212 THE (LAVS OF ARKANSAS. 
covered with a yellowish buckshot clay, or prairie soil, containing 
considerable quantities of iron nodules about the size of a pea. The 
section in the banks of a small stream running through sec. 3 shows 
a thickness of about 3 feet of this clay. 
In sec. 4 of the same township and range a similar yellow loam 
overlies a deposit of dark-red clay. In the W. \ NW. \ sec. 35, 
T. 9 N., R. 32 W., a band of chocolate clay about 4 feet thick lies 
between the two yellow divisions of the exposed clays. The choco- 
late clay forms the surface for some distance and then passes under 
a heavy bed of yellow clay. 
The surface soil of Massard Prairie is a yellow clay or prairie soil, 
having a general thickness of about 4 feet. This clay rests on the 
dark-blue or black shale which is seen at the base of the different 
sections exposed in the bluffs on the north and south sides of the 
prairie, A section from the bank of a small creek in the SW. \ 
SE. \ sec. 1, T. 7 N., R. 32 W., may be taken as a representative 
section of this prairie. 
Section in SW. \ SE. \ sec. 1, T. 7 N., R. 32 W. 
Thin covering of humus at surface. Feet. 
Yellow (almost orange-colored) clay containing nodules of iron in its 
lower division 4 
Black or dark-blue shales, broken into kidney-shaped pieces at base. 
Where the soil has been washed off the surface the ground is covered 
with the nodules of iron in the shape of gravel. 
In the NE. \ SE. \ sec. 19, T. 8 N., R. 31 W., the surface soil is red 
clay, and in the S. \ sec. 29, on the south side of Massard Creek, a 
yellow clay overlies the coal in some of the openings. 
In the NW. \ SW. \ sec. 29, T. 8 N., R. 31 W., near Massard post- 
office, a dark-red clay covers the small hill lying to the southeast of 
the prairie. 
Nothing has ever been done to demonstrate the usefulness of these 
clays for any purpose. There is little doubt, however, that many of 
them might be profitably used for the manufacture of ordinary build- 
ing bricks, and for this purpose the clays found on Massard Prairie 
and on the prairie-like district of sees. 2, 3, 4, and 10, T. 8 N., R. 32 
W., will probably be much better adapted for making a hard, solid 
brick than the red earth found close to Fort Smith and used at pres- 
ent. It may be safely said that these clays will, with proper treat- 
ment, make as good and as strong a brick as can be found anywhere 
else throughout the valley of Arkansas River. 
TERRACE CLAYS. 
Over the lowlands near Arkansas River, in some places extending 
back inland for several miles, generally in the form of terraces, there 
is a system of unconsolidated deposits which are probably of Pleisto- 
