REPORT OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST. xli 



the Brazos* Coal Field, or Northern, and the Colorado Coal Field, or 

 Southern. 



In the Brazos Coal Field both of the workable seams of coal are found 

 but No. 1 has not yet been identified in the Colorado Coal Field, and 

 No. 7 is therefore its only workable deposit. 



Coal seam No. 1 first appears at the surface in Wise County, some 

 eight miles southwest of Decatur. It outcrops in a southwestern 

 direction nearly to the southwest corner of the county, when it turns 

 more sharply west and appears in the southeastern portion of Jack 

 County. It crosses into Palo Pinto County near its northeastern cor- 

 ner and its outcrops appear in a south-southwest direction entirely 

 across this county and down into Erath, until it disappears beneath the 

 Cretaceous hills and is found no more. On this seam are located several 

 mines and prospects, among which may be mentioned those of the Wise 

 County Coal Company, Mineral Wells Coal Company, Lake Mine, Car- 

 son and Lewis, Gordon, Johnson, Palo Pinto, and Adair. The output 

 from these mines is gradually increasing. 



These mines, as well as those on Seam No. 7, were briefly described 

 in the First Report of Progress, and those now in operation are de- 

 scribed more fully in this Report. 



Coal Seam No. 7 is first observed outcropping near Bowie, in Mon- 

 tague County. From this point it bends southwestward, passing north 

 of Jacksboro, between Graham and Belknap, when it turns south, 

 running just west of Eliasville, by Crystal Falls and Breckenridge, to 

 and below Cisco, when it, too, passes under the Cretaceous ridge. 



South of this ridge we find it again on Pecan Bayou, in Coleman 

 County, and from here the outcrops extend in a southerly direction, 

 near Santa Anna Mountain, to Waldrip in McCulloch County. 



On this seam we have the Stephens Mine, in Montague County, and 

 various prospects in Jack County. Considerable work has been done 

 in Young and Stephens counties, and coal of fair quality mined, but 

 lack of railway facilities prevents anything like systematic mining. 

 The seam becomes thinner and much poorer toward Cisco, graduating 

 into a material little better than a bituminous shale. Probably the 

 largest amount of work ever put on a coal seam in Texas was expended 

 in this county, but the whole thing was given up at last as imprac- 

 ticable. 



*The name Brazos was originally applied to the northwestern portion of this field by Dr. 

 Chas. Ashburner in a paper read before the American Institute of Mining Engineers in 1879. 

 It is now extended to cover the entire area north of the Cretaceous ridge mentioned. 



