COAL. 441 



close to the consumer that it can be sold to them at a lower rate than other 

 coals can possibly be put down. New towns and cities will grow up, with 

 their demand for fuel, which must all come a long distance or from these 

 Texas beds. 



There is really only one railroad that now creates a demand for the Texas 

 coal, and that is the Texas and Pacific. It is true the Fort Worth and Den- 

 ver crosses the coal fields and goes through the Panhandle country, but it 

 crosses only one seam of the coal, and no attempt has been made to develop 

 the coal there except in a small way. The northwestern branch of the Hous- 

 ton and Texas Central crosses the extreme southern part of the coal field, and 

 at a place where the seam is not good, and where it would be difficult to work 

 on account of the thinness of the bed. 



The Texas and Pacific is using about six hundred tons per day from the 

 mine at Thurber. With their increasing business they will have an ever in- 

 creasing demand for this coal. 



What is most needed to develop the coal of Texas is means of transporta- 

 tion to the west and south. And that the coal beds will be developed to their 

 fullest extent does not admit of doubt, even if the seams are not as thick as 

 they are in some other localities, nor the coal as free from impurities as the 

 best article from other places. 



There are nine seams of coal in the Northern Coal Fields, only two of 

 which are of any economical value. These are No. 1 and No. 7. The others 

 are only a few inches thick at any place I have seen them. 



NATURAL GAS. 



The demand and necessity for cheap fuel in the State makes it important 

 that attention be given to every probable and possible supply. The use of 

 natural gas has been shown to be the cheapest, where it can be obtained, of 

 any other material, both for domestic use and for manufacturing purposes. 



I have therefore given the subject such attention as it was possible in con- 

 nection with my other duties, and will give the results of my observations in 

 Ihe bounds of the district to which 1 was assigned. 



It will be necessary, in order to a proper understanding of the matter, that 

 some general statements be made with regard to the supply of natural gas in 

 other States, and of the conditions of the geological structure of a country in 

 order that it may be a gas producing region. 



Natural gas is used in a number of States and at different localities in 

 them, and the cheapening of fuel in these States has been so great that 

 whenever possible the manufactories have given up the use of coal, and have 

 adjusted their machinery to the use of the new fuel. Many cities are now 

 entirely lighted by natural gas, and in some places it is largely used for do- 

 mestic purposes. 



