218 



THE IRON ORE DISTRICT OF EAST TEXAS. 



Other localities are west of Lindale, three miles northeast of Lindale, sec- 

 tions 6, 24, and 40 of Seven Leagues, E. E. Lott headright, and in the Sabine 

 River close to Belzora crossing. 



The lignite beds are generally overlaid by from two to thirty feet of sand 

 and clays, and can only be seen where the creeks and rivers have cut through 

 the overlying strata. 



As to the value of the lignites in Smith County, it is very small, from the 

 fact that it has immense virgin forests which have hardly been touched, and 

 a scarcity of wood will not be felt for a long time to come. 



In their natural state the value of these lignites is quite small on account 

 of the large amounts of ash, sulphur, and water which they contain, a great 

 part of the heating power being lost in volatilizing the water, which varies 

 from five to fifteen per cent of the whole. The difficulties in mining the lig- 

 nites will be too great to render them of economic importance. The following 

 is the analyses of five lignites made by Mr. Magnenat: 



No. and Locality, 



1. Eight and a half miles southwest of Tyler 



2. Three miles west of Lindale 



3. Twelve miles southeast of Tyler, ¥m. Luce survey. 



4. Lee Springs, six miles south of Tyler. 



5. Three miles northeast of Lindale, Robinson survey . 



14.23 

 9.83 



11.70 

 3.80 



11.40 



^ 



43.07 

 32.45 

 43.57 

 26.85 

 40.90 



30.82 

 16.10 

 27.76 

 11.80 

 35.50 



10.62 

 40.22 

 16.38 

 57.55 

 14.20 



1 26 



1.70 



.59 



(*) 



(*) 



100 

 100 

 100 

 100 

 100 



*Not determined. 



Nos. 1 and 5 are fair average samples of the lignites found in Smith County. 



SOILS. 



The soils in Smith County are of three different characters — the alluvial of 

 the bottoms or chocolate soils, the gray sandy on a red clay foundation, and 

 the red lands. The alluvial soils of the bottoms are best adapted for growing 

 cotton, corn, and sugar cane. The light gray sandy soils are used nearly al- 

 together for raising cotton and corn. The gray sandy or upland soils are not 

 so productive as the other two kinds of soil, and they are probably deficient 

 in potash, phosphoric acid, and lime, which are plant foods. I regret that 

 the time was too short to have these soils analyzed for the purpose of ascer- 

 taining the nature of the defects and, if possible, the suggestion of a remedy. 



The red colored soils, known as the red lands, are esteemed very highly by 

 their owners, for they produce equally well cotton, corn, grain, and vegeta- 

 bles. They are especially adapted for fruit raising. Indeed, so salubrious 

 is the climate and so excellent the soils that at no distant day we may hope 

 to see the fruits of Eastern Texas rivaling in the markets of the East the 

 far famed fruits of California. The people of Smith County are well aware 

 of the importance of their fruit crop," and fine orchards and nurseries are 



