USA > Texas > Bastrop County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 24
USA > Texas > Travis County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 24
USA > Texas > Burleson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 24
USA > Texas > Lee County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 24
USA > Texas > Williamson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 24
USA > Texas > Milam County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 24
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
the Henderson county clay have proved to be of excellent quality. They have stood the severe test of the iron furnace at Rusk and of some of the lime kilns, and are highly recommended for their good qualities. The brick from the beds of Limestone county are also of good quality, and proper care in their mannfacture will make them fully equal to any. The Fayette clays which have come under my notice, which are classed as fire clays, seem to be somewhat high in fluxing constituents, but more careful selection of the clays may entirely obviate this difficulty.
The fire clays are found nsnally in connec- tion with the lignite beds, and in the central coal field directly underlying the coal seains. They are therefore found scattered over a wide area of the State, but only a few of them have been examined by the geological survey. These are nearly all from eastern Texas, and were collected during one field season. While they have not yet been fully studied, numerous analyses have been inade, and it is found that many of them are too "fat," or contain too much alumina for use in the state in which they are dug, but require a large mixture of sand to correct the excessive shrinkage that would otherwise take place in drying them, amounting in some specimens to one-fourth of their origi- nal bulk. Others, however, are of excellent quality, and careful selection of localities for mining will yield very favorable results, and clays be seenred suitable for brick for fur- naces, kilns, ovens, fire-boxes, retorts, saggers, and the many other similar articles.
Graphite, or Plumbago .- In the central mineral region are deposits of limited extent of an impure graphite in shales and schists. In view of the larger deposits of pure mna- terial in other localities it is not probable that this will be of much valne.
Soapstone .-- This highly infusible stone, which is used as firestone in stoves, heartlis and furnaces, is found in large quantities. One of the best exposures is about two miles south of west from Smoothing-Iron monnt- ain, and the most favorable districts for its further occurrence are that between House and Smoothing-Iron mountains and the King inountains, and to the west of that area. in Llano and Mason counties; also southeast in Llano, Gillespie and Blanco counties. As a lining for furnaces and other purposes which do not require a very firm texture this ina- terial is fully adequate, and it can be ent or sawed into blocks or masses of any desired shape, with a perfectly smooth surface if desired.
Mica .- While mica is a very abundant mineral in both the central and trans-Pecos regions, it is not commonly of such trans- parency and size as to be commercially valu- able. Specimens are in the museum, how- ever, from both localities which combine these requisites, and it is entirely probable that workable deposits may be found. It is used in stove fronts, lanterns, etc, also in the manufacture of wall paper and as a lubricant.
Asbestos .- Asbestos has often been re- ported from the central region, and many specimens have been received bearing that name. Upon examination this is fond to be fibrolite, and may answer for many pur. poses for which asbestos is used as refractory material, but not for the finer uses in the manufacture of cloth, etc.
ROAD MATERIALS.
Among the various materials snited for road-inaking are the large gravel deposits which are found in many portions of the State; some of the quartzitic sandstones
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
which oeenr in the Fayette beds (coast re- gion, from the Sabine to the Rio Grande, and from 40 to 150 miles wide); the eroded flints of the Cretaceous; some of the firmer limestones of the lower divisions of the Cre- taceons and the Carboniferons areas; the basalt of such areas as Pilot Knob in Travis county; some of the sandstones or siliceons iron ores of the iron region of east Texas; the granites and other tongh rocks of the central region are especially valuable, and similar rocks and the quartzites and por- phyries of west Texas will also prove of valne when transportation charges will admit of their use.
The occurrence of asphaltmm in various portions of the State has already been noticed, and its use as paving material is well known.
For the construction of sidewalks, in .ad- dition to the material above mentioned, flag- stones are found in various localities.
MATERIALS FOR PAINTS.
Graphite has already been mentioned under refractory substances.
Ochre is a hydrated oxide of iron, usually containing more or less clay or sand and giving various shades of yellow, red and brown, The most valuable is that which on preparation furnishes the color called Indian red. Ochres are found in connection with the geode and nodular ores of east Texas, forming eenters of the geodes, and also de- posits of limited extent. It is reported at many localities in the area covered by the timber-belt beds. In the Cretaceons area good oehres ocenr in Uvalde and Val Verde counties, in the latter of which one loeality has been developed to some extent and the material shipped. Other deposits have been
opened and worked very slightly for local use in different parts of the State.
Barytes is found in Llano county, but has not been put to any use at all as yet.
OTHER ECONOMIC MATERIALS.
Sulphur .- Specimens of native sulphur of a high degree of purity have been received from Edwards county, but up to the present no detailed examination has been made to ascertain its quantity or the condition of its oecurrenee.
Salt .- Like many of the other valuable de- posits of Texas, the occurrence of common salt is widespread. Along the coast to the south- west are lagoons or salt lakes from which large amounts of salt are taken annually. Besides the lakes along the shore many others oceur through western Texas, reaching to the New Mexico line, while northeast of these in the Permian region the constant recurrence of such names as Salt fork, Salt creek, etc., tell of the prevalence of similar conditions. In addition to the lakes and ereeks from which salt is secured by solar evaporation we have also extensive beds of rock salt.
That which is at present best developed is located in the vicinity of Colorado City, in Mitehell county. The bed of salt was found by boring at 850 feet, and proved to have a thickness of 140 feet. A vein of water was struck below it which rises to within 150 feet of the surface. This is pumped to the surface and evaporated, and the resulting salt purified for commeree.
In eastern Texas there have long been known low pieces of ground called "salines," at which salt has been manufactured by sink- ing shallow wells and evaporating the water taken from them. At one of these, Grand
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Saline, in Van Zant county, a well was sunk, and at 225 feet a bed of rock salt was struck, into which they have now dug 300 feet with- out getting through it. Many other similar salines are known in eastern Texas and west- ern Lonisiana, and the great deposits of rock salt developed at Petit Anse and Van Zandt under practically similar circumstances is certainly warrant enough for boring at the other salines for similar beds. Some of these localities are in Smith and Anderson counties.
In the Carboniferous area many of the wells yield salt water, sometimes strong enough to render them unfitted for any ordinary purpose, but no attempt has been made at their utilization. There are also brine wells iu limited areas in central Texas.
Alkalies .-- The source from which the salts of potash and soda can be obtained in Texas are: The alkali lakes, where there is a large percentage of sulphate of soda (Glauber salts) deposited by the evaporation of the water. Its impurities consist of some sul- plate of lime, or gypsum, and common salt.
Nitre, or saltpeter, was made fromn bat gnano during the late war, but, the necessity for its mnannfacture ending, it was abandoned.
Alum .- The best material for the manu- facture of alum is fonnd in the clay of the lignitic portion of the timber belt, or Fayette beds, which contain both pyrites and lignitie inatter. Nearly all the material used in the production of alum in this country is im- ported.
Strontia. - Two ininerals having this eartlı as a base (celestite and strontianite) are found in the lower magnesian rocks of the Cretace- ons of central Texas. It is found at Mount Bonnel near Austin, and in the vicinity of Lampasas, and can be expected to occur wherever the proper horizon of the Creta- ceous rocks containing it are found at the sur-
face. It is not only used in the form of nitrate for fireworks, but also in the mann- facture of sugar.
Epsomite .- Crystalline masses of Epson salts are found in the same series of beds that contain the strontianite and celestite. It is extremely doubtful, however, whether it can be made commercially valuable.
THE ARTESIAN WATER CONDITIONS OF TEXAS.
Artesian water is rain water which has fallen on some porons bed or stratum of earth and has followed the sloping course of this bed between other beds, which were sufficiently impervious to confine it until it has found an opening to the surface, either natural or artificial, at a lower level than its original source, through which it rises and flows off. When this opening is a natural one, it is a spring; when artificial, it is an artesian well.
The artesian-water conditions of a region are dependent upon its geology, topography and its rainfall. The geologic conditions are that there shall be a continuous porous stratum enclosed between two strata that are impervious. Topographically it is necessary that the exposed portion of this porous stratum-the " catchment " basin-be at sufficient elevation above that of the mouth of the wells to force a steady flow of water by hydrostatic pressure; and finally the rain- fall must be sufficient within the area cov- ered by the catchment basin to secure the steady supply of water. Unless all of these conditions be favorable there can be no con- stant supply of flowing water obtained.
For the purpose of this discussion, Texas is readily separable into three divisions, - the Gulf Slope (Cenozoic), the Central Basin (Paleozoic) and the Western Mountain systemn.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
The area covered by the Gulf Slope in -; cludes all the region east and sonthi of the western and northern boundary of the Grand l'rairie platean, which stretches southward from the Red river to the Colorado, and thence westward to the Rio Grande. In area this comprises fully one-half of the State and by far the most thiekly settled portion.
The Central Basin includes all that por- tion of the State west and north of the Grand Prairie, extending to the Gaudalupe monn- tains on the west.
The Western Mountain System covers the remainder of trans-Pecos Texas.
The Gulf Slope is in a certain degree a continuation of the topographie and geologic features of the States eastward which border mpon the Gulf, but in some ways its differ- ences are as pronounced as its resemblances. Thus, with the exception of a little marshy ground in the southeastern corner, there is none along the entire coast. Differences in amount and character of rainfall and. of ten- perature have also resulted in the production of a somewhat different topography, especial- ly toward the Rio Grande, and the soils of certain formations are of far greater fertility than those derived from rocks of similar age in the other States, owing to peculiar eondi- tions of formation.
The different sediments which now appear covering the surface of this area were laid down by the waters of a great sea, which in its present restricted basin we call the Gulf of Mexico.
Beginning at the coast in low and almost level prairies the ascent is gradnal toward the interior, in many places not exceeding one foot per mile for the first fifty miles. Through this comparatively level plain, which comprises the exposure of the strata em- braeed under the general name of "coast
clays, " the streams move sluggishly in tor- tuous channels, and for the most part throngli an open prairie country, the only timber be- ing along sncli water courses and in scattered notts or islands. As we pass inland this is snceeeded by other belts which, having been longer subjected to erosion, show a surface more and more undulating as we recede from the gulf. The aseent is also more rapid, and some elevations of as much as 700 feet are found, as at Ghent mountain, Chero- kee county; but such are unusnal south of the Grand prairie. This character of country is continuous from the gulf to the western scarp of the Grand prairie, east of the Brazos river. West of the Colorado river the undu- lating country ends at the foot of the south- ern scarp of the Grand prairie, which is a line of elevations known as the Balcones, from the top of which the Grand prairie stretches away north and west to the Rio Graude. The eastern portion of these belts is heavily timbered, Unt throughout the greater portion-west of the ninety-sixth meridian-the quantity of timber rapidly de- ereases and the prairie conditions become almost universal. The general elevation east and sonth of the Grand prairie is less than 500 feet.
The Grand prairie itself is a great plateau, preserved in its present extent by the resis- tence to erosion afforded by its capping of limestones, and is a marked topographie fea- ture of the State. Beginning at Red river it extends in a gradually widening belt to the south, until its western border meets the Colorado in Lampasas county, from which point it is contracted rapidly until it finds its narrowest exposure in crossing the river in Travis county north of Austin. From this point west it broadens rapidly, until it is merged into the mountainous trans-Pecos
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
legion. Its height above the country on either side is variable. On its eastern border, from Red river to the Brazos, there is not that abruptness of separation which distin, guishes it at other places from the upper and lower formations. In the northern por- tion this platean begins with an elevation of from 600 to 1,200 feet above sea level. West of the Colorado its northern edge reaches a height of 2,300 feet in the ridge which forms the divide between the water flowing into the Colorado and that flowing sonth. The south- ern border is, however, hardly ever more than 700 feet in height, and usually not so high. The western and northern edge of the Grand prairie is, generally speaking, topographieally higher than the eastern and southern, and the dip of the beds is very gentle toward the southeast.
The break between the Grand prairie and the Central Basin region is equally as decided as that between the undulating country and " Baleones' country " on the sonth, and were it not for its intimate relations, geologically, with the " Coastal Slope, " the topographic features of the Grand prairie would entitle it to be considered a division by itself.
Both topographically and geologieally this area presents a gradual fall from the interior toward the gulf coast, but the average slope of the surface toward the southeast is less than the dip of the strata in the same direc- tion, and as there has been no disturbances of sufficient magnitude to complicate the geology except the uplift which brought up the Bal- cones (and that of Pilot Knob and similar areas if it be later, as it possibly is), we find the outcropping edges of the beds of earlier and earlier age as we pass from the coast to the interior. These various beds are exposed in bands of less or greater width, which are, in a general way, parallel with the present gulf coast.
The coast elays, which are the most recent of these, and which form a part of the pres- ent floor of the gulf, are very impervious, variously colored, calcareous elays, which often form bluffs along the bay shores and river banks. The level belt of this formation varies from 50 to 100 miles in width.
The Orange sands underlying these are mottled red and white sands which are well exposed below Willis, on the International & Great Northern Railroad, and at other places. The Fayette beds, which underlie these, are made up also of sands and clays, but of entirely different character and structure. The sand greatly predominates, especially in the center, where great beds of sand and sandstone and millstone grit oceur.
The clays, instead of being massive, are usually thinly laminated and of very light color wherever exposed to the air, and are found both underlying and overlying the sands, as well as interbedded with them. They extend along the line of the Houston & Texas Central Railway from Waller to near Giddings. A study of these beds in the vicinity of Ledbetter showed nearly 400 feet of sandy strata included between the two series of clays.
The dip of the strata toward the gulf is not much greater than that of the surface of the country. For this reason the exposure of the sand-bed on the surface is very wide- a circumstance of greatest importance, as it . gives an immense catchment area for the rain-water.
These Fayette sands form a range of hills and give rise to the most striking topo- graphie feature of the coast region. Every river in its passage to the gulf pays tribute to and is deflected by them. Many smaller streams have their course entirely determined by them, while the coast rivers, of which the
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
San Jacinto and Buffalo are types, have their origin on their southern slope. At Rock- land, in Tyler county, and along the various railroads that cross the area of these sands, as shown npon the map, typical sections can be seen. The base of these beds are sandy clays and sands, with some lignite.
The strata often contain carbonate of lime in appreciable quantities, and sulphur and gypsum are of frequent occurrence.
The timber-belt beds are composed of siliceous and glauconitic sands with white, brown and black clays, and have associated with them lignite beds sometimes as much as twelve feet in thickness; iron pyrites, gypsum and various bituminons materials also occur. Carbonate of lime is also widely disseminated throughout the beds, sometimes as limestone, but more often as calcareous concretious or in calcareous sandstones.
The basal elays are, as the name implies, beds of stratified elays and contain masses of concretionary limestone and large quanti- ties of gypsumn.
The Upper Cretaceous is composed in its upper members of great beds of clay some- what similar to the basal elays above, which were doubtless derived from these. This is underlaid by the Austin chalk, below which we find another series of elay shales over- lying the lower cross timber sands.
The rock formation of the Grand prairie belongs to the Lower Cretaceons series, and consists of a great thickness of limestones and chalks-magnesian, arenaceous and even argillaceous in places-which is underlaid by a great bed of sand and conglomerate, known as the Trinity Sands.
We have in these formations, therefore, well marked and definite sandy or porous beds, which are enclosed by others practically impervious. Some of these are the Orange
sands, the middle portion of tlie Fayette beds, the lower cross timber sands and the upper eross timber or Trinity sands. On the lower Rio Grande there occurs a rock known as the Carrizo sandstone, the geologie age of which is not yet exactly determined, but which must be included among the other water-bearing beds.
That these beds are indeed " catchment " basins and fully capable of supplying the belts nearer the gulf with flowing water las been amply verified by actual and successful boring. In the coast-clay belt artesian water has been secured in many places, as at. Houston and vicinity, at Galveston, at Ve- laseo, at Corpus Christi, and at various other points. The shallowest of these wells is at Yorktown, De Witt county, where artesian water was seenred at a depth of a very few feet. At Houston water is obtained in wells from 150 to 400 feet deep, and the water is practically free from mineral matter. At Galveston, fifty miles southeast, the wells are from 600 to 1,000 feet deep, and yield water carrying salt, ete., in small quantities. The flow at Velasco is reported to be good, but at Corpus Christi it is highly charged with min- eral matter. The quantity of mineral matter contained in the water seems to vary with the depth and distance from the outerop of the " catchment " basin.
It can be stated, therefore, from our pres- ent knowledge that throughout the coast- clay distriet artesian water can be obtained where the topographie conditions are suit- able, but that it may be more or less impreg- nated with mineral matter leached out of the containing stratum.
While the timber-beit beds are not classed as artesian beds, it is nevertheless the fact that favorable conditions exist in minerons localities, and, although no great flows have
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
been secured, still flowing water has been found in several places; for example, varions localities in Robertson county and at Liv- ingston, Polk county.
The lower cross timbers form the second "catchment " basin, but from their location have not been found to yield as good a flow as can be obtained by going deeper, to the Trinity sands.
The Carrizo sandstone ontcrops along a line drawn at a point on the Nueces river south of the town of Uvalde to a point - ten miles west of Carrizo Springs, and ten miles north of that point, on the ranch of Mr. Vivian, produces a stream of excellent water fonr inches in diameter from a well 175 feet deep. This stratmin of sandstone onght to be reached at Laredo at a depth of from 500 to 600 feet.
The third and possibly best explored col- lecting area is that of the Trinity sands. This bed, the Trinity or npper cross timber sands, is the base of the Lower Cretaceons system, and is the great water-bearing bed east and sonth of the central basin. In its inany exposures and from the material brought up from it in boring, its composi- tion is shown to be clear white grains of quartz, slightly ronnded to much worn, con- taining a few grains of red and black chert. It is for the most part practically free of soluble mineral matter, and the water derived from it is often of excellent quality. From its position, character and extent it forms a most important member in the geology of Texas. The water which falls npon the ex- posed edge of this belt is carried under the limestone of the Grand prairie platean, and part of it breaks forth in a system of great springs which extend from Williamson county by Austin, San Marcos and New Braunfels, toward the Pecos. These springs are natu-
ral artesian wells, which owe their existence to the fault lines cansed by the disturbances, already alluded to, which formed the Bal- cones. The remainder of the water con- tinnes its course below the overlying forma- tions, and can be reached at almost any point east and sonth of the Grand prairie to the border of the basal clays of the Tertiary. Wells are very numerous and vary in depth with distance from catchment area from 100 to 2,000 feet. They can not be named in detail here, but the principal boring has been at Fort Worth. Dallas, Waco, Anstin, Taylor, San Antonio, and in Somervell, Coryell, Hood and Bosque counties. These prove that artesian conditions exist, and there can be no doubt that wells bored in suitable localities will prove successful.
West of the Grand prairie platean we find the central basin region, which is principally occupied by strata of the Paleozoic forma- tions. The eastern and southern border of this area is plainly marked by the scarp of the Grand prairie. Its western border is not determined further than that in Texas it is terminated by the Gnadalonpe mountains in El Paso county. In its topography it shows a gradnal elevation toward the west, most usually, however, in a series of steps which rise one above the other, having the ascent facing toward the sontheast and a long gentle slope toward the west, the average rise being less than eight feet per mile.
At the edge of the Staked Plain, which is a newer formation superimposed npon these, there is an abrupt elevation of from 200 to 300 feet in places, and a continued rise toward the west to a height of 3,100 feet. West of the Pecos the rise is much more rapid, being abont fifteen feet per mile. The dip of the strata, which on the east is toward the northwest not exceeding forty feet to the
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
inile, is reversed, that is, it is to the south- east, and brings the edges of the strata to the surface again after crossing the river. In the southeast corner of this region we find the Archaan area of Llano county, around which the upturned edges of the older paleo- zoic rocks are exposed at a considerably greater elevation than that of the basin north of them, giving the overlying rocks of the basin itself a northward dip.
The western extension of this southern border lias not been examined. We find the northern border of our basin in the Wichita mountains in the Indian Territory, where the edge of the Silurian rocks is again exposed at a higher altitude than the interior portion of our region. This region is, therefore, of a basin form of structure, with the exposed edges of its lower members and the under- lying rocks topographically higber on the northern, western and southern borders than on the east or in the center.
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