Attapulgite
Attapulgus, Decatur County, Georgia
Marker Inscription
Attapulgite. There are many types of Fullers Earth clay. Attapulgite is a unique type, found in the USA only in Decatur County, GA and Gadsden County FL. It is also found in Spain, Russia , and China. The unique nature of Attapulgite is, when mixed with fresh or salt water, it forms a gel. With new processes of refining oil, this is no longer a major use. Other uses have been developed in cosmetics, paint, medicine, dry wall taping, and oil drilling. All processing of the clay was moved to Quincy, FL in 1998. Some mining is still being done in the area. Erected by Friends of Attapulgus High School in 2008
Erected by Friends of Attapulgus High School
The Story
Attapulgite is a rare form of Fuller's Earth clay found in the United States only in Decatur County, Georgia, and neighboring Gadsden County, Florida (with deposits also in Spain, Russia, and China). Prized because it forms a gel when mixed with fresh or salt water, it was once heavily used in refining oil and later found its way into cosmetics, paint, medicine, drywall compound, and oil-drilling fluids. Local processing moved to Quincy, Florida, in 1998, though some mining continues in the area.
Why it matters
The clay gave its name to a whole mineral class and anchored a distinctive extractive industry, showing how a single unusual local resource can shape a community's economy.
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One of Decatur County's earliest settlements, Attapulgus began as the Borough of Pleasant Grove and took its present name—from a Creek word meaning "Dogwood Grove"—when a post office opened in 1838. Its economy grew around shade-grown tobacco, cultivated from the 1840s until 1973, and the rare clay Fuller's Earth (attapulgite), identified around 1890, with a railroad arriving in 1903. Churches, academies, and Masonic lodges took root through the 19th century, giving the small town a rich civic life.
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