JC Budding Quarry

HONEYBROOK, CHESTER COUNTY. J. C. Budding & Co. have a large quarry in the Chickies quartzite 2 miles northwest of Honeybrook. The beds dip north west, are massive, and in places feldspathic or arkosic. This material, however, does not seem to have decomposed to clay save at one point in the quarry, where a bed of arkose about 30 feet thick has weathered to a white clay, which was worked some years ago. The deposit strikes northeastward. It is undoubtedly derived from the feldspathic sandstone, for specimens showing every stage in the transition from sandstone to clay can be seen. At the base or footwall of the deposit lies a quartz vein which contains a black mineral that appears to be tourmaline. The clay is very white but is no longer worked, as the deposit is not very extensive. This deposit of white-residual clay is the only one that the writer knows of in this district. If others are present they lie in the quartzite belt and not in the schist. A sample of this kaolin, when examined under the microscope, was found to be medium to coarse grained. Quartz was very abundant. Hydromica was common, some of the grains being large and showing optical characters close to sericite; kaolinite was doubtfully present -in very fine grains; rutile was common in both small and medium sized grains. A little tourmaline was noti.ced.