1927 The Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide Page: 244
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244 THE TEXAS ALMANAC.
TEXAS MINERALS.Of the four principal classifications of
raw materials, Texas is now a leading pro-
ducer of each. In crop production values,
live stock values, and forest production
values, Texas has for many years had a
high rank, but it has been only during the
last eight or nine years that Texas has at-
tained prominence in the fourth classifica-
tion, mineral production.
The increase in annual value of min-
eral production in Texas has been phe-
nomenal. In the early '80s the average
was slightly above $1,000,000. By the be-
ginning of the present century it had
risen to about $5,000,000 annually. Ten
years later, in 1910, it had reached $18,-
000,000. At the present time the average
annual value of Texas mineral production
is about $275,000,000. The peak year in
Texas mineral values was 1920, when a
total of $371,000,000 was recorded, but this
was due primarily to general inflation of
prices, particularly the abnormal condition
of the petroleum market which went as
high as $4 a barrel. On the basis of 1920
prices, the Texas mineral production of
1926 would be still higher, that is, actual
volume of production is now greater. The
period of extreme inflation between 1917
and 1921 played havoc with statistics on
values when viewed from the standpoint
of comparative purposes.
Texas mineral production is primarily
due to its enormous production of petro-
leum. However, the rank of each of the
leading States is due primarily to one
mineral product. Texas usually ranks
sixth among the States. Of the five
States leading Texas, Pennsylvania, West
Virginia and Illinois derive the greater
portion of their mineral values from coal
and the other two, California and Okla-
homa, like Texas, take their high rank
due to petroleum.
Though Texas' great petroleum produc-
tion overshadows its other annual min-
eral values, yet Texas produces about
$60,000,000 or $70,000,000 annually in min-
erals other than petroleum. Indeed,
Texas without its petroleum would rank
twelfth or thirteenth among the States.
Neither is petroleum the only mineral
production that has risen rapidly in value.
The enormous production of sulphur, in
which Texas is the leading State, has de-
veloped during recent years. The value
of gypsum produced has increased sev-
eral hundred per cent since 1918; granite
and marble production has increased
enormously during the last eight years;
clay products, cement, sand and gravel
and other construction materials have
shown rapid development.
The most recent census of the mining
industry of Texas was that for the year
1919. The United States Bureau of Mines
(the United States Geological Survey prior
to 1925) collects annual statistics on min-
eral production volume and value, but no
general census has been taken since 1919,
when the following facts were disclosed
relative to the Texas mining industries:
Number of mining enterprises, 624; num-
ber of mines and Quarries, 81; number of
petroleum and gas- wells, 8,749; persons
engaged in mining industry, 22,890; total
capital, $361,684,392.
It is noteworthy that most Texas min-
ing is done with the well rig instead of
pick and shovel, and most mineral pro-duction is through pipes rather than
shafts and slopes. Texas petroleum, nat-
ural gas, including helium, petroleum
asphalt and natural gasoline, sulphur and
most of' the salt come to the surface
through pipes. Likewise most of_ its com-
mercial mineral waters are produced
from deep wells.
In this connection it may be remarked
that a large portion of the waters of
Texas marketed for domestic and indus-
trial purposes are also deep well prod-
ucts. The value of artesian and other
well waters are not included in the fig-
ures upon total mineral values, but water
is a mineral and it is noteworthy that a
very great part of Texas marketed waters
are "mined" from deep wells, amounting
to about' 115,000,000 gallons daily and
having a total annual value of about $18,-
000,000 or $20,000,000, ranking second only
to petroleum. (See paragraphs on follow-
ing pages on "Waters.") Of the total
Texas production of minerals about 90
per cent comes to the surface from deep
wells, and a large portion of it is deliv-
ered to point of consumption in pipe
lines. The principal result of this is that
while Texas is an enormous producer of
minerals, the number of persons engaged
is not nearly as high proportionately to
value as in States devoted to coal, iron or
copper mining.
Frequently it is remarked that only the
surface of Texas mineral resources have
been scratched, and this seems entirely
plausible. A growing accumulation of
evidence points to a great future produc-
tion of potash. The appropriation in 1926
of $100,000 annually for potash investiga-
tions, for a five-year period in Texas,
New Mexico and Utah, may hasten this
development. New methods of utilizing
the vast resources-in lignite by placing
the generating plant at the source of
power, as in hydro-electric generation,
will greatly stimulate the production of
lignite, a growing population and increas-
ing construction demands will stimulate
production of building materials.
Texas mineral production in the future
will be increased through three lines of
development.
In the first place, continued probing
under the surface of the earth will bring
to light great resources unknown at
present, just as such probing during re-
cent years has brought to light hundreds
of millions of dollars in valuable min-
erals unknown ten or fifteen years ago.
There has not yet been sufficient explora-
tion work to ascertain where the mineral
wealth of Texas lies. It is significant
that the two regions which for many
years have held out the greatest promise
of mining development, the Burnet-Llano
region and the Trans-Pecos, are not
among the principal mineral producing
areas today. This is not in disparagement
of these two promising regions, but to
call attention to the fact that great min-
eral wealth has been discovered where it
was not expected. No doubt, such dis-
coveries will -continue. In addition, those
two interesting areas, the Central Mineral
region centering around Burnet and Llano
Counties, and in the mountains of the
Trans-Pecos, will undoubtedly live up to
promise in the future. There is already
greatly accelerated activity in the gran-
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1927 The Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide, book, 1927~; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123785/m1/248/?rotate=270: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.