184 THE CLAYS OF ARKANSAS. 
The sections at the two pits are practically the same, and the beds are 
the same, but there is a slight difference or local variation in the 
character of the clays themselves. 
Section at the Rhodenbaugh day bank. 
Feet. 
Thin san<ty soil with fine gravel 1 
Ferruginous gravel with abundant coarse sand; clayey below 5 
Light-drab potter's clay, the lower 2 feet of which is blue contain- 
ing red patches of iron 10 
Fine white sand H 
Novaculite gravels, conglomerated 3 
20J 
Below the pottery clay is a bed of brownish-yellow waterworn, 
novaculite gravel, much of which is cemented into a conglomerate. 
Near the upper surface or top of the 10-foot bed of clay there is a 
streak of black material 2 inches thick. The 2 feet of blue clay con- 
stituting the base of this bed contain numerous impressions of leaves 
and steins of plants and red patches. This 2-foot layer of clay is 
not used in the manufacture of pottery but goes to the waste bank 
with the gravel. This blue clay might, if mixed with sufficient 
quantity of sand, be used for the manufacture of bricks. Bricks as 
a rule do not require the same degree of firing as stoneware, and the 
red material, if mixed properly, will be an advantage rather than a 
detriment to it, as it would serve to color the whole mass. This clay 
is rejected by the potters because the ware must be subjected to a 
prolonged white heat before it will take the glaze necessary to pro- 
duce a marketable product, and under the high temperature required 
the red clay, which is highly charged with iron, would melt or turn 
black and make the ware unsightly and unfit for market. Great 
care must therefore be exercised to prevent any of this material from 
being mixed with the clean pottery clay. 
The clay from the Rhodenbaugh bed is fine grained and of close 
texture. When moist it has a pinkish-brown color, which it loses on 
drying. Although sometimes used without any mixture the pro- 
prietors of the pit consider it very much improved by the addition 
of a little sand. The sand adds to the body and in burning enables 
the ware to take a hard finish. It will take either the Albany slip 
glaze or the salt glaze. 
The bed of clay found in Rhodenbaugh's pit covers about 8 acres 
and thins out toward the south within a short distance of Rhoden- 
baugh' s house. 
The following is the section exposed in a well 36 feet deep in 
Rhodenbaugh's garden, in the NW. \ SW. \ sec. 12. The well does 
not strike the clay, although it penetrates the Tertiary and reaches 
Paleozoic rocks below. The mouth of the well is doubtless at a point 
below the clay bed. 
