166 SOUTHERN BORDER OF CENTRAL COAL FIELD. 



west side of the Colorado; and again on the south side of Cherokee Creek, 

 on both sides of the San Saba and Bluffton road. Another place at which 

 it was observed was three miles east of the town of San Saba. In all these 

 places it occupies the same geological position. The texture of the stone is 

 as fine as need be desired, but it has not been found in large enough pieces 

 to be of any value. The stone has a perfect network of lines of fracture 

 running through it. These lines are filled with calc-spar, which renders it 

 worthless. The best was seen near San Saba. It is possible if the vein was 

 uncovered so as to get away from atmospheric influences it might be much 

 better; or it might be that if the deposit was traced by its outcrop from one 

 locality to another, which might be easily done, a locality would be found 

 where the stone would be free from these lines of fracture. The stone is of 

 a uniform color wherever seen, being a light gray. The bed is from six to 

 eight inches thick. When much weathered, and struck with a hammer, it 

 splits into thin layers. 



SOILS. 



The soils have a very great variety of composition, and consequently of 

 fertility, owing to the fact of their being composed of the detritus from the 

 strata in the immediate vicinity, as well as material transported from great 

 distances. There are no barren soils in the country, unless it be an occa- 

 sional small area at the base of some hill, where the clay has been washed 

 down and spread over the valley. These places are of rare occurrence and 

 are of small extent 



The soils of the Cretaceous and from the limestones of the Carboniferous 

 are very black, with but little sand admixed. 



The soils of the sandstone region of the Carboniferous are sandy, of a red- 

 dish color, often having a red clay subsoil. The soils of the valleys of the 

 rivers and some of the local plateaus are a reddish loam, with different kinds 

 of subsoil, owing to the difference in locality. Another class of soils are 

 those along the smaller creeks, where they are made up entirely of the wash- 

 ings from the adjacent hills and of the vegetable and animal remains that 

 have lived and died on these lands. They are probably the most fertile of 

 all the lands in this part of the State. Any of these soils are of sufficient 

 fertility to make good agricultural lands, and the only questions that need be 

 seriously considered in selecting a location, or that need be discussed, are the 

 questions of rainfall and possibility of irrigation. 



The soil of the Lampasas River is principally from the adjacent Cretaceous 

 strata. There has been at some time a large amount of water flowing down 

 these valleys, bringing in the sands and other material from a distance, mak- 

 ing a black sandy soil of great fertility, and which annually produces fine 



