546 GEOLOGY OF NORTHWESTERN TEXAS. 



This shale will burn when put on the fire, but loses none of its bulk in 

 burning, and is absolutely worthless as a fuel. There is no probability that 

 this seam can be worked in this particular locality, owing to the thinness of 

 the seam and the further fact that the stratum of bituminous shale will have 

 to be taken out of the mine, for it is so highly impregnated with sulphuret 

 of iron that when the material is exposed to the atmosphere and it begins to 

 slack, the sulphuric acid escaping will set the whole mass on fire. The seam 

 may be thicker at some distant locality, but there is no hope that it will change 

 for the better anywhere near Cisco. Four miles from Cisco, to the north- 

 west, on the line of the Houston and Texas Central Railway, this same seam 

 of coal was found about the level of Sandy Creek. A good deal of work was 

 done at this place several years ago, but the mine has been abandoned on ac- 

 count of the fact that the seam was too thin for successful mining. Attempts 

 have been made to develop this seam in several other places, with like results." 



Plate No. XIV will give the relative position of the various localities in 

 this vicinity where the coal has been mined. » 



It has been reported that coal is found in the vicinity of Carbon, in the 

 southern part of the county. If it is there it will probably be seam No. 1, 

 the same as at Thurber, and might be of commercial importance 1 was un- 

 able to visit that locality when in the county. 



COLEMAN COUNTY. 

 TOPOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE. 



This county is comparatively level, except where it has been crossed by the 

 larger creeks. The hills on the south side of the county are bold escarp- 

 ments, caused by erosion and the fact that the strata dip to the northwest. 

 In the northern part of the county the high hills are mostly confined to the 

 narrow strips along the creeks. 



The drainage on the south is into the Colorado River, and on the north 

 into Pecan Bayou. 



The Colorado extends along the entire southern border of the county, 

 making the division line between this county and the counties on the south. 

 Bull Creek, Camp Creek, Home Creek, and Mukewater are large creeks flow- 

 ing into the Colorado River. Jim Ned runs along the northern side of the 

 county. 



GEOLOGY. 



Coleman County belongs entirely to the Carboniferous formation, except 

 the high hills known as Santa Anna Mountains, which are two isolated Cre- 

 taceous buttes that have been left at the time of erosion which uncovered 

 the Carboniferous strata in this part of the State. 



