LIGXITES. 95 



as the first or underlying bog. Hence the reason that we often find two or 

 more beds overlying each other and separated by sands and clays. The 

 vegetable matter in these beds has in some few cases preserved its original 

 shape, but in the vast majority of lignites it has been altered to such a degree 

 that we see simply a solid mass, varying from dark brown to black in color, 

 and showing no trace of its former existence as a tree, reed, or leaf. The 

 lignite also varies very much in its physical character. At times it is a soft 

 amorphous mass with no structure, a dull earthy lustre, and easily crumbled 

 when exposed to the air. At others it is harder, with a bright and often a 

 brilliant jet black lustre, breaking with a cubical or conchoidal fracture, and 

 though soft, yet not so easily crumbled as the first variety. Between these 

 stages there are found all gradations. The difference in character is probably 

 not only due to the conditions of deposition of the vegetable matter in the 

 original bog, but also to chemical changes which have since taken place, and 

 to the different pressure of the overlying strata It can not be due to any 

 disturbance or folding of the strata, as they all lie almost horizontally or dip 

 gently to the east or southeast, and show no signs whatever of any such dis- 

 turbance. Yet we often find beds of these two different varieties of lignite 

 in strata of the same material and exposed to exactly the same physical and 

 meteorological conditions. Hence we are brought down to ascribing these 

 differences either to different conditions of deposition, or to the chemical ac- 

 tion which has gone on since the deposition of the lignite. A strong proof 

 of this is shown in the case of the San Tomas coal, page 96. 



These lignite beds occur all through East Texas, from the top of the Basal 

 Clays on the western edge of the timber to beyond the middle of the Fayette 

 Beds, sometimes to within a hundred miles or less of the gulf coast. They 

 are not confined to any special strata in this region, but occur at intervals all 

 through it. They are, as is natural from their mode of formation, of uncer- 

 tain areal extent, and occur as lenticular beds in the overlying and underly- 

 ing strata. Yet they are so numerous and often so thick that if they were 

 to be used on a large scale, vast quantities of the material could be obtained. 

 They vary in thickness from a fraction of an inch to over twelve feet. On 

 the Sabine River these beds are seen in many places, cropping out on the 

 bluffs in Yan Zandt, Rains, Smith, Wood, and many other places on the lower 

 part of the river. In many parts of Yan Zandt County, especially between 

 Canton and Grand Saline, lignite is found in most all the wells, often giving 

 them a strong mineral taste from the decomposition of the iron pyrites. 

 Near Alamo, Cass County, lignite has been worked to some extent, and oc- 

 curs in three different beds (page 35). Similar beds crop out on the Trinity 

 River, in Anderson, Houston, and other counties. In Henderson County it 

 is found on the land of "W. E. Jones, three miles southwest of Athens. In 



