After Glacial Lake Passaic dried up some 18,000 years ago, left behind were beds of silt and     sand an estimated 150 feet thick. Mining the resultant clay deposits began in the late 19th century, mostly in Morris County, including an extensive dig in Long Hill Township. Clay mining may have begun in Warren in the late 1890s but was at its most intensive during the period 1915 to about 1950 when the Crabb Clay Products Corp. operated a large pit on the west side of Dead River Road (then called Crabb Road) between the Dead River and what later became Route 78.            At least two kilns near the roadway turned the excavated clay into hollow building blocks, tile,    bricks and flower pots. The old clay pit, now filled with brackish water, is still visible through the underbrush and trees. Charles L. Crabb, who served as township clerk from 1927 to 1929,  was president of the Board of Education during the battle for Central School, resigning in 1932.

County records reveal that Manfredi and Maria Baranello of Brooklyn acquired the future site of the Crabb clay pits from William H. Betts in 1904, then sold some 64 acres to Charles and Susannah Crabb, also of Brooklyn, in 1908. In turn, the Crabbs sold the land to the Crabb Clay Products Corp. in 1916. Whether the Baranellos or the Crabbs mined for clay prior to 1915 is unknown. In August 1915, however, local newspapers reported that two tile plants were under construction “on the Crabb farm, Dead River.”  An article on August 13th reported that “the buildings for the housing of the new machinery for the new tile company recently organized were completed yesterday” and on August 21st the papers reported that “The Crabb Clay Products Co. will be ready for work next week. They already have orders for about 10 carloads of flooring from New York.”

The Crabb family operated the clay pits until about 1950, although after c. 1935 the operation was apparently much diminished. The Millington Clay Products Corp. was also active in the area; as late as 1949 it owned some 77 acres along Dead River Road. Some years later the land was acquired by the State when Route 78 was cut through the area.

Several of Warren’s old-timers remember the clay pits well. “I first went swimming in Crabb's Clay Pit on Dead River Road when I was a teenager of about 15 or 16 [c. 1935], writes Frank R. Freehauf. “Most often, my brother and I and others would swim in the swimming hole in the Passaic River at a bend that was part of my grandfather's east pasture. There was also the Crystal Bowl on Gregory Lane owned by Arthur Walters, which as the name implies was clear and fresh. Not so the almost two acre clay pit on Dead River Road.

“The water was murky and concealed who knew what? We were aware that snapping turtles were there because we would see them on occasion ‑ some as large as a washtub. But I was always uneasy while swimming in the clay pit because I could not see the bottom to discover what else might be lurking there.

“There were a couple of rowboats pulled up on the bank and a makeshift dock that we used as a diving platform that extended 10 feet or so into the pit. I never did learn who owned the rowboats, but we made free use of them as suited our pleasure.

“The clay pit, full of water when I first saw it, is actually in two parts with a point of land delineating the separation. The dock I have mentioned was situated on the north shore of the pit closest to the road. I never did explore beyond the promontory. In my youth I gave no thought to the water that filled the pit, but in retrospect I have wondered how the clay could have been extracted without there being some strong pumping equipment to hold the water at bay. The water problem was confirmed by George Dealaman who said when his brother, Russell, worked at the clay pit he spoke of the difficulty in keeping the pit dry enough to remove the clay.

George also described the all manual operation by which the clay was obtained from the pit: First a dolly was lowered on narrow gauge tracks and clay was shoveled on it. When the load was complete, the dolly was winched to the top and pushed by hand on tracks to the building where it would be processed into a product ready for firing.

“All production had ceased years before I first set foot on the clay pit property. When I did so I beheld to my left a two-story masonry building already going to ruin.To my right were two large dome‑shaped kilns much like large igloos without the low tunnel‑like entrance. There were narrow gauge railroad‑like tracks leading into and through each of the kilns and a few little flat‑car type dollys were scattered about. Logically, brick were manufactured on the site and I know that a hollow tile building block was also produced there. In fact, I believe this fired clay building block was the primary product produced by Charles Crabb the owner of the Crabb Clay Products Company.

“My grandfather, Frank W. Ralph, Sr. used Crabb's clay building block to construct his store and apartment building in Millington in 1928. This hollow clay building block from Crabb's operation was used in other buildings constructed in the area. The Red Cross building in Plainfield is another example of which I am familiar. George Dealaman pointed out that the Fezandie house on the corner of Mountainview and King George Roads is also built with the Crabb clay building block. There are still a number of people who remember the clay pit at a time after it ceased to manufacture clay products. George Dealaman is one who remembers it in operation. His wife, Betty Betzold Dealaman, recalls riding on the little cars with the Bicknell children, someone pushing. My brother, Philip J. Freehauf, Jr., remembers swimming in the clay pit and going into one of the kilns where he found one unfired brick. His wife, Maude Bowers Freehauf, recalls ice skating on the frozen pit together with Mary Wehle and the Bicknells who lived in the area.Years ago I spoke to Lorraine Garino Longinetto who told me that she worked at the clay pit and one of her duties was to push the little cars with their load of clay products into the kilns to be fired.

“Today all that remains visible of the Crabb Clay Products operation is the large double pit filled with water. The kilns disappeared years ago; I speculate they were knocked down and hauled away as used brick by some enterprising thief. The two-story building was enveloped by Route 78 construction as was one of the kiln sites. The foundation for the other kiln and possibly some trackage may be under the woodland debris. The Crabb family lived in a house located on Mountainview Road just west of the Pilgrim Congregational Church almost opposite the north end of Round Top Road. For the curious’ drive north on Dead River Road over Route 78 and past the entrance to the access road. Immediately on the left you will see the Crabb Clay Pit brimming with water.

Another youngster who swam in the Crabb clay pits was Jack Farrell, who even today remembers that the water was clear but very cold.

Marjorie Kreisel, who still lives on Robin Road, recalls that Dead River Road (formerly known as Clay Pit Road and Crabb Road) was built on a base of broken and rejected tiles. The kilns, she says, are now buried under Route 78 and the access road on the northern side of the highway. Portions of the tram tracks are still visible near what she remembers was once called Sullivan’s Pond. The entire area was very swampy and treacherous and the hunt club that still owns part of the swamp warned members that there was quicksand in the area.