FUELS AND THEIR UTILIZATION. 39 



The State of Texas possesses immense deposits of this mineral treasure 

 covering a large part of her eastern territory, frequently associated with de- 

 posits of valuable iron ores. The age of the coal, as determined by the dif- 

 ferent State Geological Surveys, is Tertiary, and according to analyses made 

 by different members of the present Survey, the coal is frequently of the finest 

 quality, far superior to that so extensively used in European countries. 



These deposits have long been known by the people of Eastern Texas, but 

 have been generally considered valueless, and consequently but little, indeed 

 almost no mining of the material has been done in this region, with the ex- 

 ception of a few places where the coal has been used for household purposes. 

 Dr. Buckley first gave a general outline of the formation in which the lig- 

 nite occurred, and in the First Report of Progress* of the present Survey it 

 was more fully defined as " Beginning on the Sabine River in Sabine County, 

 the boundary line runs west and southwest near Crockett, Navasota, Ledbet- 

 ter, Weimar, and on to Helena and the Rio Grande; thence back by Pearsall, 

 Elgin, Marlin, Richland, Salem and Clarksville to Red River; including 

 fifty-four counties in whole or in part." The following year explorations 

 were continued by the Survey, and a large amount of valuable material has 

 been collected. The geologic features of the basin have been studied, the as- 

 sociation of the lignites with the iron ores worked out, a number of analyses 

 have been made to determine the economic value of the coal, and it is now 

 beyond question that tha lignitic basin of the east will be in the future an 

 extensive iron and coal producing district of the State. This report is in- 

 tended to call the attention of the people to the wealth of this district, to show 

 in a preliminary way how the brown coal has been utilized in European 

 countries, especially in Germany, and to compare the material now used for 

 various manufacturing purposes with the brown coal of the East Texas lig- 

 nitic basin. Space and time are limited, and it must be left to future reports 

 to treat more fully of this interesting subject, which promises so much for 

 this portion of the State. 



DISTILLATION OF LIGNITES. 



TAR AND ITS DERIVATIVES. 

 The basis of a number of valuable products, paraffine, mineral oils, colors, 

 etc., is the tar obtained from lignites, and the process is therefore highly im- 

 portant. Its main feature is the dry distillation of the lignite, which is 

 effected by different methods.' One of these, which was long in common use 

 and well illustrates the principles, consists of a plant of from twelve to 

 twenty-four cast iron retorts, each of which measure from seven to ten feet 



* Page 20. 



