a pea down to that of bird shot. This underlying 
material, although of excellent quality for making hard, blue bricks, 
can not be worked by hand in the same way as the upper clays. The 
iron nodules are so small that the ordinary mill or wheel will not 
crush them. They slip through the tempering untouched, and, 
although not very hard, have a tendency to tear the hands of the 
molder. Before this clay can be utilized it must be tempered by 
being passed through rollers set sufficiently close to crush the nodules 
completely. The clay must afterward be thoroughly mixed so as to 
disseminate the crushed iron throughout the mass, and thus to 
bring the whole to a uniform consistency and color. The bricks can 
then be formed either by hand molding or by machine. This clay, 
however, could be worked better by machine than by hand, and if 
such a tempering machine as the one here suggested were used an 
extensive area covered by this " buckshot" clay close to Clarksville 
station could be utilized for brickmaking. 
No bricks have been made at Coal Hill and very few are used for 
any purpose, building stone being generally employed for chimneys 
or other mason work. 
In the vicinity of Coal Hill an area comprising the NE. J S. J sec. 20, 
the greater portion of sec. 21, the SE. \ and part of the SW. \ sec. 19, 
and parts of sees. 28, 29, and 30, T. 9 N., R. 25 W., are covered by a 
light brownish-yellow clay averaging about 2 feet in thickness. This 
clay contains nodules of iron, some of which are soft enough to be 
crushed between the fingers, and also a quantity of small sandstone 
pebbles. This clay rests upon soft, friable argillaceous shales having 
a light-gray, almost white color, streaked with black and red. The 
lowest shales exposed are black and friable. 
Overlying the light brownish-yellow clay there are in places patches 
or rolls of a brown sandy loam suitable for molding sand. These 
«Most of the notes on the brick clays of Johnson County are by William Kennedy. 
