518 GEOLOGY OF NORTHWESTERN TEXAS. 



could be used for building purposes, but so far no use has been macie of 

 them. The limestone from which the court house and other buildings in 

 Decatur are erected is the Cretaceous limestone found in that immediate vi- 

 cinity in great abundance. 



Clays for brick making are abundant, and are often found properly mixed 

 for making a good quality of bricks. 



COAL. 



Coal Seam No. 1 is found in the vicinity of Bridgeport on both sides of 

 the river. This is the farthest place northward of the outcrop of this seam. 

 It here passes beneath the Trinity Sands of the Cretaceous. Considerable 

 prospecting has been done at this place, and an opening has been made on 

 the coal at one place for several hundred feet. Numerous shafts have been 

 put down to the coal in the vicinity, and many holes have been put down by 

 a diamond drill. All these methods have proven the existence of a large 

 body of coal. The coal seam in the opening, where a good deal of coal has 

 been taken out, is twenty -four inches thick. The coal taken out of the mine 

 has been hauled in wagons to Decatur and sold to supply the local demand. 



It is reported that the coal seam thickens to the northwest. I could not 

 make any personal examination as to the correctness of the report, as the 

 shafts had either fallen or were partly filled with water at the time of my visit. 



The coal is as good in quality as any found in the State, as the analysis 

 given in another place will show. 



Recently arrangements have been made to build a railroad from Decatur 

 to the mines, and when that is done this will be a good property. The roof- 

 ing is good, and the mining can be as easily done as at any other thin seam 

 of coal. The mine is entirely free from water and gas. 



There is plenty of timber in the vicinity for all the props needed, and all 

 that is needed to make this as good a locality for coal mining as any in the 

 State, is transportation facilities to get the coal to market. 



Just north of the mine, and about twenty-five feet above the coal, the fol- 

 lowing fossils occur: 



Aviculopecten occidentalis, Pleurotomaria sphcerulata, P. tabulala, P. turbini- 

 formis, Productus semireticulatus, Chonetes mesoloba, Conularia crustula, Cam- 

 pophyllum torquium, Michelina placenta?, and others that are undetermined. 



About one-half mile southwest of the bridge across the river at Bridgeport 

 the coal outcrops in the head of a ravine. The seam at the outcrop is thir- 

 teen inches thick. The dip of the strata is to the northwest. This is evi- 

 dently the same seam as that on the north side as the river east of Bridge- 

 port. Again, about one-half mile west of this last described place is another 

 outcrop of the same seam. 



