History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 206

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224

USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 206
USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 206

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Civil List.

CHOSEN FREEHOLDERS.

Elias Rose, 1877. Richard S. Conover, 1877.

James Sweeney, 1878, 1879, 1881.

John Hart, 1880.

George Such, 1878. James Blew, 1881.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

James Wood, 1881.

John H. Congor, 1881.

TOWN CLERKS.

Timothy Quade, 1877.

Charles M. Fisher, 1878-81.

TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE.

William E. Dayton, 1877-80. James Wood, 1878.

Isaac Walling, 1877.

John H. Congor, 1878, 1879.

J. R. Morgan, 1877.

J. W. Walling, 1880.

Stephen Kelley, 1877.

J. F. Hillman, 1881.

George Such, 1877-81.

C. Frost, 1881.

Timothy Quade, 1878.

ASSESSORS.

Charles Rose, 1877.

L. Smitlı, 1879.

Edward E. Hillman, 1878, 1881.

COLLECTORS.

J. M. Blew, 1877-80.

Lewis Miller, 1881.

CONSTABLES.

William O. Maxfield, 1877. A. L. Rus, 1878-81.

JUDGES OF ELECTION.

Jolın R. Fauratt, 1878.

James Wood, 1881.

John H. Coogor, 1878.

OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.

Patrick McKson, 1877, 1878.

| A. L. Rue, 1879-81.

COMMISSIONERS OF APPEAL.

John R. Fsuratı, 1877. L. W. Johnson, 1879.

A. B. Maxfield, 1877. John Krumb, 1879-81.

Jolin IIart, 1877. John F. Hillman, 1880.

James Wood, 1878-81.

John A. Davis, 18S1.

855

SAYREVILLE.

SURVEYORS OF HIGHWAYS.

Andrew J. Disbrow, 1877-81. M. Bailey, 1879.

John Mead, 1877, 1878.

Industrial Pursuits .- The extensive beds of sand

place there is a red brick yard, at the border of the tide meadows, and from it a canal to the river. Here Mr. Van Deventer made brick for several years from clay obtained from pits near the yard, but the works and clay to be seen almost everywhere in Sayreville , are now idle. White fire-clay has been found at directly and indirectly furnish to the township all its present industries except a limited agricultural in- terest to which a comparatively few of its citizens, mostly thrifty Germans, have devoted themselves, en- hancing the value of the otherwise undesirable land far beyond that of farming areas in any part of the country. The trade in these sands and clays and the manufacture from them of brick and potter's ware has gained for the township a reputation far and wide which it never could have obtained by vir- tue of any other resources appertaining to it.

KAOLIN CLAYS AND SAND .- The laminated clay and sand bed is worked for brick-clay in the pits on the William F. Fisher property, north of the road from Washington to Amboy, in those of Peter Fisher, just south of the same, and in H. F. Worthington's, still farther south. Those at the side of the road go down a few feet bclow tide-level. The clay of these pits is all dark and very tough, making good brick.

At the northerly Worthington pits the bottom of the excavation is about ten feet below high-water mark ; at the southern end of the opening it is about at tide-level. Here the clay runs to the top of the ground, and there is no waste material to be removed. The thickness worked is about fifteen feet. At the bottom is a sandy, laminated bed, and over it a tough, bluish-black clay layer. The layers are all mixed together for the brick made there. A short distance northwest of the pits and near the yard a well sixty- five or sixty-eight feet deep was dug about twelve years ago which went through the clay formation. It was six feet in diameter for a depth of about thirty feet, and was then bored thirty-two feet in six holes, each two and one-half inches in diameter. From one of them water rose in abundance and filled the well to the overflow drain. In descending the first four or five feet the workmen passed through impure surface clay containing large quantities of sulphuret of iron. From that on they passed through blue clay, which, however, grew gradually darker in color in descend- ing until it became almost black. No sand was reached, but at the depth of thirty-five feet a clearly- defined stratum of clay was struck which was almost white and contained but very little sand. It is safe to infer that this white clay belongs to the Wood- bridge fire-clay bed, and that the water came from the underlying fire-sand bed, the bottom of the well representing the bottom of the Woodbridge bed at this place.

On the Van Deventer place on the Jacksonville road a red brick-clay was formerly dug. The yard was on the meadows near the river, and the pits were not extensive. Nothing has been done there for a number of years. On the Freeland Van Deventer

several points on the tract, lying within two feet of the surface, about fifty yards northeast of the farm- house, on the Washington road. This clay is sandy, contains white quartz, and has the appearance of some of the feldspars. The same bed is said to have been struck in a pit dug a few rods east of the house ; also close to the surface in the swampy ground northeast of the house. The line of strike of the clay beds runs from George Such's banks across this property to South River, and the elevation of the South Am- boy fire-clay bed on this line is thirty feet, which is about the height of the ground where the white clay has been discovered. The clay dug at the brick-yard is lower than this white fire-clay, and belongs, most likely, close under the kaolin. None of the fire-clay at this tract has been tested, the diggings having been made for exportation only.

The large brick-clay bank of Sayre & Fisher af- fords a very fine section of the strata, overlying the Woodbrige fire-clay bed and extending upward nearly to the horizon of the feldspar. The vertical section from the top of the bank to the tide-water in the river shows the following strata : (1) laminated clay and sand layers about 40 feet ; (2) laminated sand containing some leaf impressions, 1} to 5 feet; (3) drab-colored clay (for front brick), 4 to 10 feet ; (4) white sand, 5 feet ; (5) black, sandy bed, very full of lignite and containing some leaf impressions, 6 to 7 feet ; (6) sand (leaf-bed) at low-water mark. The bearing on (1) is nothing more than a part of the clayey soil changed by atmospheric agents and by cultivation. Towards the top of the bank the clay is somewhat faded and of a grayish color. Pyrite and lignite occur throughout all the strata. No order is recognized in the succession of the layers of the clay and sand, nor do they run in an unvarying thickness from one end of the bank to the other, but vary from point to point. Near the bottom of this thickness (1) there is a very tough and fat black clay about 4 feet thick ; then comes the sand (2), which is of clean quartz and beautifully laminated; (3) is a drab-col- orcd clay very persistent in all parts of the bank, from 4 to 10 feet thick, with an average top elevation above high-water mark of 15 feet, which is very com- pact and finely laminated, and splits on the strata lines into flat sheets and masses. Its specific gravity is 1.705 to 1.732; that of the more sandy, common brick- clay of the bank is 1.860 to 1.882. Under a magnify- ing glass of low power it appears full of minute plates of mica. Its composition is as follows :

Alumina, 27.42; silicic acid, 28.30; water (com- bined), 6.60; sand (quartz), 27.80 ; titanic acid, 1.00; potash, 2.71 ; magnesia, 18 ; sesquioxide of iron, 2.68; water (moisture), 2.90. Total, 99.59. A very little

856

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

lignite and occasional small nodules of pyrite are in it. On burning it becomes pale yellow to wbite, and it is used successfully in the manufacture of pressed front brick. Geologically this bed is considered the equivalent of the top white clay north of the Raritan and the pipe-clay of other banks. Under this sand and leaf-bed and a few feet below tide-level has been found a white clay which is sufficiently refractory to make a No. 2 fire-brick. This latter bed of white clay was struck 25 to 30 feet beneath the surface in a well dug near Saye & Fisher's office and store. The dip of the Woodbridge bed should therefore be found here at a depth of 10 to 15 feet below the water-level. The bank has a working face over a quarter of a mile long, and a very large amount of clay is dug every year. Cars running on narrow-gauge railways carry it to the yards.

Less than a quarter of a mile east of the bank of Sayre & Fisher James Wood digs a similar clay for his red brick yard. The strata are like those above described, and are an extension of the same. The digging does not go down quite so deep, the bottom being about ten feet above the level, but as the bank is farther to the southeast the dip of the strata com- pensates for this less depth, and the same brick clay is obtained as in Sayre & Fisher's bank, and the bank not being so high less thickness is worked. Mr. Wood uses his clay in his yards adjoining those of Sayre & Fisher on the east. The dark brick-clay has been found fifteen feet beneath the surface on the line of Sayre & Fisher's railway, about half-way between the brick-clay bank and the fire-clay pits, and it is also reported to have been found sixty feet beneath the fire-clay of this firm.

Fire-clay has been dug at several points on Sayre & Fisher's large tract. The banks formerly worked are between a quarter and a third of a mile northeast of the one now occupied, and all are north of the Wash- ington and South Amboy road. At the latter there is much variation in the stratification, but the follow- ing order is generally observed :

(1) Gravelly earth and loam, 3 to 4 feet ; (2) sand with earthy layers, 18 to 20 feet; (3) white fire-clay, 1 to 4 feet ; (4) blue fire-clay, 4 to 9 feet ; (5) sandy fire-clay, 2 to 3 feet ; (6) clayey kaolin containing py- rite, 5 feet ; (7) fine kaolin, 6 feet.

The gravelly earth at the top evidently is part of the drift which covers most of this country. The sand over the clay is beautifully laminated, and the thin, gently undulating layers have a slight dip to- wards the southeast, though in places they are hori- zontal. Through it there are some thin, loamy layers, in which the sand is mixed with a yellow earth. To- wards the bottom, near the clay surface, the sand re- sembles glass-sand. The fire-clay is exceedingly un - even. The mean elevation above high-water level is sixty-five feet. In places there is a thickness of sev- eral feet of white, clayey kaolin between the top drift sand and the fire-clay bed. The white fire-clay at the |

top is probably blue clay faded; sometimes a little lignite is seen in it just over the blue clay. Towards the bottom of the bed the fire-clay becomes more sandy, grading into what is there termed a clay kaolin. The blue clay, the best of the fire-clay of the bank, is a homogeneous compact mass, having a specific grav- ity of 1.657 to 1.705. It does not fade or become dis- colored by exposure, and is composed as follows :

Alumina, 38.66; silicic acid, 41.10; water (com- bined), 13.55 ; sand, 3.10; titanic acid, 1.20; potash, 0.28; soda, 18; sesquioxide of iron, 0.74; water (moisture), 1.00. Total, 99.81.

The kaolin at the bottom is very fine-grained, and contains a little white mica. The pits are generally stopped in this bed, as the water comes in quite freely, but borings have gone through it and into a dark sand, and then stopped in a dark clay. All of the clays, kaolin, and top-sand dug in this bank are used by this firm in their own works on the Raritan. The kaolin is largely used in the mixture for front brick, and is sent to the brick-yards by cars. The fire-clays are carted to the fire-brick works hy team.

Only half a mile from the Raritan, along the old road to Burt's Creek, are the clay banks of Whitehead Brothers, extending a quarter of a mile from north- west to southeast, and on the line of the dip. Con- siderable variation in the character of the strata is seen, as well as in their arrangement. The first dig- ging was in the southeast, in what is known as "the Bolton" pit. In this there was about sixteen feet of top-dirt and then a fire-clay bed twenty feet thick, having a top elevation of seventy to seventy-two feet, and lying upon kaolin. The bank as now worked shows at the south end the following order of strata : (1) yellowish-white sand, in places including some sandy clay layers, twenty-five to thirty feet; (2) yel- low-buff clay and (3) blue fire-clay, one to twenty feet ; (4) sand and kaolin, eight feet.

There is in places a thin layer of reddish gravel at the surface overlying the sand. In the northern part of this bank the strata appear in the following order and thickness :

(1) Reddish-yellow gravel and (2) yellowish-white sand with streaks of clay, twenty to twenty-five feet ; (3) sandy bed (called kaolin), six feet; (4) fire-clay, four feet ; (5) kaolin, four feet; (6) blue pipe-clay at the bottom. Some of the sand is sold to foundries and for building purposes. In the northmost pits there is, between the sand and the clay, a sandy layer which is sold as a kaolin. In some of the pits there is a thin stratum full of wood on the clay. It has not yielded any leaf impressions. Both the top and the bottom of the fire-clay bed are very uneven. The top height, northeast of the Burt's Creek road, is seventy-six feet. South of this and west of the road it is only sixty feet. The best fire-clay in this bank contains a little fine sand. Its specific gravity is 1.745 to 1.771. The layer under the fire-clay is not as sandy as that over it, and is the kaolin bed of the clay series. It is used

857

SAYREVILLE.

in fire-brick. The black clay at the bottom contains both pyrite and lignite, and is not generally reached or dug. Only the best of it is valuable as pipe ma- terial. The red clay is sold to foundries and known as foundry clay. Some of the blue clay goes into fire- brick, and some of it is used for boiler linings. The clays from this bank have usually been sold in bulk, unsorted. Northwest of Whitehead's bank, near the Methodist Church, fire-clay has been dug.

From fifty to three hundred yards south of the Sayreville and Burt's Creek road, and near the head of a small stream running northward to the Raritan, arc the east banks of Whitehead Brothers. The west group of pits were dug in 1877, and are nearest to the road. The surface of the ground is between forty and sixty feet high, and the yellow sand on the clay ranges from six to eight feet thick in a pit near the road to a thickness of twenty feet in the main bank one hun- dred yards from it. The top of the clay is, therefore, from thirty-five to forty feet, and that lying highest is sandy. About five feet down there is a layer eighteen inches thick, streaked very slightly by oxide of iron, which dries white. Under this the clay is blue and better, and toward the bottom it becomes sandy. The pits are dug eight to nine feet in clay, and do not go through it. The best of the clay pro- cured here is slightly sandy, but that does not render it less refractory. A little southeast of these pits there is an older opening which has not been worked re- cently. The top of the clay bed in the southeastern part of this opening is fifty-four feet high, which is probably above the average elevation.

Whitehead Brothers' fire-sand pit is by the road- side a quarter of a mile east of the clay pits last re- ferred to. At the top it shows from one to four feet of gravelly earth, eight feet of yellow fire-sand with streaks of loam, very sandy clay in a thin layer, and at the bottom sand and a clayey kaolin. The sand in this pit is mostly quite coarse and sbarp-grained. It is carted to boats which load at the proprietors' dock on the river, and is sold for use in foundries and iron furnaces. About half-way from this pit to the dock and west of the road the same firm dig a inould- ing sand in the eastern side of a round hill which rises fifty feet above the surrounding surface and seventy feet above tide-level. A long excavation ex- poses to view about thirty feet of quite clean white quartz sand, finely laminated and covered by a yellow sandy earth a few feet thick and thinning away on the hillsides. This sand is sold to foundries and for building purposes. It is said there is a dark-colored clay under this sand bed. If there is, it doubtless belongs to the laminated clay and sand bed.

At Burt's Creek there is a clay bank on the J. K. Brick estate. The digging has been along the eastern and northeastern side of a ridge, and has exposed the strata along this for a quarter of a mile north and south. The top of the fire-clay is between twenty- eight and thirty-six feet high ; but various heights

appear within a few yards. The following shows the order and thickness of the several layers: (1) yellow sand, with some gravelly layers through it, fifteen to forty feet; (2) buff-colored fire-clay ; (3) blue fire- clay and (4) sandy fire-clay, six to fourteen feet ; (5) extra sandy clay and sand, seven feet.

The sand at the top is nearly all fine white quartz, alternating with very thin layers of quartz pebbles, and is thrown aside or used in filling up the pits. In some parts of the bank is a thin layer of black sandy earth, between this sand bed and the fire-clay, and in this Iignite is abundant, and leaf impressions have been found in it. At other points the sand just over the clay for two to eight inches is cemented into a kind of stone by iron oxide. A red clay is got at the top of the more southeastern pits, and very frequently the top of the bed is buff-colored. The upper portion of the blue clay of the bed is considered the best, and is there designated as "XX" or "No. 1" clay. The paler blue portion, lower down, is marked "X" or " No. 2." Toward the bottom the bed is more sandy. The best clay is bluish-white, compact, having a speci- fic gravity of 1.760 to 1.773, and containing an occa- sional scale of white mica. The No. 2 grade is a little sandy, and its specific gravity is 1.852 to 1.901. The kaolin consists of fine quartz and a little white clay, without mica, is considered a first-class article, and is used with the clays of this bank in fire-brick by the proprietors, E. D. White and Co., at the Brooklyn City Clay Retort and Fire-Brick Works, Van Dyke Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. The following layers are shown in the opening of another clay bank owned by the firm and located a few rods northwest of the main bank :

(1) Yellow sand, ten to fifteen feet; (2) dark-col- ored sandy clay, four feet ; (3) black clay, full of lignite and pyrite, two to three and one-half feet; (4) black clay, used for ware or No. 2 brick, four feet ; (5) yellow sand (boring), six feet.

The clay layer No. 2 is sandy, but the sand in it is fine-grained and dries nearly white. It is used in the manufacture of yellow-ware. The next layer is quite full of leaf impressions. Its only use is as a substitute for Albany slip or glazing pipe. The next lower clay is another potter's clay stratum, although generally put in the mixture for No. 2 fire-brick. The materials of these banks of the Brick estate are carted about a quarter of a mile to the dock, at the head of the long slip or canal which opens northward into the Raritan, and shipped to the works in Brooklyn.

The clay banks of George Such are on the Ridgway tract, east of Burt's Creek. A large area has been dug over, but it is all comprised in two groups of pits or openings. The eastern group, east of old Burt's Creek and Jacksonville road, is not now worked. The western bank is much larger, and is the scene of present operations. In so large an area there is con- siderable variation in the stratification, but all are within the range of the general order of arrangement

858

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

of the members of the plastic clay series. The fol- lowing order is presented as a fair approximate repre- sentative of the bank :

(1) Yellow sand, with thin layers of gravel, five to thirty-five feet ; (2) dark-colored sandy clay, ten feet and under; (3) white fire-clay (average), ten feet ; (4) mottled clay and (5) red clay, up to ten feet.

The dark-colored clay is sandy, containing more or less lignite, and some trunks of trees three feet across have been found in it. Pyrite is common in it, and amber is occasionally found. At present no use is made of this clay, though some of it is said to be good enough for drain-pipe. The average thickness of the fire-clay is ten feet. White, buff, and red clays are got. Some of the white clay contains pyrite. This clay is washed and thus cleared of this injurious constituent, probably about one-third of the total amount dug being thus treated. Some of it is very pure and of superior quality, and is sold for fire-brick. The so- called "paper"-clay used for glazing wall-paper is all washed. By a proper mixture of clays of different colors almost any desired shade is obtained. The fol- lowing shows the composition of washed white clay : Alumina, 38.34; silicic acid, 42.90; water (combined) 13.50 ; sand (quartz), 1.50; titanic acid, 1.20; potash, 0.26; soda, 0.18; sesquioxide of iron, 0.86; water (moisture), 1.10. Total (determined), 99.84. These washed samples are lighter than the crude clays, the specific gravity of a buff paper clay being 1.530 to 1.571 ; that of the unwashed white clay being 1.716 to 1.751. All of its varied phenomena of arrangement, extent, and character give a peculiar interest to this bank, and make it a favorable place for observations both of a geological and practical nature. Generally the top of the fire-clay bed is white, lower down it is spotted red and white, and at the bottom red, and this order of colors not uniform nor everywhere ob- · served. Some of the richer white clays, containing some pyrite, are sold for the manufacture of alum. A track runs to the washing-works near by, and to Such's dock on the Raritan, a mile distant. In the bank the track is shifted to suit the digging, and top- dirt and clays are readily carried in cars drawn by teams to the works, to the dock, or to the waste-dump. The washing-works are north of the clay bank, and about them are the large drying-vats used. The im- provement of clays by washing is practiced at no other establishment in New Jersey. Half a mile southeast of Such's clay works are the clay pits of Laird & Furman. But little clay has been dug here, and the pits have not been operated for some years. There is an overlying yellow sand bed ten to fifteen feet thick. The Middlesex Company, on Burt's Creek, is mining and dealing in furnace sand and potter's clay and manufacturing much brick.

A tract of about seven hundred acres, known as the Kearney tract, borders the Raritan northeast of Burt's Creek, and upon it clay pits have been dug at several points. "The Western Pits" are on both sides of the

old Burt's Creek and South Amboy road. Here the roadway divides the diggings into two groups of pits, one north the other south of it. On the north the top of this bed has an elevation of thirty-two to thirty- six feet; on the south its height is twenty-nine to thirty-five feet ; but a difference of several feet is common within short distances. South of the road the average thickness of the clay bed is eight feet. Under it there is fine sand and kaolin. At the top a spit or two of the clay is white, next comes the blue or bluish-white, then the red clay. These are merely shades of color, all in one bed, and the color- line is the only one seen. The upper part of the northern bed is a buff clay. Below this it is bluish- white, the line between the two shades of color being distinct and clearly marked. Pyrites are quite abund- ant in the top of this buff clay. Each spit is exam- ined, and the pyrite cut out and thrown aside. The clay thus sorted is sold for alum-making. The lower part of this buff clay is very rich, and is sold for glaz- ing paper, commanding a high price. The bluish- white clay is rich in alumina, contains little foreign matter, and is esteemed the best of the bank. Its composition is given in the following analysis :

Alumina, 39.24; silicic acid, 42.71; water (com- bined), 13.32 ; sand (quartz), 0.70; titanic acid, 1.60 ; potash, 0.47 ; soda, 0.42; lime, 0.20; sesquioxide of iron, 0.46; water (moisture), 1.158; total, 100.70.

This clay approaches a pure kaolinite in composi- tion, dries white and retains its whiteness. It is the most refractory of the clays dug here, and is sold for fire-brick. The best of the clays obtained here have a specific gravity of 1.702 to 1.742. No attempt has been made in these pits to utilize a fire-sand or kaolin found under the fire-clay. There is so much water in the stratum that its extraction is not practicable while digging the clay, as it would soon rush up and fill the pits. The " Northeastern Bank" is less than a quarter of a mile northeast of the pits just described. It is an older bank, in which work was resumed a few years ago. At the side of the road the pits pass through a bed of black sandy clay, also several feet thick, into the fire-clay. North of this about one hun- dred yards there is none of the black clay, but the sand-bed attains a maximum thickness of forty feet. A very few thin layers of white gravel occur in it. The whole has a plainly laminated structure, and much of the bed is very clean, sharp sand. The removal of so great a thickness of bearing, which is waste material, is costly, and compensated for only by the superior quality of the clays which it covers. The top of the clay bed here also has its characteristic inequalities of surface. At the top there is a white to faint-buff clay, reaching down four feet. The top spit of this contains a few pyrites, which are cut out. The re- maining mass is very rich fine clay. The lower por- tion of this buff clay is almost free from impurities, and is considered the best clay of this tract. The following is the result of an analysis: Alumina, 39.14;

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 206

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts Number of Pages: 1224

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224