234 THE IRON ORE DISTRICT OF EAST TEXAS. 



nous sandstone has a thickness of twenty feet, just above an extensive line 

 of excavation which is known to the old settlers as the "Old Mexican Silver 

 Mine." The yellow sandstone is here underlaid by a stiff plastic yellow clay. 

 It was evident from inspection that the excavation had been made at some 

 former time as a roadway for wagons loading the sandstone from the ledge 

 above. Where the stone was carried, or for what purpose it was used, is no 

 longer known. It was perhaps a quarry of the old Mission Fathers. A large 

 white oak tree now standing in the middle of the roadway would seem to in- 

 dicate that the work done here was not later than seventy -five years ago. 



On the summit of a ridge, near the house of Alex. Carter, in the William 

 McKnight headright, northwest corner of Panola County, are two large 

 bowlders of hard iron sandstone — dimensions, about six feet long, five feet 

 wide, and three feet thick. The stones are in remarkably good state of preser- 

 vation. The name "Indian Rock" has been given to them from the tradition 

 that the Indians used the upper surface for the purpose of sharpening whang 

 awls. These were blunt pointed instruments of bone, later of iron, used for 

 making holes in dressed skins for sewing with leather thongs, or whangs as 

 they were called. The grooves left on the stone seem to corroborate the tra- 

 dition. 



GLASS SAND. 



In Several places m this county can be seen local deposits of white sand 

 that could be made available for the manufacture of window glass, bottles, 

 lamps, and the ordinary kinds of glassware. Such a locality was seen in 

 crossing a little stream two and one-half miles northwest of Beckville, on the 

 Harmony Hill road. Another extensive bank of white sand was observed 

 about one mile above the ferry at Grand Bluff, on the Sabine River. The 

 abundance of fuel and facility of getting soda ash from Galveston at com- 

 paratively low rates would favor such an enterprise, if the plant be located 

 on or near a railway. 



MAGNETIC SAND. 



In the soil in nearly every portion of the county was observed a consider- 

 able percentage of magnetic sand and pebbles. The sand is in fine state of 

 division, quite black and lustrous, and differing somewhat in composition 

 from the magnetic pebbles. From dried and powdered soil the sand and 

 pebbles can be easily collected by the magnet. A sample of this sand was 

 taken from a gulley near the railway cut one-half mile north of Carthage. 

 Its origin is yet uncertain, but possibly local. A preliminary analysis by Mr. 

 J. H. Herndon gave sesquioxide of iron, 50.99; protoxide of iron, 27.76; 



