Saskatchewan Clays of Dominion Importance

Generally speaking, the term 'clay' appears to convey but little to the average layman other than of a sticky substance to be rigidly avoided when making a cross-country drive in the family ark- especially so if the chains have been left behind. On the other hand, the technical ceramic; engineer, though his chariot be bogged in the self-same mud-holes, will, more than likely, be planning on ways and means for the conversion of the troublesome gumbo into paving bricks over which all might ride with pleasure and security. However, to come to the point, the term 'clay' bears much the same relation to the ceramic world that the term 'ore' does to the metallurgical; in other words, as there are many kinds of ores, so also are there many kinds of clays, and it therefore becomes necessary to classify and sub-classify them previous to a discussion of their relative values and importance. Hence, a brief digression will be made from the main topic of this paper in order to enumerate and classify a number of the more important types of clays. By so doing, the relative position of Saskatchewan clays, later discussed, will be better understood.