Texas Almanac, 1952-1953 Page: 217
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TEXAS MINERAL RESOURCES.
Petroleum refinery at Port Arthur. A purely mechanical operation not many . go,
refining has become an intricate chemical process with a wide variety o . ducts
and by-products.
Mineral Resources of Texas-ProductionAs measured by annual value of production,
the Texas economy derives greater support
from its minerals than from any other branch
of industry and commerce. A somewhat
greater number of people derive their liveli-
hood from agriculture, including both crop-
growing and livestock-raising, because the
average income per capita is smaller from
agriculture than from minerals. Furthermore,
a larger percentage of the income from pri-
mary marketing of minerals goes out of the
state than does the income from agriculture.
The foregoing applies to income derived
directly from these two sources.
If both direct and indirect income are in-
eluded, however, minerals rank first. Mineral
production has contributed more than agricul-
ture to the development of the manufacturing
Industries. The same may be said with re-
spect to the development of transportation,
including highways, railroads, and foreign
and domestic shipping; banking, insurance
and other forms of finance; and support of
state and local government through taxation.
Oil.Gas Mineral Group.
Texas mineral production means primarily
production of petroleum, natural gas and the
natural gas liquids. In 1949, last year for
which complete data had been announced at
time of publication of this volume, petroleum
accounted for 81 per cent of the total value
of Texas mineral production. Petroleum and
allied products, including natural gas, natural
gasoline and liquefied gases, accounted for 94
per cent.
Yet Texas has a remarkably diversified
mineral production. In 1949 a total of seventy-
two minerals were listed as producing com-
mercially in some degree. The sixty-eight
minerals, other than the four petroleum and
gas allied products, had a total production
value of $144,913,043. The relatively smallpercentage contributed by the :.nioralt rthe(,
than the petroleum group is due to the large-
ness of allied-petroleum production rather
than the smallness of their own contribution.
Mineral Production Value.
Total value of mineral production in Texas
in 1950 was $2,582,000,000, as estimated by
the production and value of minerals that had
been reported to July 1, 1951. This was an
increase over the total mineral value of 1919,
which was $2,365,847,043, but it was short of
the all-time high peak reached in 1948 when
the total value was $2,809,071,000. The esti-
mated production of 1950 makes it the second
highest in the history of the state. Of course.
all of these figures must be considered in the
light of price inflation.
The tabulation at the end of this article, re-
capitulating annual mineral production values
from 1882 to 1950. tells the story of the in-
creasing importance of minerals in the Texas
economy. The sharp upward turns of these
annual values. other than those caused by
inflation, are pretty well correlated with the
discoveries of Texas' major oil fields.
The total value of Texas minerals through
the sixty-nine years of recorded production is
$27,462,000,000, using the estimate given above
for 1950. About 60 per cent of this total value
was produced during the last ten years of the
69-year period. Discounting for inflation to
get an estimate of the physical volume of
production it might be said that a third of
the total was during the last ten years. Begin-
ning with 1935, Texas has been continuously
the first-ranking state in mineral production.
Widely Distributed Production.
Texas mineral production is widely dis-
persed. There were 177 counties, out of the
254, producing petroleum during 1950. There
are only about twelve counties that do not
produce some form of mineral commercially.
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Texas Almanac, 1952-1953, book, 1951; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117137/m1/219/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.