230 THE IRON ORE DISTRICT OF EAST TEXAS. 



Localities. 



No. 823. White sandy clay, Carthage and Timpson road, two miles south of Carthage. 



No. 825. Gray sandy clay, above the lignite shale, from Allen Baker farm, M. Payne 

 headright, four miles east of Carthage. 



No. 826. Plastic ferruginous clay, one mile east of Tatum Station. 



No. 827. Red and gray mottled clay, under the iron bed, Six Mile Creek. 



No. 828. Indurated sandy clay, Donnel field, one-half mile southeast of Carthage. 



No. 829. Lignitic clay shale, lower bed, near Iron Bayou, Lagrone headright. 



No. 831. Stiff, tenacious, sandy clay soil, light brown color, from lignite series in plowed 

 field R. W. Kinard farm, Daniel Martin headright. 



LIGNITE. 



There is a large deposit of lignite in this county, the bed apparently vary- 

 ing in thickness in the different localities. 



At Grand Bluff it was seen cropping out at the water line of the Sabine 

 River, near the ferry, and in places forms the bed of the river. 



On the Allison tract, six miles east of Tatum Station, it crops out at the 

 base of a hill on a little stream fed by springs, which flow from the water 

 bearing sand in contact with and overlying the lignite. 



About four miles south of Carthage, on the M. Payne headright, Baker's 

 subdivision, were seen specimens from a prospect hole then full of water. 

 The bed was reported to be two feet thick. 



The best exposure was seen at Mineral Spring Ridge, four miles northwest 

 of Beckville, where a tunnel had been excavated nearly north and south one 

 hundred and fifty feet in the lignite bed. The bed here is four and one-half 

 feet thick. Several car loads of this lignite had been shipped to Longview, 

 where it was burned in grates for domestic purposes. It was also tried in 

 the fire box of a wood burning locomotive on the Texas, Sabine Valley and 

 Northwestern Railway with some success. The two obstacles to its continued 

 use were: 



1st. The exhaust steam discharged into the fire box from the cylinders 

 disturbed the arrangement of the coal. 



2nd. The cheapness of wood, $1.75 per cord to the road, left no induce- 

 ment to change the construction of the furnaces in the engines. 



This lignite is typical of the formation in Panola County. A specimen 

 taken from the end of the tunnel shows the following composition in an an- 

 alysis by Mr. L. E. Magnenat: 



Water 20.80 



Volatile matter 52 . 08 



Fixed carbon 22 .67 



Ash 3.97 



Sulphur 0.48 



Total V 100.00 



