History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. Page: 153
[7], iv-vii, [2], 10-826, [2] p., [56] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this book.
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HISTORY 01 TEXAS.
and down into Erath, until it disappears beneathl
the Cretaceous 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 Ccal
Company, Mineral Wells Coal Company,
Lake Mine, Carson and Lewis, Gordon,
Johnson, Palo Pinto, and Adair. The output
from these mines is gradually increasing.
Coal seam "No. 7" is first observed outcropping
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 Cretaceous ridge. South
of this ridge we find it again on Pecan bayou,
in Coleman county, and from here the outcrops
extend in a southerly direction, near
Santa Anna mountain, to Waldrip in McCulloch
county.
On this seam we have the Stephens mine,
in Montague county, and various prospects
in Jack county. Considerable work bas been
done in Young and Stephens counties, and
coal of fair quality mined, but lack of railway
facilities prevents anything like systematic
mining. The seam becomes thinner and
much poorer toward Cisco, graduating into a
material little better than a bituminous shale.
Probably the largest amount of work ever
put on a coal 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 Waldrip.
'IThe thickness of these two seams is about
equal, each averaging about thirty inches of
clean coal. They are similar also in having
at most places a parting of clay, or "slate,"
of a few inches in thickness. While the outcrops
of the two seams are parallel to each
other in a general way, they vary from twentyfive
to forty miles apart.
In the northern portion the seams are
separated by some 1,200 feet vertical thickness
of limestones, clays and shares. This
thickness, however, increases rapidly toward
the south.
As has been stated, the dip is, gentle; that
of seam No. 1 will not average over sixtyfive
feet, and that of rNo. 7 is less than forty
feet. The average increase of elevation of
the surface of the country toward the west is
only a few feet per mile '(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 outcrops of these
two seams is fully 250 miles. They are
probably workable for at least ten miles west
of their line of outcrops, giving us an area ot
2,500 square miles of coal lands. Even if
only two-fifths of this area prove to be fully
adapted to coal mining, we have 1,000 square
miles, each of which contains nearly 3,000,000
tons of coal. The roof of these coal
seams is sandstone, limestone, or a bard clay,
which makes a good roof. The mines are
generally dry.
The quality of the coal "varies 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 constituents,
but careful selection will result il a fuel
that will give perfectly satisfactory results,I
153
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History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. (Book)
Book containing a brief overview of the state of Texas and more specific focus on six specific counties, with extensive biographical sketches about persons related to the history of those places. An alphabetical index of persons who are included follows the table of contents at the front of the book.
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Lewis Publishing Company. History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties., book, 1893; Chicago, Illinois. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29785/m1/158/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.