Texas Almanac, 1992-1993 Page: 619
656 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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MINERALS 619
All current uranium production is by in-situ leaching,
brought to the surface through wells, and stripped from
the solution at several Coastal Plain recovery operations.
Decreased demand an d price of uranium since 1980 has
brought a sharp decline in operations in Texas.
VERMICULITE - Vermiculite, a mica-like mineral that
expands when heated, occurs in Burnet, Gillespie, Llano,
Mason and other counties in the Llano region. It has been
produced at a surface mine in Llano County. Vermiculite,
mined outside of Texas, is exfoliated (expanded) at plants
in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Exfoliated vermiculite
is used for lightweight concrete aggregate, horticulture,
insulation and other purposes.VOLCANIC ASH (see Pumicite).
ZEOLITES - The zeolite minerals clinoptilolite and
analcime occur in Tertiary lavas and tuffs in Brewster,
Jeff Davis and Presidio counties, in West Texas. Clinoptilo-
lite also is found associated with Tertiary tuffs in the south-
ern Texas Coastal Plain, including deposits in Karnes,
McMullen and Webb counties, and currently is produced
in McMullen County. Zeolites, sometimes called "molecu-
lar sieves," can be used in ion-exchange processes to re-
duce pollution, as a catalyst in oil cracking, in obtaining
high-purity oxygen and nitrogen from air, in water purifi-
cation and for many other purposes.
ZINC (see Lead and Zinc).Utilities in Texas
Because of its large size, population and economic activity, Texas ranks high among the states in the scope of its
utilities. It was one of the first states to utilize the telegraph and telephone extensively. A history of telephones in Tex-
as appeared in the 1972-73 Texas Almanac, and other editions record much of the development of utilities.
The following information was prepared through the cooperation of utility firms and their trade associations.
TelephonesTexas had 8,863,719 telephone lines in service on Dec.
31, 1990, served by 58 local-exchange companies. In addi-
tion to local service, those companies also provide
approximately one-third of the intrastate long distance
service in Texas. AT&T and some 154 other competitive
carriers provide most of the intrastate and all of the inter-
state long distance service enjoyed by Texans. Southwest-
ern Bell Corporation - which through its telephone
company subsidiary also serves Arkansas, Kansas, New
Mexico and Oklahoma - became a separate entity Jan.
1, 1984, the date of divestiture of the Bell System, and is no
longer associated with AT&T.
The largest subsidiary of the corporation is
Southwestern Bell Telphone Company, which provides lo-
cal telephone access service to some 9 million customers
in five states, including Texas.
The Texas Division of Southwestern Bell Telephone
was created in 1984, with Dallas selected as its headquar-
ters city.
The Texas Division of Southwestern Bell Telephone
serves more than 6.9 million customers in 530 Texas com-
munities. With some 30,558 employees, Southwestern Bell
remains one of the largest non-governmental employers
in the state.
Southwestern Bell handles over 87 million local calls,
and provides access for an additional 6 million direct-di-
aled long distance calls each day. The company serves
Texas with over one million miles of copper and fiber
optic cable.
By the end of 1990, the Texas telephone industry had
made a total plant investment of $18,507,427,750. The
industry's 37,690 employees are paid wages of
$1,388,037,264. annually. Telephone companies in Texas
pay state and local taxes of $535 million and federal
income taxes of $316 million.
Major independent telephone companies in Texas
and their total access lines as of Dec. 31, 1990 were: GTE
Southwest, with 1,204,791 lines; Contel of Texas, with 167,-
801 lines; Central Telephone Co. of Texas, with 127,393
lines; United Telephone Co. of Texas, with 110,750 lines;
and Lufkin-Conroe Telephone Exchange, with 63,717. (Be-
cause telephone customers can now own the wiring with-
in their premises, as well as all the equipment inside, the
industry no longer counts total telephones they serve.
Access lines reflect the number of connections the com-
panies provide, and does not equate to number of cus-
tomers.)
The 58 independent telephone companies in Texas in-
clude 24 telephone cooperatives, subscriber-owned sys-
tems serving more than 100,850 access lines through 204
exchanges in the state. While the Bell System companies
serve approximately 80 percent of all Texans, the inde-
pendent companies serve more than half of the state's
250,000 square miles of certified service territory.
In the Houston metro area, Southwestern Bell and
five independent telephone companies cooperate to serve
1,300,000 customers, possibly the largest in the nation. On
the other hand, Big Bend Telephone Co. in West Texas
serves about 3,145 subscribers in a service area of 19,000
square miles - roughly equal to the states of Connecticut,
Delaware, Massachusetts and Rhode Island combined.
The following table shows the number of telephone
access lines on Dec. 31, 1990, in the calling scope of many
of Texas' principal cities. Some of the larger cities and
towns not shown are included in the metropolitanexchanges of Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth and San Anto-
nio.
Abilene .....................................57,783
Amarillo ....................................93,803
Arlington ...................................111,030
Austin (Metro).......... .................... 413,723
Bay City .....................................12,077
Beaumont................. .................. 66,194
Brow nsville-Harlingen ................................... 75,349
C le b urne ....................................................... 18,695
Corpus Christi (M etro) .................................. 132,239
C orsicana ..................................................... 13,347
D a llas .......................................................... 1,037,132
El Paso ... .................................... 232,969
Fort W orth ... ... .............................. 528,724
Galveston ................................... 41,116
G reenville ..................................................... 14,229
Houston ..............................1,553,151
Laredo..................................... 48,414
Longview ................................... 52,393
Lubbock ...................................116,571
M cAllen-Edinburg ........................................ 61,938
McKinney ................................... 14,824
M idland .................................... 58,128
M ineral W ells ............................................... 8,734
Odessa ...................................... 56,308
Paris ....................................... 18,812
Port A rthur ................................................. 32,145
San Antonio M etro ........................................ 593,482
T em ple ....................................................... 27,020
T exas C ity .................................................... 14,711
Tyler ....................................... 62,013
V ernon ...................................... 6,561
V ictoria ........................................................ 34,678
Waco ....................................... 91,433
W ichita F alls ................................................ 53,020
Electric Utilities
In 1990, utilities serving customers in Texas reported
133 electric power plants (15 not in Texas) with a total gen-
erating capability of about 66,711 megawatts.
Some of the 133 power plants have several units. For
about 335 generating units in Texas, plus 37 outside of
Texas, the total capability in 1990 was reported as 62 per-
cent natural gas fueled, 30 percent coal and lignite fueled,
7 percent nuclear fueled and 1 percent hydroelectric and
other. In addition, about 3,200 megawatts of cogeneration
capability was reportedly in operation in Texas.
The nine major investor-owned electric utility com-
panies operating in Texas are: Central Power & Light, El
Paso Electric Co., Gulf States Utilities Co., Houston Light-
ing and Power Co., Southwestern Electric Power Co.,
Southwestern Public Service Co., Texas-New Mexico
Power Co., TU Electric and West Texas Utilities Co.
Also supplying electric power to Texas customers are
municipally owned systems, rural electric cooperatives
and state and federally financed projects.
As 1991 began, these investor-owned companies had a
total investment in plants and facilities to serve Texas
customers of about $43.7 billion.
Location of the first power plant in Texas is uncer-
tain. Some authorities believe a plant that began oper-
ation on Dec. 17, 1882, in Houston was first; others credit619
MINERALS
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Kingston, Mike. Texas Almanac, 1992-1993, book, 1991; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth279642/m1/623/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.