258 THE IRON ORE DISTRICT OF EAST TEXAS. 



the writer. There is no reason to doubt it, however, because part of the lig- 

 nitic series is shown by the derived potter's clay. Lignite is found also 

 near the school house at Millville. 



At Graham's Lake, twelve miles west of Henderson, in the hillside some 

 twenty feet above the water, there is a bed of lignite. 



A sample of this lignite analyzed by Mr. J. H. Herndon exhibited the fol- 

 lowing composition: 



Moisture 16.55 



Volatile matter. 43 . 90 



Fixed carbon 25 . 40 



Sulphur t 0.08 



Ash 14.15 



100.08 

 MINERAL WATER. 



Sulphur Spring, about eighteen miles south of Henderson, was in former 

 times somewhat noted as a place of resort for invalids and others. The 

 water is, however, chalybeate, and not sulphur water as its name would indi- 

 cate. Its mineral character is derived from the partial decomposition of iron 

 ore in contact with organic matter, possibly that contained in the micaceous 

 sandy lignitic clay shale. A similar spring was observed about a mile east 

 of L. D. Stevens' residence. The water is cool and rather pleasant in taste, 

 though slightly styptic, and deposits a rusty sediment on standing. 



OIL. 



The only mineral oil seen in this county was a thin film which covered 

 about one hundred square feet of the surface of the water in Graham's Lake, 

 twelve miles west of Henderson. This was afterwards driven to the shore by 

 a light breeze which produced a rippling of the water. It was an exudation 

 from the lignite. 



GREENSAND MARL. 



Prom Sulphur Spring southward to the intersection of the tributaries of 

 the East Fork of Shawnee Creek is a fine development of greensand marl. 



About two miles east of Mount Enterprise, in the bed of a small stream, a 

 tributary of the East Fork of the Shawnee Creek, is a deposit of greensand 

 shell marl. 



Ln the bed of a branch, also a tributary of Shawnee Creek, about one-fourth 

 to one-half mile south of L. D. Stevens' residence, southeast corner of Mar- 

 tinez league, was seen a bed of slightly altered greensand marl twenty feet 



