Overview of Grand Ledge
The Grand Ledge area is one of the few places in west Michigan where there are extensive natural exposures of bedrock. The rocks are Pennsylvanian-age sedimentary rocks, mostly exposed along or near the Grand River near the town of Grand Ledge. Some of the best exposures are preserved in Fitzgerald Park where there are trails that take you past several outcrops (GL1, GL4, and GL5) of mostly sandstone and some coal.
In addition to the outcrops exposed naturally by river processes, some outcrops on the tour are the result of mining activity and are preserved in old, abandoned quarries. The clay mined from these quarries was actually shale from the Saginaw Formation mostly used in to manufacture tile conduit pipes and sewer pipes (http://www.gdledgehistsoc.org/history-clay.html).
Station GL1 is along the edge of a small pond within Fitzgerald Park that was the old American Vitrified Products Company Quarry. The old Grand Ledge Clay Products Company Quarry in the vicinity of GL2 and GL3 to the west of the park is private property and not accessible to the public. Rocks lower in the stratigraphic section, including the Saginaw shale that was the quarry target, have been covered as the quarry pit filled with water. Station GL6 to the north of the Grand River is located along the walls of the old Face Brick Quarry.
For historical information on the clay operations at Grand Ledge see:
