UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 



served pasture-lands on which they could get their 

 stock ready for market. 



The pine-lands of Texas, in the absence of for- 

 est laws, are being stripped of trees of all sizes. 

 There are less than 40,000,000,000 feet of pine 

 lumber still standing, and it is being cut down 

 at the rate of 1,000,000,000 feet a year. 



There are extensive fields of cinnabar in west- 

 ern Texas, on which operations were begun in 

 1901. Successive ranges of mountains conceal the 

 mineral treasures of this region, which has been 

 very imperfectly explored. The Attorney-General 

 having given an opinion, when miners applied for 

 mineral lands, that only such were open to min- 

 ing claims as the State Geological Survey desig- 

 nated as mineral lands, many persons applied as 

 agricultural settlers for land in the quicksilver 

 districts of western Texas, on some of which min- 

 ing companies had erected expensive works, and 

 which these applicants sought to obtain for $1 

 an acre, the lands having been classified as agri- 

 cultural lands and valued at that price, and the 

 claimants having settled on the sections they 

 claimed before the mines were opened. The State 

 Land Commissioner refused to grant patents, leav- 

 ing it to the courts to solve the difficulty. An act 

 of 1895 provided for filing certain descriptions of 

 unsurveyed land under the mineral act, while an 

 act of 1900 appropriated all unsurveyed lands to 

 the permanent school fund. The Land Commis- 

 sioner, recognizing these contested lands as min- 

 eral lands, raised the price to $100 an acre, where- 

 as if they were sold as grazing or agricultural 

 lands at 25 cents to $1 an acre the school fund 

 would receive no benefit, since they are unfitted 

 for grazing or agriculture, would be used only 

 for mining, 'and the purchasers, paying only 2J 

 per cent, of the purchase price down and interest 

 on the remainder, would abandon them when the 

 minerals were exhausted, which would be long 

 before the forty years expire, at the end of which 

 the State can demand the balance. < 



Texas has two large bituminous coal-fields, and 

 there are deposits of lignite of superior quality in 

 many parts of the State. This material has not 

 been much utilized, although it can be made into 

 briquettes and has been found to be a good fuel 

 for industrial or smelting purposes, when satu- 

 rated with crude petroleum. In 1900 lignite 

 formed one-third of the coal-production, the total 

 of which was 1,022,827 tons. Mineral oil was 

 first struck in Corsicana. On Jan. 10, 1901, A. 

 F. Lucas, boring at Beaumont, struck a gushing 

 well at a depth of 1,300 feet, which threw a 6- 

 inch stream of oil 175 feet into the air. Specula- 

 tors and oil experts gathered from all parts of the 

 country. Land was bought or leased at many 

 times the former price, and the new price was 

 multiplied when a piece again changed hands. 

 A company headed by D. R. Beatty, of Galveston, 

 sunk a well close to the first one, which flowed 

 with equal volume when the pipe tapped the 

 reservoir. On March 29 and April 3 productive 

 wells began to flow which were driven for a syn- 

 dicate formed by J. M. Guffey, of Pittsburg, 

 which controlled the first well and a great part of 

 the oil-field. The Higgins company found oil on 

 April 6, the Guffey company completed another 

 well on April 8, and on April 18 the Hey wood 

 well began to flow. It was several days before 

 the Lucas well was got under control, and it was 

 not until the pipe was sunk below the cap-rock 

 that it was safe from being clogged with sand. 

 The drillers learned the depth at which they 

 could expect oil, and were ready to close the 

 valve before the rush of oil became uncontrollable, 

 but not until the geyser in some instances had 



ejected the ]ii| . 

 gas at the st;u 

 burst forth at .< 

 pec ted, and del 

 were lost by ln;i\ 



707 



ho wrllfl sponti-d 

 I": inn-,!, violent 

 li tlin ii win \- 

 with ".I. Uvi-4 

 No, in order to 



close the valve, appn ,', , ,,,.,, 



broken loose, and WI-H- |, v |j |( ,j ( . l( j| v 



gases. Only 20 wells 

 August, but in that month ii.> v .- -,,- ., 

 September 10. All these were in Spindle 'lop i.iil 

 within a radius of less than hah a mil. j,,, ,, thd 

 first wells that were struck. On tin-. |,,n ,, 

 found at depths of 000 to 1,300 feet, alw.-m 

 the same great pressure, but not in everv M,O. 

 Some holes were drilled on the hill which brought, 

 no oil. Outside in all directions hundreds of 

 places were tried, and no oil was found. All 

 the productive wells came from a reservoir that 

 apparently had a very limited area. Indication* 

 of mineral oil have been noticed in many places 

 in Texas since Americans first settled there, and 

 many persons have tried to find the sources. 

 After the strike on Spindle Top oil was found with 

 pressure both at Sour Lake and at Jennings, but 

 the pipes became clogged with sand. The larger 

 companies at Beaumont built pipe-lines to the 

 railroad and to tidewater at Port Arthur, which 

 is only 16 miles distant. When the smaller com- 

 panies and individuals who had gushers began to 

 offer their oil at lower prices, arrangements were 

 made by the others to take it to market for them. 

 A demand soon arose for the Texas oil as fuel. 

 Manufacturers of neighboring cities put in ap- 

 pliances for feeding their furnaces with oil 

 through small pipes, and found it half as dear as 

 coal. Steam-vessels and railroad locomotives 

 were fitted to use it as fuel. It was shipped to 

 London to be used in combination with coal for 

 the manufacture of illuminating-gas. Tank 

 steamers supplied it as a substitute for steam- 

 coal to cities on the Gulf seaboard, and tank-cars 

 to cities of the Mississippi valley. Refineries were 

 started which extracted 21 per cent, of illumina- 

 ting-oil without impairing the value of the oil 

 for fuel. The price at the wells was kept at 30 

 cents a barrel of 42 gallons. The oil is a heavy 

 compound like the Russian oil, having a strong 

 odor of sulfuretted hydrogen, containing naphtha, 

 benzine, paraffin, lubricating-oils of superior 

 quality, common asphaltum, and asphaltum used 

 in paints, and more than 50 per cent, of illumina- 

 ting-oil. In the summer the production reached 

 1,000,000 barrels a day, and in the autumn many 

 new wells were opened without reducing the pres- 

 sure. The development of the Corsicana field 

 made progress also, and oil was struck in other 

 counties. The changes and shortcomings of the 

 Texas land and mining laws left open a question 

 as to the rights of the oil operators. From 1883 

 to 1889 the law reserved the mineral rights of 

 State lands sold for schools, and this affects some 

 of the oil-fields. 



Legislative Sessions. The Legislature met 

 on Jan. 14, 1901, and closed its session on April 9. 

 Most of the general legislation was merely in- 

 tended to cure defects in existing statutes, 

 law on civil libel defines what is actionable clearly 

 enough to enable publishers to avoid giving cause 

 for suits. An act prohibiting the playing of cards 

 in any place save a private residence occupied 

 a family was intended to close a loophole v 

 existed "for the evasion of the law against gam- 

 bling. An act regulating the practise of n 

 shuts out persons who have l>oiiirht diplo 

 without study or experience, from fraudulent 

 le<*es. A law was passed prohibiting the I 

 listing of employees. Shipments of liquor - 



