SAND-LIME    BKICKMAKING     NEAR    BIRMINGHAM,     ALA.         257 
be  obtained  from  the  use  of  high  calcium,  hot  or1  fat  lime,  that  is,  lime 
made  from  limestone  containing  85  to  100  per  cent  of  calcium  car- 
bonate.    Some  magnesium  carbonate  may  be  present. 
According  to  Peppela  the  cost  of  production  in  this  country,  not 
including  interest,  depreciation,  repairs,  etc.,  varies  from  $3  to  $4 
per  thousand  and  the  selling  prices  vary,  according  to  the  locality, 
from  $8  to  $15  per  thousand. 
A  few  notes  are  appended  concerning  the  plant  near  Sayreton,  Ala,., 
a  village  just  north  of  Birmingham.  This  plant  is  owned  and  oper- 
ated by  the  Birmingham  Sand-lime  Brick  and  Stone  Manufacturing 
Company.  The  sand  used  here  is  derived  from  the  sandstone  out- 
cropping along  the  crest  of  Sand  Mountain.  This  sandstone  lies  near 
the  base  of  the  "Coal  Measures."  Its  composition  is  shown  by  the 
following  analysis : 
Analysis  of  sandstone,  fr owl  Sand  Mountain,  Alabama. 
Metallic  iron  (Fe) 0.  50 
Silica  (Si02) • 92.  80 
Alumin'a  (A1203) 2.  69 
Lime  ( CaO) 33 
Magnesia  (MgO) 50 
Moisture 62 
The  sand  from  the  pulverized  rock  is  mixed  by  the  Schwarz  process 
with  lime  in  the  proportion  of  70  pounds  of  lime  to  a  cubic  yard  of 
sand  with  the  addition  of  enough  water  to  make  the  mass  plastic. 
The  material  is  then  pressed  dry  and  run  into  cylindrical  driers,  where 
the  brick  remain  eight  hours  under  a  pressure  of  160  pounds  of  steam. 
The  brick  are  white  and  hard  and  have  a  crushing  strength  of  4,507 
pounds  per  square  inch.  The  daily  capacity  of  the  plant  is  20,000 
brick.  The  product  is  sold  in  Alabama,  Georgia,  and  Mississippi, 
and  there  is  a  large  local  demand. 
An  unlimited  supply  of  sandstone  from  the  formation  supplying 
the  sand  at  Sayreton  is  to  be  had  along  Sand  Mountain,  Black  Jack 
Ridge,  and  Shades  Mountain,  and  also  on  Oak  Mountain,  east  of  Leeds. 
Sand  from  a  lower  Carboniferous  sandstone  lying  between  the  Fort 
Payne  chert  and  the  Bangor  limestone,  which  has  an  extensive  out- 
crop in  the  region,  would  also  be  suitable  for  brickmaking,  since  it 
is  nearly  pure  quartz  sand.  The  quarry  between  Gate  City  and 
Irondale,  from  which  glass  sand  has  been  taken,  is  in  this  sandstone. 
It  makes  Little  Sand  Mountain  southwest  of  Trussville  and  the 
dikelike  outcrop  from  Tarrant  Gap  to  Mount  Pinson,  known  as 
Rocky  Row.  It  is  conspicuous  in  Blount  Valley.  At  Blount  Springs 
it  makes  the  sharp  ridge  just  east  of  the  hotel.  It  is  possible  that 
many  of  the  sandstone  strata  in  the  coal  measures  would  afford  sand 
a  Peppel  S.  V.,  Bull.  Geol.  Survey  Ohio  No.  5,  1905,  p.  78. 
