LIGNITES. 97 



Laredo, a distance of twenty miles, thus facilitating the shipment of the coal to 

 the various markets. It is extensively used on the Mexican International 

 Railroad, and for steam and household purposes in Laredo, and has already 

 become an important factor in the welfare of the region. When the mine 

 was visited by the writer, in May, 1889, the output was 100 tons a day. 



USES OF LIGNITE. 



The San Tomas coal is so vastly superior to any of the East Texas lignites 

 that it can not fairly be classed with them, and therefore the following re- 

 marks are not intended to refer to it. The lignite beds have not yet been 

 worked to any considerable extent. Some of the material has been taken 

 out at the following places: In Raines County; at Alamo, in Cass County; 

 some three miles southwest of Athens, Henderson County; at Calvert Bluff, 

 Robertson County; and in other places in small quantities; but so far as the 

 knowledge of the writer goes, it has in every case been attended with unsat- 

 isfactory results. There are three causes for this: 



1. The lignite, even when it is sun-dried, contains a high percentage of 

 water, ten to twenty per cent, and when it is burned a large amount of the 

 heating power of the fuel is consumed in evaporating the moisture, and 

 is absolutely lost for all practical purposes. This water, in the sun-dried ma- 

 terial, is chemically combined with the lignite, and can not be removed 

 without decomposing it. Hence the popular saying that the lignite "burns 

 without heating." 



2. Most all the lignites have a strong tendency to crumble when exposed 

 to the air, and a large part of it is wasted by being carried up the flues of 

 a furnace even by an ordinary draft. Also, a finely crumbled fuel is diffi- 

 cult to handle in a furnace, and its transportation is expensive, and accom- 

 panied by a large amount of waste. 



3. The part of East Texas where lignite is found is heavily timbered, not 

 only with pine but with hardwoods. Railroads in many places can have this 

 fuel placed on the track for $2 to $4 per cord, and it requires a very good 

 and cheap coal to compete with that price for railroad or furnace purposes. 

 It might be said that the wood will run out, and the lignite will then be used. 

 But as the hardwood of East Texas is increasing every year, and spreading 

 over areas that were once prairies, the outlook in this direction is not en- 

 couraging. As the value of lignite will not stand transportation, it can not, 

 except under special conditions, be sent into the regions where wood is scarce. 



There are, however, uses to which lignite can be applied: 



1. The better grades can be used for household purposes. 



2. It can be ground and pressed into bricks, with some cementing substance 



like asphalt or coal tar, and thus gotten into a much more serviceable shape 

 G- 



