History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. Page: 166
[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 OF TEXAS.
In quality the magnetites are high-grade
Bessemer ores, being low in silica, phosphorus
and sulphur, and very high in metallic iron.
The hematite ores seem to be chiefly derived
from alteration of the mnagnetites. They
usually crop out along portions of the northern
border of tlie magnetite area, and are
chiefly segregations in sandstone, and although
none of the exposures have yet been
worked, valuable deposits will be found following
the trend of the iagnetite beds. These
segregations are to be found chiefly in the
red sandstone of the Cambrian system. They
will be of value as Besieemer ores.
The hydrated iron ores embrace many
different varieties. These appear almost exclusively
in veins, for the most part in the
older rocks. While they are not abundant
enough to sustain any industry by themselves,
they may b)ecomie valuable in addition to the
other iron ores.
Taking the iron ore deposits of the State
as a whole, and considering their wide distribution,
their excellent quality, their relation
to fuel supply and other necessaries for
smelting and manufacturing them, no doubt
can remain of the magnitude which the iron
industry is bound to assume in this State,
and that Texas is destined to become one of
the great iron and steel producing centers of
the world.
The copper ores of Texas are of two characters.
Those of the central mineral region
and trans-Pecos Texas occur in veins, while
the ores of the Permian are found as impregnations
and segregations in the clays.
The copper ore of the Permian division
was first described by Captain R. B. Marcy
in his report on the exploration of Red river
in 1852, when he found specimens of it in
Cache creek. In 1864, Colonel J. B. Barry
sent a party with Indian guides to Archercounty and secured a considerable amount of
ore, which was shipped to Austin and part
of it smelted and used for the manufacture of
percussion caps for the Confederacy, under
the superintendence of Dr. W. De Ryee.
After the war several attempts were made to
develop these deposits, but lack of transportation
facilities and the fact that the highgrade
ore bodies were in pockets and irregularly
distributed prevented the success of the
undertaking. Still later General McLellan
and a strong company made an effort to
utilize the deposits of Hardeman and adjoin-.
ing counties, but it seems that the true nature
of the deposits were not fully appreciated, and
the result was the same as those of earlier
date.
As has been stated, these ores occur as impregnations
or segregations in the clays at
certain definite horizons in the formation.
They are not in veins, therefore, but in beds,
and are not to be mined by sinking shafts to
lower depths, but more after the manner of
coal deposits. There are three (and possibly
a fourth) of these horizons, one in each division
of the Permian. The Archer county
deposits belong to the lower or Wichita beds,
the California creek bed to the Clear fork
beds, and the Kiowa Peak stratum or strata
to the Double mountain beds. The general
manner of occurrence is the same in all. The
ores are found in a bed of blue clay from
three to four feet thick. It is sometimes found
in a pseudomorphic form after wood, in which
case the oxide of copper has replaced the material
of the woody fibre in the same manner
as is done by silica in ordinary petrified wood.
In other places it occurs in rounded nodules
of different sizes, ", like potatoes in a bed, "
as it is graphically described. In addition to
this the stratum of clay is impregnated with
copper to the extent of forming a low-gradeA
166
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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/m1/171/?rotate=90: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.