1927 The Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide Page: 254
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254 THE TEXAS ALMANAC.
well was of untold value in the protection
of health.
Search for deep or artesian water sup-
ply began early. In 1828 Leon R. Alemy
was given a monopoly for drilling arte-
sian wells in Texas for a period of six
years. Though his efforts came to
naught the efforts persisted and in 1856
the United States appropriated $100,000
for boring deep wells in the territory be-
low San Antonio. (Note and compare
under "Potash" the recent appropriation
for core drilling.) A mineral well on
Capitol Hill at Austin was discovered in
1868. Dr. Robert T. Hill and Dr. Alex-
ander Deussen in more recent years have
worked out the location of areas bearing
underground waters in the black land
and grand prairies of Central Texas and
the coastal plains, respectively. The prin-
cipal artesian (flowing well) waters are,
roughly speaking, found in Central and
North Central Texas and in the Gulf
Coast Plains. Deep well waters are found
in nearly every part of Texas.
Value of Texas Waters,
In 1925 The Texas Almanac addressed
questionnaires to all of the principal
cities and towns of Texas relative to wa-
ter supply and received replies from 322,
including nearly all of the places of 1,500
population and a large number under that
population. Of this number 84 took their
water supply primarily from streams and
lakes and 238 received their water supply
from wells, nearly all of which were deep
wells. Of the 238 cities and towns get-
ting their water supply from wells, 170
answered the query as to average daily
consumption. The total figure for these
170 cities and towns was 97,637,000 gallons
daily. Just how much water is "mined"
in Texas is problematical, but this figure,
which included reports from all of the
larger incorporated places, probably rep-
resented 8b per 'cent of the "mined" wa-
ters for commercial purposes in Texas, ex-
clusive of irrigation and commercial min-
eral waters. Hence it seems probable
that the consumption of artesian and
other well waters in the cities and towns
of Texas ranges around 115,000,000 gal-
lons daily. Of course, this figure is ap-
proximate, for incomplete reports were
received, and in many instances no dif-
ferentiation was made where cities rely
upon both well and river or lake sup-
plies. It seems, however, that one is jus-
tified in assuming that, at an ordinary
rate of 50c a thousand gallons, that the
total annual value of commercially pro-
duced well waters of Texas is $18,000,000
or $20,000,000 annually, which puts the
"mined" waters of Texas among the lead-
ing minerals of the State in point of
value. In 1925, the State Health Board of
Texas estimated, on the basis of a general
survey, that the total consumption of
waters in Texas for all domestic and in-dustrial purposes was 250,000,000 gallons
daily. This, of course, includes consump-
tion from all s;.urces, wells, streams, lakes
and springs. The total annual value of
waters sold in Texas is probably around
$45,000,000 annually.
WATERS, MINERAL.-Texas has many
well-known mineral springs and wells,
and there is a business amounting to
about $200,000 or $400,000 annually, ac-
cording to the estimates of the United
States Government. The waters are con-
sumed at hospitals and hotels built at the
sites of the springs, and there is an ap-
preciable sale of bottled waters. Mineral
Wells in Palo Pinto County and Marlin in
Falls County are the two best known pro-
ducers of mineral waters. There are also
some well-known springs at Lampasas in
Lampasas County and-Hubbard in Hill
County. Among the counties with note-
worthy mineral springs and wells are
Bexar, Bowie, Brewster, Burnet, Callahan,
Dallas, Denton, Eastland, El Paso. Erath,
Falls, Galveston, Grayson, Gregg, Harri-
son, Hill; Hopkins, Hunt, Kaufman, La-
mar, Lampasas, Lavaca, Nacogdoches,
Smith, Titus, Tom Green, Travis, William-
son and Wilson. (See statistical tables.)
ZINC.-Good zinc ores are found in' the
Trans-Pecos, but production has been
small. The chief locations are the Chinati
Mountains of Presidio County, .the Boquil-
las district of extreme Sputhern Brewster
County, Quitman Mountains of Hudspeth
County and the Delaware Mountains in
Culberson County. Distance from rail
transportation has been one of the chief
difficulties in developing most of the ores
found west of the Pecos. Some zinc has
been found in association with copper and
lead west of Burnet in Burnet County and
specimens of zinc blende have been found
near Saint Jo in Montague County. Most
of the Texas production has come from
the Hudspeth County mines and has been
shipped to the smelter at El Paso. There
are one or more zinc smelters at Amarillo,
but the ore is shipped from out of the
State, the smelters being located there
because of the great supply of natural
gas. (See statistical tables.)
MISCELLANEOUS MINERALS.-Among
miscellaneous minerals of definite com-
position found in Texas, not mentioned
above, are the following: Allanite, Llano
County; Andradite, Mason County; Abso-
lite, Culberson County; Augite, Uvalde
County; Baryte, Llano County; Bauxite,
Culberson and Reeves Counties; Eggle-
stonite, Brewster County; Epsomite,
Brown County; Grahamite, Fayette and
Webb Counties; Halloysite, Edwards
County; Kleinite, Brewster County; Mack-
intoshite, Metagadolinite, Powerlite, Ro-
lanite, soapstone, Spessarite, Cephroite
and Uraninite in Llano County and Wol-
framite in Culberson County.TEXAS MINERAL PRODUCTION AND VALUES.
Asphalt- - Gypsum- -Fuller's earth-
Production Production Production
Year- tons. Value. tons. Value. tons. Value.
1918 ........................... ...109,761 $1,642,218 157,388 $834,560
1919 ...... ...........................189,77 2,656,567 176,607 1,080,754
1920 ... .........................261,465 3,838,295 220,157 1,439,491
1921 ..................................270,761 2,870,583 232,806 1,765,600
1922 ..... .........................340,334 3,414,837 221,914 2,081,479 12,285 $123,536
1923 ....... .......................394,535 4.337,085 344,104 2,237,024 19,465 186,205
1924 ...................... ..........461,501 4,907 359 402,245 2,629,110 25,500 250,000
*192 .... ... ...........425,000 4,900,000 558,132 3,721,954 30,462 310,140
Note.-Blanks indicate no report. *Natural asphalt in 1925, 204,527 tons; $692,731.
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1927 The Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide, book, 1927~; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123785/m1/258/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.