56 



THE IRON ORE DISTRICT OF EAST TEXAS. 



The following table prepared and published by E. T. Durable in 1884, 

 shows the comparative value of Texas and European lignites of best localities: 



South of France 



Mouth of Rhone 



Hessen Cassel 



Lower Alp^ 



Golden City, Colorado 

 Texas 



Coke. 



Ash. 



49.100 



4.990 



41.100 



13.430 



48 500 



1 770 



49.500 



3.010 



49.400 



3.850 



58.000 



10.000 



12.520 



METHOD OF ANALYSIS. 



The proximate analyses of lignites made in the laboratory of this Survey 

 were made according to the following method: Two grammes of the finely 

 pulverized lignite were dried in a weighed platinum crucible at 115 C, 

 weighed, and this operation repeated till an increase in weight indicated an 

 incipient oxidation. The percentage of moisture was calculated from the low- 

 est weight. 



To determine the amount of volatile combustible matter, the above cruci- 

 ble, with contents, was covered, ignited in the strongest heat of a good Bun- 

 sen burner, and again over a blast lamp; then cooled and weighed. 



Fixed carbon was found by removing the cover from the crucible and 

 burning off the remaining carbon over a Bunsen burner. 



The sulphur was determined in the form of sulphate of barium. 



A glance at the foregoing tables will show that the Texas lignites are 

 superior in quality to European brown coals, to nearly all of which the analyses 

 have been given. However, in order to determine the economic value of a 

 natural product, and to admit of its profitable use, a number of other condi- 

 tions must be favorable. After its quality has been tested and found suffi- 

 cient or suitable for the purpose for which it is intended to be used, the manu- 

 facturer has to consider its location, quantity, demand, and facilities for trans- 

 portation to market in order to insure success. 



Texas brown coals could not well be more favorably located for any of the 

 different manufactures enumerated than they are. Their almost exhaustless 

 deposits cross the entire State sub-parallel to the coast, holding a central posi- 

 tion between the timberless prairies of the northwest and the Gulf of Mexico 

 in the southeast. A large number of railroads, connecting the inland cities 

 of the State with the ports along the coast, pass on their way through the lig- 

 nite region of Texas and furnish convenient communication to either side. 

 The prepared product may serve to transport the manufactured article to 

 market. A steady increase of the population of the State will increase the 

 demand for fuel and all the other articles derived from the working of the 



