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Smithsonian Contributions - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

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134<br />

DIGGING THE CLAY<br />

View of clay pits where L: In any direction that we want to go with-<br />

Lanier and Edwin are in two miles of this place, we get most<br />

digging clay. any kind of clay we was looking for.<br />

You'll usually find three or four different<br />

kinds of clay in one clay pond. Course it<br />

is... we have to dig it in the fall of the<br />

year when the water in the ground is at a<br />

low tide. There's no clay that I ever<br />

found that would work by itself that<br />

come from a pond. You've got to go to<br />

two or diree more anyhow and get the<br />

clay from them and mix it all together so<br />

it'll work good. I have five different kinds<br />

right there. Three of them is a<br />

yellow. . . four of them is a yellow clay<br />

and the other one is a blue clay. Mix two<br />

of them together, you still can't use it.<br />

Mix the other three with it, then it makes<br />

a good turning clay. You can go on widi<br />

it.<br />

PROCESSING THE CLAY ("GRINDING")<br />

View of mule-powered L: Well, we call it a clay mill. It's for mixing<br />

pug mill. the clay. . .we call it grinding die clay.<br />

You see die way these pegs are put in diis<br />

staff going up and down, the way they're<br />

trimmed? They're flat on the bottom and<br />

kind of rounded off toward the top on die<br />

front side, and that gives the clay an uplifting<br />

motion, as the mule pulls diis<br />

thing around. And as it comes up, it<br />

leaves a hole behind that peg, and the<br />

clay just rolls back in and just keeps it<br />

mixed up real good. It takes about an<br />

hour and a half to two hours to grind a<br />

mill in this with a mule, and that's<br />

enough to last about a day and a half for<br />

one man, if he wants to work at it. If he<br />

don't, he can make it last a week long.

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