This geocache is part of the Visit Norfolk Area Nebraska GeoTour:
Forty geocaches have been hidden throughout Norfolk and the surrounding area that give you a taste of what the region has to offer!
To earn a geocoin (with matching travel tag), pick up a Visit Norfolk Area Nebraska GeoTour Passport from the Norfolk Area Visitors Bureau at 609 W. Norfolk Avenue in Norfolk, NE. Passports may also be downloaded. Collect 40 points as detailed in the passport to claim your geocoin (first-come, first-served and while supplies last). Click here to visit our website and download your passport!
Remember to record the code word from this cache in your GeoTour Passport!
GeoTour Stop #17: Clay Pit - Norfolk Brick and Tile Co
John F. Flynn came to Norfolk in April 1880 to start a brick factory in a location known as the “clay pit”. The ground in the pit was "extra good quality clay found within 3 feet of the surface and almost free of limestone". Built in 1883, the Norfolk Brick and Tile company produced 30,000 bricks a day. Many of the buildings on Norfolk Ave, as well as the streets of downtown, were built with bricks from the facility. After the quality of the clay declined, production ceased. In 1907 Dr. Carl J. Verges bought the 4.5 acres, tore down most of the buildings and converted the area to a private park. The park, known as “Verges Park”, was landscaped and included a lagoon, foot bridge, and gazebo. In 1933 a cave was dug and lined with comic strip adorned concrete. At the time it was used for meetings and parties and is now opened for special events only. In 1959, Dr Verges and his wife deeded the park to the City of Norfolk which gave it to the Elkhorn Valley Historical Society in 1986.
This Earthcache brings you to the center of Verges Park, in the heart of the excavated clay pit. Now, let's travel back to a time before the clay pit was excavated. Just how did all this clay come to be here?
The entire city of Norfolk and all of the surrounding area rests within the floodplain of the Elkhorn River and its North Fork. A floodplain is a wide, flat, low-lying area of land on both sides of a river channel. Floodplains are formed over thousands of years by the gradual flooding and draining of a river. Each time a river floods (from heavy rainfall, snow melt, or melting glaciers for example), the material it carries is deposited on the sides of its banks, eventually building up layers. In this case, resulting in a large deposit of clay.
Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained phyllosilicate minerals (minerals which impart plasticity and harden when fired or dried) and contain variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure. Depending on the soil's content in which it is found, clay can appear in various colors from white to dull grey or brown to deep orange-red. Clays are distinguished from other fine-grained soils by differences in size and mineralogy. Silts, which are fine-grained soils that do not include clay minerals, tend to have larger particle sizes than clays. Individual clay particles are smaller than 0.004 mm.
Clay minerals typically form over long periods of time as a result of the gradual chemical weathering of rocks, usually silicate-bearing, by low concentrations of carbonic acid and other diluted solvents. These solvents, usually acidic, migrate through the weathering rock after leaching through upper weathered layers. There are two types of clay deposits: (1) primary and (2) secondary.
(1) Primary clays form as residual deposits in soil and remain at the site of formation. These clays are most commonly formed by surface weathering: chemical decomposition of rocks, such as granite; solution of rocks, such as limestone; and disintegration and solution of shale. Residual clays are grainy and lack the smoothness necessary for workability. These clays are said to be non-plastic because they do not shape easily.
(2) Secondary clays are clays that have been transported from their original location by water, wind, and ice erosion and deposited in a new sedimentary deposit. Sedimentary clays are more plastic, and the particles are smaller, more uniform, and more mixed with other materials. Under the microscope, clay particles are flat, hexagonal, and thin. When wet, the particles can slip across each other. This ability to slip is what gives a clay its workability (plasticity).
To receive credit for this Earthcache, please complete the following tasks and submit the answers through our profile link above:
1.) List the first line of your answers as "Clay Pit - Norfolk Brick and Tile Company Earthcache"
2.) Based on the information provided in the text above and the historical marker at the site, (A.) was the clay pit comprised of Primary or Secondary Clays? (B.) What is your reasoning for this conclusion?
3.) Proceed to the "Old Building Ruins" reference point. This was the southern-most point of the excavation. Examine some of the remaining material present near the ruins. (A.) Does the particle size seem small or large? (B.) Does the material have plasticity or crumble apart easily with pressure?
4.) Based on your findings in the last question, why do you suspect the Norfolk Brick and Tile Company ceased brick production in 1907?
5.) Go to the "Bricks" reference point in Verges Park. Here you will find a sidewalk comprised of bricks manufactured by the Norfolk Brick and Tile Company. (A.) What is the color of the bricks? (B.) How do the bricks appear to have held up to weathering for the last 100+ years?
Any log that has answers posted with it will be deleted. Any log for which we have not received answers within a reasonable amount of time will also be deleted. Feel free to log this Earthcache as soon as you have completed the requirements. We will only respond if there are errors in your answers.
References: On-site informational signage, Wikipedia, Meeneecat
Geocache Info: Since this is an Earthcache, there is no physical container. You must email or use the messaging system to send in your answers for the questions above. This cache is available from dawn to dusk. Permission was granted for this cache placement. Additionally, if you are participating in the GeoTour, you will need to find the small plaque encased in brick at the reference point listed and enter the last word on this plaque as the code word for this cache in your GeoTour passport.
