THE WEST POINT, TEXAS, SALT DOME 

 FREESTONE COUNTY 



E. DeGOLYER 

 65 Broadway, New York City, New York 



INTRODUCTION 



The West Point salt dome is a large, symmetrical structure of the 

 salt-dome type occurring in the extreme southeastern corner of 

 Freestone County, Texas. This dome structure is one of the most 

 symmetrical and best defined, both geologically and topographi- 

 cally, of the North American salt domes, notwithstanding which 

 it seems largely to have escaped the attention of geologists to the 

 present time. 



References to it in geologic literature are few and scant and no 

 detailed description has yet been published. Deussen^ referred 

 to a dome in Freestone County as one of the inner belt of coastal 

 domes, and Woodruff ^ first described the West Point dome gener- 

 ally, emphasizing particularly its fitness for study as a type example 

 of salt-dome structure. Hopkins^ included this dome, which he 

 calls the Butler dome, on his index map showing the location of 

 the Palestine dome, and Dunible'' described it briefly under the 

 same name. 



The dome has been examined several times as a salt or petroleum 

 prospect. Lee Hager reported upon it in 1908 and in his report 

 mentions having examined it for private interests in 1907. Lewis 

 C. Chapman reported on it in 191 5 and various geologists of the 



'Alexander Deussen, "The Humble, Texas, Oil Field," Southivestern Assn. 

 Pet. Geol., Bull, i (191 7), pp. 60-79. 



^ In discussion of Deussen's paper. Southwestern Assn. Pet. Geol., Bull, i (1917), 

 pp. 79-84-, 



3 Oliver B. Hopkins, "The Palestine Salt Dome, Anderson County, Texas," 

 U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 66ig (191 7). 



'I E. T. Durable, "Origin of the Texas Domes," Amer. Inst. Min. Eng., Bull. 

 13S (June, 1918), pp. 1629-36. 



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