26 



easterly, are large beds of feldspar, from two to four feet 

 thick. , 



Extensive beds of the same variety of feldspar (OF'"^: 

 clase) are near the Anderson Copper Mine, in the Chmati 

 mountains, in the southeastern part of Presidio county. 

 There the beds are from 20 to 50 feet thick, inclined at an 

 angle of about forty-five degrees, and of a yellowish 

 white color. , 



These feldspars can be utilized in the manufacture of 

 the liner porcelain. 



Porcelain clays, suitable for making common wares, 

 prevail in Concho and Tom Green counties, and westward 

 to the Rio Grande. 



SLATE — EOOFI^r G. 



Near the base of Packsaddle mountain, on the banks of 

 Honey creek, are large beds of bluish black slates, of a joint- 

 ed and thinly stratified structure, in beds inclined at high 

 angles. These slates resemble the surface slates of Xew 

 Hampshire and Vermont, which lead lower down to 

 quarries of good roofing slates. 



It may be that those of Llano county, when quarried to 

 the depth of a few feet, may afford a good material for 

 rooting. Mr. Williams, who has recently been locating 

 lands in Presidio count}^ for the Central Railroad, assures 

 me that extensive beds of good roofing slate are in the 

 Chinati mountains of that county. 



These slates are on section 3d of the Central Railroad 

 survey. Strata about one hundred feet thick and dip 

 southward. 



GYPSUM 



AVe saw disseminated in the shales and clays bordering 

 the Rio Grande, between Fort Quitman and the Hot 

 springs. We were tol* by the United States ofiioers and 

 others that gypsum abounds in the eastern part of El 

 Paso county, the northern portion of Presidio county, and 

 also in the northern part of Bexar Territory. These 

 deposits, with those i^ the Pan Handle, on the waters of 

 the sources of the Red River, show that Texas has 

 enough of this valuable mineral for fertilizing and other 

 purposes. 



Besides its well known use as a fertilizer, it is used for 

 stucco work, for casts, etc. Under the name of plaster of 



