May 1, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



657 



NOTES ON NATIVE SULPHUR IN TEXAS. 



About 40 miles northwest of Pecos City, 

 and 20 west of Guadalupe station on the 

 Pecos Valley Railroad, are some deposits of 

 sulphur, a short account of which may be 

 of interest to the readers of Science. 



These deposits occur in the ' Toyah Ba- 

 sin ' (or its extension), referred to by Prof. 

 E. T. Hill in his report on the Artesian wa- 

 ters of Texas. This basin is one of a series 

 of lacustrine formations occupying valleys 

 eroded in the plains or enclosed by moun- 

 tain blocks, the underlying and enclosing 

 formations being the Red Beds and the 

 lower strata of the Comanche series of the 

 Texas geologists. 



To the northwestward of Guadalupe sta- 

 tion, and distant some fifty or sixty miles, 

 the Guadalupe mountains (of Paleozoic 

 rocks) end with a perpendicular escarpment 

 of at least a thousand feet in height, form- 

 ing a conspicuous as well as a most beautiful 

 feature of the landscape. Twenty-five or 

 thirty miles west of the station a range of 

 hills two to five hundred feet in height, with 

 increasing altitude towards the west, and 

 composed of the yellowish calcareous sandy 

 rocks, probably of the Comanche horizon, 

 makes the first interruption to the monotony 

 of the plain in this direction. From the 

 station out to these mountains and hills, 

 and to the south westward, beyond the limits 

 of vision, the country is in general terms a 

 level plain ; in detail, a succession of low 

 ridges and shallow ravines or ' draws,' the 

 result of the erosion of the original plain. 

 The region is practically destitute of trees, 

 but there is on the elevations a scanty 

 growth of yucca, dwarf mesquite, cactus 

 and similar desert plants, to which in the 

 lower and moister places there is added a 

 dense growth of grasses, and in places a few 

 stunted cedars. 



The shallower ravines expose only the 

 materials of the basin formation, coarse 

 sand loosely cemented by lime ; silt, usually 



pinkish or light chocolate brown in color, 

 water- worn siliceous pebbles ; and ' tierra 

 blanca,' a white chalky calcareous mate- 

 rial possessing some hydraulic properties 

 (Hill). In the deeper ravines erosion has 

 laid bare the underlying formations, which 

 are, according to locality, the red or dark 

 purple clayey materials of the Red Beds or 

 the sandy yellowish limestones of the Co- 

 manche. In these deeper ' draws ' are a 

 few springs of gypseous water which flow 

 ofi' in rather bold streams, to be speedily 

 absorbed by the porous soils. Two of these, 

 the Screw Bean and the Maverick springs, 

 are between the station and the sulphur 

 deposits. Besides these there are several 

 springs whose waters are strongly impreg- 

 nated with sulphur, and where the pools of 

 water stand for some time they become 

 brinj'', leaving, upon evaporation, a thick 

 crust of salt. The level country between 

 the limestone hills above mentioned pos- 

 sesses somewhat similar characters, and in 

 the plain enclosed by these hills there is a 

 fine spring of slightly gypseous water some 

 five miles to the westward of the farthest of 

 the sulphur localities. This is at the Tier- 

 nan ranch where the water has been used 

 to some extent in irrigation around the 

 ranch. 



At the three places visited by me the sul- 

 phur was found below bare, apparently 

 wind-swept, spots, its presence being usually 

 indicated either by clusters of gypsum 

 crystals in the soil, or by an outcrop of the 

 sulphur itself, sometimes tolerably pure, 

 sometimes cementing the surface pebbles 

 into a conglomerate. When further exposed 

 by pits, the sulphur is seen to occur in 

 nests and irregular veins tilling small fis- 

 sures or crevices in the soil, the sides of 

 these fissures being often lined with well- 

 developed sulphur crystals up to one- fourth 

 of an inch in size. The whole of the earth, 

 to the depth of ten feet or more at the 

 three localities visited, appeared to be im- 



