538 GEOLOGY OF NORTHWESTERN TEXAS. 



A tunnel has been driven into the hill for a distance of four hundred feet 

 on the seam, and a cross-tunnel one hundred feet long has been made at right 

 angles with the first. At the distance of three hundred feet from the mouth 

 of the tunnel an air shaft has been put down. 



The following section was made at this locality. Beginning at the top: 



1 . Shaly sandstone 10 feet. 



2. Slate -. 4 feet. 



3. Coal 6 inches. 



4. Shale 4 inches. 



5. Coal 2 feet. 



6. Fire clay 10 inches. 



Total 11 feet 8 inches. 



In this mine the four inches of slate between the two seams of coal will 

 have to be taken out of the mine, for the reason that it is highly impreg- 

 nated with sulphuret of iron, and on being broken down and exposed to the 

 atmosphere will cause spontaneous combustion and set the mine on fire. This 

 mine was once on fire for several months, caused by a miner carelessly leaving 

 the material broken down for a couple of days in the mine. The necessity 

 for removing this material from the mine will materially increase the cost of 

 mining. 



Coal has been taken from this mine for several years to supply a local de- 

 mand in the surrounding towns. 



BERRY MEADOWS MINE. 



About one-half mile west of the Wizeart mine, on the land of Berry Mead- 

 ows, an open tunnel or cross-cut has been made in the side of the hill for about 

 fifty feet on the seam of the coal, and coal taken out to some extent to sup- 

 ply the demand at Breckenridge. The seam at this place presents much the 

 same general appearance. It has the same band of pyritiferous shale that was 

 seen at the other locality. The roof is good, and the hill above the seam 

 rises to a sufficient height to ^ive good covering. There has been very little 

 work done here for several years. 



At another locality, about half a mile still further south-westward from the 

 Berry Meadows mine, another opening was made in the head of a ravine, 

 that shows about the same conditions as at the other two localities. Where 

 the clay below the seam of coal can be seen it has the nodules of hard sand- 

 stone embedded in it which is characteristic of this bed of clay wherever ex- 

 posed. 



In the sides of the hills facing to the south along Hubbard's Creek in this 

 vicinity, the seam of coal shows in many places. 



