STEPHENS COUNTY. 537 



BUILDING MATERIAL. 



Sandstones are everywhere abundant in this county, and many of them 

 would make good building material. No quarries have been opened except 

 in a small way. The court house and other buildings in the town of Breck- 

 enridge have been built of this material. The stone is similar to the best 

 sandstone in the Carboniferous formation in the State. 



The limestones in places are very compact and hard, and would make ex- 

 cellent buildings or piers for bridges. In the vicinity of Crystal Falls it lies 

 in beds of from six to eighteen inches thick, and has been used to build the 

 piers of a bridge across Hubbard Creek near that town. There are many 

 places in the county where this kind of material is abundant. 



Clays for making brick can be had abundantly almost anywhere that such 

 material is desired for use. There is plenty of fire clay in the vicinity of the 

 'coal beds. 



Some of the limestones will make good quicklime, and sand can be had 

 without much trouble. 



Sand for making mortar or cement can be had at little cost of time or 

 trouble. 



COAL. 



Coal has been known to exist in this county for a long while, but it has 

 been so far from lines of transportation that it has only been developed and 

 used in a small way. When the United States soldiers were stationed at 

 Fort Griffin they used to come down to this locality and get the coal for use 

 at the fort, but since their removal and the fort's abandonment there has been 

 but a small demand for the coal. 



The following descriptions are of the various outcrops in the county as I 

 have seen them. They are all in Seam No. V, and are of the same character 

 of coal as that found in the vicinity of Belknap and other places in Young 

 County. 



The coal seam passes through the northwestern part of the county, entering 

 it at or near Crystal Palls, and thence extending southwestward, leaving the 

 county on its south line, near Sandy Creek. Excellent localities for coal 

 mining can be selected at a number of places in the county. 



Plate XIII will show the several places mentioned. • 



JAKE WIZEART MINE. 



About three-fourths of a mile southwest of the town of Crystal Falls is the 

 Jake Wizeart mine. More work has been done at this place than at any 

 other opening in this county. 



