History of Texas, together with a biographical history of the cities of Houston and Galveston; containing a concise history of the state, with protraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named cities, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families, Part 21

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing co., 1895
Number of Pages: 1532

USA > Texas > Harris County > Houston > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of the cities of Houston and Galveston; containing a concise history of the state, with protraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named cities, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 21
USA > Texas > Galveston County > Galveston > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of the cities of Houston and Galveston; containing a concise history of the state, with protraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named cities, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 21

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It includes fifty four counties in whole or part, and while we do not know of the ocenr-

reneo of lignite in every one of these, it will in nll probability be found in all of themn sooner or later.

Within the area thus defined lignite has been observed at linndreds of localities. The beds vary from a few inches to as much as twelve feet, which thickness has been ob- served and measured in numerous places.

The lignites have been mined in greater or less quantities in several places, among which may be mentioned: Atliens, Hender- son county; seven miles east of Emory, Rains county; Alamo, Cass county; Head's Prairie, Robertson county; Calvert Bluff, Robertson eonnty; Roekdale, Milam connty; Bastrop, Bastrop connty; Lytle Mine, Atascosa county ; San Tomas, Webb connty, and others.

Of these localities the Laredo "San Tomas" coal stands ont sharply above the rest., Al- though it is classed as a lignite on the ground of its geologic occurrence, it is inuch superior to any of the ordinary lignites, as is shown by its analysis.

The real value of this material as fuel is not at all appreciated. Lignite, up to the present time, has been regarded as of very little value. Two causes have been instru -. mental in creating this impression; tirst, the quality it possesses of rapidly slacking and crumbling when exposed to the air; and sec- ond (and perhaps this is the principal eause), all who have attempted to use it have done so without first studying its character and the best methods of burning it, as they have in most cases endeavored to use it under the same conditions which apply to a bitnminons coal containing a little water. While lignite may not differ materially from bituminous coal in weight, its physical properties are entirely different. This is due not only to the amount of water contained in the lignite, amounting to from 10 to 20 per cent. of its

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

weight, but also to the fact that it is the prod- net of a different period of geologie time, and it may be that the development of the bituminous matter differs in some way in the two. Therefore, in any intelligent effort to make it available for fuel, these considera- tions must be taken into account aud proper allowances made for them. In Europe, where fuel is scareer than here, lignites of much poorer quality than our average de- posits are successfully used, not only as fuel and domestic purposes, but also for smelting.

The fact that lignites have not been used in the United States is takeu by some as an evidence of their worthlessness, but if we mru to Europe we find that their usefulness is of the highest character. Although the German lignites ure inferior to those of Texas, as proved by numerous chemical analyses, they are in use for every purpose wor which bituminous coal is available, and for some to which such coal is not suited. Their principal use is, naturally, as fuel. They are used in the natural state, or " raw," in places for household purposes, and also to a very large extent in Siemens' regenerator furnaces; and, even in connection with coke made from the lignites themselves, as much as 40 to 70 per cent. of raw lignito is used in the smulting of iron oros in furnaces of suitable construction. Raw liguitos are also used in the conversion of iron into steel by the Bessomor process, but require n small addition of coke for this purpose.

For general fuel purposes, however, the lignites are manufactured into briquettes, or coal bricks, of differout sizes, by pulverizing them, evaporating the surplus water and compressing them under presses similar to those used in the mannfacturo of pressed brick. Many of the German lignites contain as much as 30 to 40 per cent. of water, nud

the heat which is necessary to drive this off acts on the chemical elements of the lignite and develops the bituminous matter suffi- ciently for it to serve as a bond or cement under the semi-fusion caused by the heavy pressure which is applied to make it cohere. Such coals as do not form their own cement in this way are made to cohere by the addi- tion of various cementing materials, such as bitumen, coal tar, pitch, starch, potatoes, clay, etc.

Lignites prepared in this way are fully equal to ordinary bitmninous coal as fuel for all purposes, and possess, in addition, several important advantages. They are more com- pact, and are in the regular form of blocks which can be stored in fonr-fifths the amount of space ocenpied by the same weight of coa'. They are mich cleaner to handle, and the waste in handling, which in the case of bitu- minons coal is often as much as twenty per. cent., is very little. Owing to its physical structure it burns with great regularity and withont clinkers, making it a very desirable steam fnel. For these reasons it is often preferred to bituminous coal.

Coke of excellent quality is made from lignites in ovens properly constructed for the purpose. These ovens are of various designs suited to different characters of lignite, but all necomplish similar results, nud the coke thus produced is used for all purposes for which other cokes are adapted.

Illuminating gas of very superior quality is manufactured from lignites, and is in nse in many German manufactories.

Lignite also formis the base of many other important industries. Up to the time of the discovery of the oil fields of America and the great deposits of mineral wax, or ozocerite, the lignite was the principal source of supply of paraffine and illuminating oils, and even

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

now, although comparatively few factories are run solely for their production, as was formerly so largely the case, the amount manufactured as by-products is very large. These substances are the results of distilling the lignites in the same manner in which gas is produced from bituminous coal, and the prodnet consists of gas, water, tar, ammonia, coke and ash. The tar contains paraffine and mineral oils, as well as being the basis for the aniline dyes for the production of which great quantities are used.

Powdered coke from lignites is used in the manufacture of gunpowder, of blacking and for filters, and is substituted in many places for the more costly boneblack.

Finally, lignite is used very successfully in the place of boneblack in clarifying sugar. In this, as in all uses of lignite, reference must be had to the particular kind of lignite to be employed.

Just as bituminous coals vary, and that from one locality proves more suitable for certain purposes than that of another seam at no great distance, so the lignites differ and the characteristics of each must be studied in order to ascertain for which of these many nses it is best adapted.

With such evidence as this before us- the results of fifty years of experiments and trial onding in successful oporation in all these various uses of lignites-there can remain no shadow of doubt of the adaptability of the great lignite fields of Texas, and other parts of America as well, to meet the wants of the people for cheap fnel.

The ease and choapness of mtining, the small cost of preparation, and its value when prepared, will enable it to compete with wood in the best wooded portions of the State, with coal iu close proximity to the coal mine, and

it will prove of inestimable value in those localities in which it is the only fuel.

Bituminous Coal .- The work of the sur- vey during the past two years has resulted in fully determining the limits of the central coal fields, in ascertaining the number, thick- ness and dips of the workable seams of coal, and in approximately mapping their lines of outcrop.

The coal measures consist of beds of lime- stones, sandstones, shales and clays, having an aggregate thickness of some 6,000 feet. The dip of these beds is very gentle, averag. ing less than forty feet to the mile in one seam and about sixty-five in another, and is toward the northwest or west. Very little disturbance has been noted in it beyond a few slight folds and sinall faults. These two facts-slightdip and undisturbed condition -- are of great importance in the mining of the coal. Two seams of workable coal have been found. None of the other seven seams ob- served are of sufficient thickness to be of cconomic valne.

The central coal field is divided by a strip of Cretaccous sonth of the line of the Texas & Pacific Railway. The two divisions thus formed have been named after the principal rivers which cross them-the Brazos coal fiold, or Northern, and the Colorado coal field, or Southern. In the Brazos coal field both of the workable soams of coal are found.

Coal seamu " No 1" first appears at the surface in Wise county, some eight miles southwest of Decatur. It ontcrops in a southwestern direction nearly to the south- west corner of the county, when it turns more sharply west and appears in the sonth- eastern portion of Jack county. It crosses into Palo Pinto county near its northeastern corner and its outcrops appear in a south- southwest direction entirely across this county

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

and down into Erath, until it disappears be- neath the Cretaceons hills and is found no more. On this seam are located several mines and prospects, among which may be mentioned those of the Wise County Cenl Company, Mineral Wells Coal Company, Lake Mine, Carson and Lewis, Gordon, Johnson, Palo Pinto, and Adair. The ont- pat from these mines is gradually increasing.

Coal seam " No. 7" is first observed out- cropping near Bowie, in Montague county. From this point it bends southwestward, passing north of Jacksboro, between Graham and Belknap, when it turns south, running just west of Eliasville, by Crystal Falls and Breckenridge, to and below Cisco, when it, too, passes under the Cretaceons ridge. South of this ridge we find it again on Pecan bayou, in Coleman county, and from here the out- crops extend in a sontherly direction, near Santa Anna mountain, to Waldrip in Mc- Culloch county.

On this seam we have the Stephens mine, in Montagne county, and varions prospects in Jack county. Considerable work has been done in Young and Stephens counties, and coal of fair quality mined, but lack of rail- way facilities provents anything like system- atic mining. The seam becomes thinner and much poorer toward Cisco, graduating into a material little better than a bitmininons chalo. Probably the largest amount of work ever .. put on a coul seam in Texas was expended in this county, but the whole thing was given up at last as impracticable.

On the southern portion of this seam, or that within the Colorado coal field, there have been numerous prospecting shafts sunk, but no coal of any consequence has been mined except for local consumption. The principal ones are located north of Santa Anna, on Bull creek, Home creek, and at and near Wuldrip.

The thickness of these two seams is abont egnal, each averaging abont thirty inches of clean coal. They are similar also in having at most places a parting of clay, or " slato," of a few inches in thickness. While the out- crops of the two seams are parallel to each other in a general way, they vary from twenty- five to forty miles apart.

In the northern portion the seams are separated by some 1,200 feet vertical thick- ness of limestones, clays and shales. This thickness, however, increases rapidly toward the sonth.

As lins been stated, the dip is gentle; that of seam No. 1 will not average over sixty- five feet, and that of No. 7 is less than forty feet. The average increase of elevation of the surface of the country toward the west is only a few fect per milc (not exceeding ten), and in consequence the extension of these beds can be found anywhere within eight to ten miles west of their outcrops at less than 600 feet in depth.

The linear extent of the outerops of these two seams is fully 250 miles. They are probably workable for at least ten miles west of their line of outerops, giving us an area ot 2,500 square miles of coal lands. Even if only two-fifths of this area prove to be fully ilapted to coal mining, we have 1,000 square milos, each of which contains nearly 3,000,- 000 tons of coal. The roof of these coal senins is sandstone, limestone, or a hard clay, which makes a good roof. The mines are generally dry.

The quality of the coal varics considerably. In some few places it is high in sulphur, in others very little is found. It also varies greatly in the amounts of ash and moisture contained in it, as well as in its fuel constitu. ents, but careful selection will result in a fuel that will give perfectly satisfactory results.

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

Of its valne as a steam coal there can be no doubt, for it has been fully tested for rail- road and other uses, and is taken as fast as it ean be mined, leaving practically none to bo sold for ordinary purposes.

The quality of coke produced gives every promise that, with proper care in selecting material and attention to burning, it will pro- duce a coke fully adapted for the best metal- lurgical nses.

In addition to this central coal field there are others on the western borders of the State. A boring made at Eagle Pass, four miles from the onterop on which the IIartz mine is situated, reached the Nueces coal at 531 feet. This coal cokes in the erncible, and there is no doubt but that an excellent coke can be made from it, if ovens of suit- able construction are used. This seam is the thickest in the State, averaging nearly five feet, and must prove of very great economic value.

A second coal field is that containing the deposits in Presidio county between the Capote mountain and the Rio Grande. The specimens of this coal which have been for- nished for analysis show it to be very high in sulphur, but no detailed examination of it has yet been made.

Bitumen or Asphaltum .- This valuable inntorial exists in Texas under several con- ditions. Its most frequent occurrence is probably in tar springs. These are found in many places in the Tertiary and Cretaceous formations, and occasionally among those that are older. It is in those cases the seep- age from the beds which contain it. So far few, if any, of these beds have been exam- ined to ascertain their extent or quality, for there has been little or no demand for the material. Among these may also be in- cluded the Sour Inkes of Hardin and Liberty

conntio+, at which both bitumen and gas ocenr in large quantities. In o her places it is found as deposits of greater or less extent, impregnating the accompanying sande, sand- stone and limestone. These have not been given much more attention than the springs, but some of the localities have been exam- ined and specimens of the material analyzed.

The tar springs are of frequent occurrence in certain beds of the timber belt series, which stretch across the State in a belt ap. proximately parallel to the Gulf coast and from 100 to 150 miles inland, and are at places connected more or less with deposits of oil. They are also found along the belt of country underlaid by the Fish beds, or Eagle Ford shales, of the Cretaceous, as may be seen in the vicinity of Fiskville and other localities in Travis county, and still others southwest of the Colorndo. Similar springs are found in Burnet and other counties in the older rocks.

The deposits which have been examined inost fully are those of Anderson county east of Palestine, where there is an asphalt bear- ing sand. This appears to be dne to the oxidation of the residuum of oil left in the sand. Here they are of unknown and some- what uncertain extent, as they are apt to run into an oil bearing sand. This is possibly the case with many of the deposits of east Texas.

In Uvalde connty there are several out. crops of bitumen impregnating both sand- stone and limestone. The sandstone oyster bed is underlaid by eight feet of black asphaltum sandstone, from which in warm weather the asphaltum exudes and forms small pools. This is on the Nneces river fourteen miles southwest of Uvalde. The stratum here de- scribed is continuons. The stratigraphical position is somo thirty feet below the San

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

Tomas eoal vein (that which is worked above Laredo), and Mr. Owen states that the sand- stone occurs at nearly every locality where its stratigraphical position was exposed. The connection of this asphaltie material and the eoal seam mentioned over an area exceeding 1,000 square miles opens one of the most profitable fields of fuel industry in Texas.

Analyses of these asphalt um sands give an nverage of 14 per cent. nsphaltung. Beds of similar sands are known in Jack, Montagne, Martin and other countries. Analyses gave the following percentages of bitmuen: Mon- tague county, 8.90 to 10.20; Martin county, 10.72. The asphaltic limestone found in Uvalde county, specimens of which are in tho State museum, is richer in asphaltnm than any of the sandstones, the average of three analyses giving 20.35 per cent. of bitu- men. This gives it the same composition as the best grade of asphaltic limestone gotten in the Val-de- Travers, Switzerland, of which the fumons asphalt streets of Paris are made. It is a natural mixture of asphaltum and limestone in the best proportion for good road making.

Oil is often an accompanying material when the tar springs and deposits of bitumen nro found in the timber belt and Eagle Ford beds. Thus, in the counties of Sabine, Shel- by, Nacogdoches, San Augustine, Ander- son, Grimes, Travis, Bexar and others, oil in small quantity has been fonnd. Most often, it is true, the quantity has been too small to bo of mueh economie importance, but in Nacogdoches county one of the fields has had considerable development and the results are satisfactory. Besides these deposits there are others in the Carboniferous region, where small quantities of oil are secured in wells and springs which appear to have a larger quan- tity of the higher oils connected with them.

The only places at which oil is at present produced are Nacogdoches and San Antonio.

In the vicinity of Chireno, Nacogdoches county, a number of oil wells have been bored, many of which became producers. A pipe line was run connecting the wells with the railroad at Nacogdoches, and shipments of oil have been made from time to time. This locality produces only a lubrieating oil, but it has the property (through absence of parafline) of withstanding very severe cold, and is therefore of high market value for railroad use where such oils are needed.

Mr. George Dulnig, when boring on his place for water, at a depth of 300 feet struck petroleum, and subsequently, in another boring at some distance from the first, came npon it at 270 feet. The flow is only about twenty gallons a day, but is continnons and regular. . The oil is a superior article for lubrieating purposes.

Gus, another economie prodnet aceom- panying these beds of bitmnen and oil, has long been known in Shelby, Sabine and ndjoining comties, and it was found in well- boring in Washington county and elsewhere many years ago. Within the last few years fresh borings have been made in the vicinity of Greenvine, in Washington county, and the flow of gas found to be of considerable mount. It has been found near Son An- tonio at deptlis of from 400 to 800 feet, and also at Gordon and other places in the Carboniferous area. No attempt has yet been made to bring it into use, or even to fully test the character or extent of the fields thus far determined.

FERTILIZERS.

Under this heading might be included everything that can be applied to a soil for its mmelioration or the increase of its fertility.

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

This would, therefore, in its widest applica- tion, embrace even the addition of sauds to clay soils of such sticky character as our famous black waxy. The deposits, however, which will be mentioned here are apatite, bat gnano, gypsum, glauconite (or greensand marl), chalk marl, limes and clays.

Apatite, which is a phosphate of lime, has as yet been found only in very small quanti- ties in Texas. Its value as a fertilizer is due to its contents of phosphoric acid, and if it can be discovered in any quantity will be of very considerable value in connection with the greensand and other marls in sandy lands low in that essential element. Phos- phate of lime is also the chief constituent of bone, and any deposits of this character will also prove of value. As yet knowu, no de- posits rich in phosphatic material have been found in Texas.

Bat guano, as a fertilizer, occupies a place secona to nothing, except it be the Peruvian guano. Its great value as a fertilizer is due to its salts of ammonia, potash and phos- phorus. It is found in caves in Williamson, Burnet, Lampasas, Llano, Gillespie, Blanco, Bexar and other eonuties of Texas in great quantities. It varies greatly in quality. Many of the caves are so situated that water has access to the beds, and parts of the valuable salts of ammonia are dissolved and carried off. In others, fires have by some mneans got started and immense bodies of the guano burned. Many analyses have been inade from different caves, and large quan- tities of it have been shipped, but the pres- ent lack of railroad facilities in the vicinity of the deposits has prevented their successful working.

Analyses of guano from Burnet and Gil- lespie counties gave a value of over $50 per ton.

Gypsum, as a top dressing for many erops, is of great use, and when ground for this purpose is known as land plaster. Gronnd gypsum is also an excellent deodorizer.

Texas is abundantly supplied with this material. Not only does it occur in innnense deposits in the Permian beds west of the the Abilene- Witchita country, but all through the timber belt beds it is found along the streams and scattered through the elays as crystals of elear selenite, often mniscalled "mica " or " isinglass." It is of all degrees of purity, from the pure seleuite to an im- pure gypseons clay. So far it has been little used for this purpose in Texas.

Greensand marl is a mixture of sand and clay with greensand, and often contains quantities of shells. Greensand, or glancon- ite, as it is often called, is a mineral of green color composed of silica (sand) in chemical combination with iron and potash, and usn- ally contains more or less phosphoric acid, and the shells furnish lime. Where it occurs in its original and unaltered condition it is is of a more or less pronounced green color, due to the color of the greensand in it. Where it has been subjected to chemical action the greensand is gradually decom- posed and the iron unites and forme hydrons oxide of iron, or iron rust. This alteration gives rise to a great variety of color in the different beds of the material. When it is fully altered in this way it forms the red or yellow sandstone so much used in east Texas.

Numerons analyses have been made of these marls, both in their original and altered conditions. They contain, in all the samples tested at least, lime, potash and phosphoric acid, just the elements that are required to fertilize the sandy soils and to renew and increase the fertility of those that have been worn out. These elements occur

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HISTORY OF TEXAS.

in the mnarl in variable amounts, and less in the altered than in the unaltered material. In nearly every instance, however, the amounts were sufficient to be of great agri- cultural valuc to every field within hauling distance of such a deposit. It often hap- pens, too, that these beds of marl lie in closest proximity to the very soils on which they are most needed, and all the farmer has to do to secure the desired results is to apply it as a fertilizer.

If any proof is wanted of the adaptability of these marls, and of their great valne on just this character of soil, it is shown in New Jersey, where exactly similar conditions ex- ist. In that State there were large areas of pine-Innd soils which were, like ours, of little agricultural valne, because of the small amounts of potash. phosphoric acid and lime contained in them. There were, however, large deposits of greensand marl adjacent to them, and its use has been of the highest benefit. This is fully attested both by the agricultural and the geological reports of the State. It gives lasting fertility to the soils. No field that has once been marled is now pour. One instance was found where poor and sandy land was marled more than thirty years ago and has ever since been tilled without mannre, and not well managed, which is still in good condition. Fruit trees and vines make a remarkable growth and produce fruit of high flavor when liberally dressed with this marl. Although the green- sand marls of east Texas are not as rich as those of New Jersey, they are nevertheless rich enough to be of the same nse to our lands. Nearly 200,000 tons of greensand inarls are used yearly in New Jersey.

The first requisite to the best results is that the marl should be powdered as finely as possible before spreading it on the land.

The greensand decomposes and is dissolved very slowly, and the finer it is powdered the more rapid will be its action. It should also be spread evenly and nniforinly over the ground. It is ordinarily wet when first dng, but after a certain amount of drying it can be easily pulverized, or it can be dried more rapidly and rendered more friable by the mixture of a small amount of quicklime with it. It could also be improved by composting it with barnyard manure or gnano. Owing to the difficulty with which the greensand is dissolved, the effects are not always so ap- parent the first year, but it is a lasting ferti- lizer, as is shown by the quotations given above.

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Author: Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing co., 1895 Number of Pages: 1532

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing co., 1895
Number of Pages: 1532