Pattison Sand Co.

Producer in Clayton county in Iowa, United States with commodities Sand and Gravel, Industrial/Frac Sand, Silica
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Land status
  12. Ownership information
  13. Links to other databases
  14. Bibliographic references
  15. General comments
  16. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10242633
MAS/MILS ID 190430001
Record type Site
Current site name Pattison Sand Co.
Alternate or previous names Clayton Plant, Clayton Silica Mine, Pattison Sand Mining Co. LLC

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Geographic coordinates: Elevation UTM Precision Relative position Point location
Main Entrance -91.11958, 42.88132 (WGS84) 10 Main adit into current underground workings.
(click for info)
Pit -91.12, 42.877 (WGS84) 10 Old Pit. South of the old mine adit.
Pit -91.11232, 42.87578 (WGS84) 10 New South Quarry. (Larger than seen on satellite imagery when Wilson and Benson visited in July, 2015.)
Main Entrance -91.11783, 42.8717 (WGS84) 10 Adit to the new Wille Mine (pronounced Willy, named for the family that leases the property).
Main Entrance -91.14099, 42.89709 (WGS84) 10 Coordinates are for main office, (a converted summer cottage). Mine is to the SE. The "plant" immediately adjacent to the office is for grain loading, it is not sand.
Main Entrance -91.124, 42.889 (WGS84) 100 Main entrance to OLD underground mine. This is no longer used for the mine, it belongs to the grain storage operation.
-91.12206, 42.88828 (WGS84) 10 Rail loadout for sand.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Clayton(county)

Iowa(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Brodtville(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Oelwein(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Dubuque(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Grant-Little Maquoketa(hydrologic unit)

Upper Mississippi-Maquoketa-Plum(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Mississippi-Maquoketa-Plum(hydrologic subregion)

Upper Mississippi(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Iowa Clayton

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
5th Principal 93N 2W 7; 18 SW4; N2 Iowa

Comments on the location information

  • PLSS is for the actual mining area, not the main office. Main office is to the NW in sec. 1, T93N, R3W
  • "Mines" labeled on topo in NW4 of sec. 7 are the old adits that are now used for grain storage.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Sand and Gravel, Industrial/Frac Sand Primary
Silica Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Sand Ore

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Sandstone
    Rock type qualifier Pure quartz/silica sand.
    Rock unit name St. Peter Sandstone
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Ordovician
    Stratigraphic age (oldest) Late Cambrian

Nearby scientific data

Main Entrance (1) -91.11958, 42.88132
Pit (2) -91.12, 42.877
Pit (3) -91.11232, 42.87578
Main Entrance (4) -91.11783, 42.8717
Main Entrance (5) -91.14099, 42.89709
Main Entrance (6) -91.124, 42.889
(7) -91.12206, 42.88828

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • "St. Peter Sandstone (Also called Ottawa Sand) is a subsurface Ordovician formation of sandstone material that can be found throughout much of the Midwest. This massive sheet can vary from 15 to 223 feet below the surface. St. Peter Sandstone is used to make glass, bricks, sandblasting sand, and coring sand. The St. Peter formation is a very pure, white, quartz sandstone. It is often weakly cemented and will crumble in your hands. If the sand grains are well rounded and scarred with abrasions (gives the sand grains a frosty look) they were probably blown around by the wind. It is believed that this deposit was laid down as a beach deposit by an advancing sea at the beginning of the middle portion of the Ordovician Period. Since the sand was deposited in shallow water, or as beach dunes, the St. Peter sandstone often shows such distinctive sedimentary structures as ripple marks and cross-bedding. St. Peter sandstone is very pure (96% - 99% pure quartz/silica)" (www.pattisonsand.com)

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface-Underground
Development status Producer
Commodity type Both
Significant Yes
Mining method Quarry
Production years 1870s-1983, 2007-present (2015)

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner MARTIN MARIETTA CONCRETE MATERIALS DIVISION
    Year 1973
  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Pattison Sand Company, LLC
    Home office 701 1st Street Clayton, IA 52049 (563) 964-2860 info@pattisonsand.com
    Year 2014
    First year 1983

Comments on the workings information

  • "The original sand mine was created in the 1870s as an open pit mine. In l945, the sand mining operations were expanded to include an underground mine. This mine has been owned and operated by various companies over the years until 1983 when Pattison purchased it." (www.pattisonsand.com)

Comments on development

  • "The room and pillar method used in the sand mine is similar to that used in other mines. The rooms are thirty-three feet square and fifty two feet apart. For every thirty-three square feet of sand removed, there is a fifty-two foot square pillar left intact. There are approximately 35 acres of underground mine and 300 acres of surface area. Facilities include wet and dry plant operations, rail load-out, product storage, a tailings pond, a maintenance and fabrication shop, a rotary dryer, truck loading facilities and miscellaneous reclamation areas." (www.pattisonsand.com)
  • There are approximately 35 acres of underground mine and 300 acres of surface area. (http://www.pattisonsand.com/coinfo/coinfo-who-we-are)
  • When Pattison acquired the property in 1983, the underground mine had 14 miles of tunnels and total capacity of 60 acres of underground storage area (which was used to store grain).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
General Anna Wilson and Mary Ellen Benson, USGS Central Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center, Denver, visited the Pattison Sand properties near Clayton, IA on July 14, 2015. Hosted by owner/manager Kyle Pattison and Director of health and Safety, Tim Adkins.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 1983-11-18 Intermountain Field Operations Center (IFOC) U.S. Bureau of Mines
Editor 2014-03-17 Wilson, Anna B U.S. Geological Survey Updated record. Added current ownership.

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.