History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. Page: 186
[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.
the poorer grade of ores which can not stand
shipment, and also in less degree on account
of its need for use under steam boilers for
hoisting, pumping, and ventilating machinery.
But poorer ores might be stored until
the coal deposits of Texas are sufficiently
explored and developed to furnish cheap fuel,
or until the unjustified prejudice against the
excellent brown coal of the Tertiary is overcome
sufficiently to bring it into use.
The railroads will no doubt find it to their
interest to make cheaper freight rates for
coal and ore to and from trans-Pecos Texas.
The mineral resources, like those of the
Quitman district, will and must attract attention,
and will be appreciated and utilized as
soon as a more liberal mining law makes them
acceptable to prospectors, as soon as the title
clouds are removed, and as soon as it is possible
to determine the exact location of the
claims. The advantages for mining are fully
as great as the disadvantages that have been
mentioned, the proximity of the railroad to
most of the mountains being by no means the
least. The communication from the mountains
to the railroad is easy, the roads either
good or capable of being made so at nominal
cost. The climate is healthy, and there is not
the slightest danger of Indian outbreaks or
other disturbances so common in many other
mining districts.
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.
The practical man desires a knowledge of the
useful minerals and other natural resources,
and he, therefore, often fails to appreciate the
necessity for such determinations as have been
laboriously worked out for the geological
reports. But experience has clears shown
that haphazard methods of de %lopment
are not only ruinous to individuals andcorporations engaged in mining, but also
detrimental to the legitimate industrial growth
of any region. Little as it may be realized
by those who have suffered from ill-advised
speculation in mining property, and undesirable
as the revelation may be to those who
live by preying upon the credulity of investors,
it is certainly true that there are no
isolated cases of marvelous subterranean
wealth. If a bonanza in gold, silver, copper,
lead, iron, or manganese exists anywhere in
central Texas, it is because certain causes
have acted to produce it; and if one such
occurrence b.e known, others of the same kind
probably exist in the same region. Still, it
does not follow that the discovery by accident
of one ore body necessitates a similar method
for acquiring knowledge of others. Nothing
is now more firmly established than the close
relations of geologic structure and mineral
deposition. Every competent mining engineer
is a structural geologist, or lie is wofully
unfitted for his profession, however well
trained he may be in other very necessary
directions. The really practical miner is
often the best judge of the proper means of
attacking a special problem in excavation,
provided that it requires no knowledge beyond
the range of his own experience. But
whenever any person, of whatever training
and experience, assumes to pass an opinion
upon values after simple inspection, without
such knowledge of the structure and of the
chemical composition as can come only from
varied experience and thorough tests, he is
arrogating to himself powers beyond the
capacity of any human being.
No industry can be built upon snch a foundation.
Whatever may be the future of our
district, its development will depend upon its
resources as they are, not as they are estimated
by any individual, although correct statementsA
186
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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/m1/191/?rotate=270: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.