UNION COUNTY. 221 
The large percentage of iron in this sample is probably aue to 
infiltrations, the specimen having come from near the surface. Clay 
under cover will probably be found freer from this impurity and 
available for pottery ware and for other purposes for which basic 
clays may be used. 
CLAY INDUSTRY. 
But one plant in Union County is engaged in the manufacture of 
clay products — the Felsenthal Brick Company, at Felsenthal. The 
plant was established in 1904 for the manufacture of stiff -mud build- 
ing bricks. They are made from the common surface red clay. The 
clay is tempered and molded in a Sword machine run by steam. 
The bricks are dried in a shed and burned in an up-draft kiln. Four 
kilns are in use, each having a capacity of 200,000 bricks. It requires 
six to ten days tor the bricks to dry sufficiently to set in the kiln, 
and from six to eight days for burning. Wood is used as fuel. The 
plant has an output of 30,000 bricks a day. 
The potter's clays of Union County are not utilized. There was 
at one time a pottery on what was formerly known as the " poor- 
house farm," sec. 34, T. 17 S., R. 15 W., a little more than a mile 
southeast of Eldorado. It was operated by Mr. Leonard as late as 
1860, and was probably closed by the civil war. The pottery made 
is said to have been of ordinary grade. The clays used are reported 
to have come from the " slashes" and not from a bed in place in the 
hills. 
There was another pottery in Union County before the civil war, 
about 4 miles below Wilmington Landing. The ware burned light 
gray and was of good texture. The clay came from the stratified 
beds in a bank. This pottery is no longer in existence. 
There is no lack of clays in Union County for the manufacture of 
good pottery and of fire-clay goods. It is possible that valuable clays 
may cover as much as half of the total area of the county. Though 
analyses have not been made of all the varieties of clay found in 
Union County it may safely be assumed that the clays are similar to 
those of Ouachita County, many of which have been analyzed. Until 
recently there was a lack of prompt transportation, for there was no 
railroad in the county, but the railroad from Camden to Eldorado 
and other railroads lately completed now afford cheap transportation 
for any clay goods that may be manufactured from the fine clays 
alon^ Ouachita River. 
