Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1906-05-23
BRICK and CLAY AREA
RAY WlCkHAM OF GLENULLlN
WRITES FOLLOWING EXCEL
EMIT ARTICLE
ON THIS IMPORTANT SUBJECT AS
1T RELATES TO WESTERN
NORTH DAKOTA.

Thinking that it may be of interest,
and perhaps of economic value to
some of the people living in the west
ern part of the state, I will give
brief discussion of the clays and coal,
which are SO plentiful in this section
of the state. Not until quite recently
has much thought and attention been
given to the development of the coal
and the utilization of the clays, but in
the near future they promise to be
among the leading industries. A
large amount of work on the clays
lege of Mining Engineering at the
state univel sity, and remarkably fine
products have been obtained. A
large amount of this pottery and fire
clay ware were on display at st. Louis
where it attracted wide attention and
was awarded a premium for excel
lence.
Clays which are adapted for COM
mon brick, thing, ETC., are found in
most any part of the state, but those
which are of high grade, called pot
tiers clay extend over comparatively
small area. The eastern edge of this
area is in the neighborhood of Heb,
ron, N. D., and even this far east are
found along the tops Of the very high
est hills some three or four hundred
feet above the elevation of the town.
AS far as known at present, Black
southwest of Hebron, is the extreme
south edge of this area. The western
Limit of this area ceases as the eleva-
ton drops on going down into the
Bad Lands along the Little Missouri
river While the table lands along
the Big and Little Missouris forms
the northern limit of this area. This
leaves a portion of our best clays on
the Fort Berthold reservation.
These deposits of fire clays, as we'll
as common clays, are found in the
Cretaceous period, subdivision Lara
mimic which is the last stage of the
Cretaceous. The clays- we're formed
as sediment laid down in the bot
tom of sea, which covered strip
of our prairie states from Texas up
through North Dakota and on through
into Canada. The clays being formed
in hn hnft0no nf
must necessarily be quite uniform in
elevation which is true in this case
for the layer of the fire clay horizon
does not vary more than hundred
feet, this elevation being about 2,400
feet above sea level.
The average thickness of fire clay
deposit is from fifteen to twenty feet
but in places it is found all of the
way from few inches up to eighty
feet in thickness. Of course it will
not be found everywhere in the area
7 have mentioned for in valleys which
are lower than the elevation of the
fire clay seam, all of the deposit has
been cut away by water action.
Fire clays must be free from any
fuxing materials in order to stand
the high temperature to which such
material must be subjected. The
auxing constituents are usually iron
:. and alkales. If the clay contains
enough iron to give the brick a red
dish color, deeper than cream color
when burned it at once indicates thai
= it is high grade clay either for fire
clay product or dishes. In glazing
dishes if there is much iron presen
= it will fuse into the glaze and product
dark tinge instead of pure white al
~ is required for dishware. H..
~ Good fire clays in large quantitie
d is found in very few localities in tn
E United States, the principal ones be
ing New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio
IA Illinois and North Dakota. Our stat
NJ has as good grade of clays as an
n of the other states, If not better. ]
is a we'll known fact as to the hig
"a grade of brick that is being made, bu
A it is not SO generally known tina
equally good dishes have been mad
81 from the same clay. s2&
II More is known about the coal {
this section than " the clay, but yer
"a few people have any idea of the ma
nitude OF the Ignite area 1t extend
over western North Dakota, "a corne
of South Dakota and Wyoming,
large part of eastern Montana and Q
north into Canada. The total are
n being over one hundred thousan
square miles OF coal fields. Not on
one vein underlies this immense are
but many have been revealed by DEF
borfngs. In the well bored at NJ
II dora, n. D., by the Northern Pacif
Railway company. seventeen veins
coal were encountered In the I'll,
hundred adj forty-one feet that VI
rs r.54fH mi. ~ a.