164 THE CLAYS OF ARKANSAS. 
seemed at first to offer a serious impediment to its availability, but 
some of the material was ground and thoroughly mixed and made into 
a paste and tested by firing. The samples came from the furnace in a 
much better condition than the crude clay — that is, it was free from 
the rusty brown specks — but the iron had only been evenly distributed 
through the mass, and the result was that' the sample came out with 
an ivory color instead of pure white. It takes the glaze well and is 
regarded by the potters as available for such wares as do not require a 
pure white body. 
The clay at this locality (middle of sec. 9) as it comes from the 
ground is not plastic, nor is it soft enough to admit of its being taken 
out with a spade or shovel, but it is so hard as to require crushing. It 
comes out in angular blocks of various sizes; it is readily cut with a 
pick and has an earthy fracture. It is at first of a dark-pearl color, 
but upon drying takes on a cream color. The blocks from near the 
surface are covered with more or less iron stain, but this coating is 
readily removed, and it probably does not extend to any considerable 
depth. 
Wells dug in sees. 25 and 26 and 35 and 36, T. 1 N., R. 12 W., dis- 
close the existence of clay at various depths. At a small stream in 
the orchard near William Tarpley's house, in the NW. i NW. J sec. 36, 
a well 16 feet deep shows the following section: 
Section in well in sec. 36, T. 1 N., R. 12 W. 
Ft. in. 
Gravel and sand 5 
Iron ore , 2\ 
Joint clay 3 
Kaolinite 8 
Syenite (?) at bottom. . 
16' 2i 
In another well, 18 feet deep, on the top of the hill north of the 
well just mentioned, in the same orchard and nearer the house, no 
clay was found. The following is a section of this well: 
Section in well near William Tarpley's house, in sec. 36, T. 1 N., R. 12 W. 
Feet. 
Waterworn pebbles 6 
Joint clay 8 
Sandstone 4 
Syenite at bottom. 
18 
These two wells are not more than 200 feet apart and the difference 
of elevation between their mouths is about 30 feet. It is evident 
that these clay beds are irregular in shape and thickness. 
The clay found in Mr. Tarpley's well is very soft and almost milk 
white in color. Small patches of iron stain appear in places. 
