80 
Transactions Texas Academy of Science. 
Dumble^ Edwin T. 
the matter thoroughly, and, going through the country, took mining 
leases on such lands as they thought most promising. The best indications 
were found about fourteen miles southeast of Nacogdoches, where they 
occur at different places, and are abundant over a tract of land seven 
miles square, lying adjacent to Oil City, the name of the new town. 
“'The first boring was done in the spring of 1887, and. the first well was 
a success, securing a good flow of oil at 70 feet. At once the country was 
wild with excitement, mining leases were made on all available property, 
and those taking them were compelled at length to insert an agreement 
to begin work within sixty days. Companies were formed and machinery 
was ordered, and then, like all flurries, the reaction set in. The second 
well did not prove as good as the first, the next showed still less oil, and 
some of the others none at alL Those Avho were doing the boring, 
however, were used to the vicissitudes of oil prospecting, and were in no 
wise discouraged by a few dry wells, especially as the oil found proved 
to be of a very superior quality. Thirteen wells have been bored, some 
of them giving a m'ere seepage of oil, others from one to forty barrels per 
day. 
* ■«• # * * «■ * 
“'As stated above, the quality of the oil is very superior. Actual test 
is the strongest proof, and a letter from the management of one of the 
largest railroads in the Northwest states that during last February this 
oil was exposed in the open air for twenty-four hours and then tested. 
The temperature of the air was 19° below zero, and that of the oil .18° 
below, and at that temperature it flowed freely, thus proving conclusively 
its value as a lubricant for all portions of the country liable to extremely 
low temperatures. 
“The specifie gravity of this oil is about 28° Beaume, while the ordinary 
oils of Pennsylvania are 43° to 48°, and the West Virginia lubricating oils 
30° to 37°. 
“The geological horizon of this oil is the Claiborne sands of the Lower 
lEocene, the strata passed through being beds of sandy clay and a blue 
clay with shells, which we have had examined with a view to determining 
their exact geological age. The oil is found in a very porous rock imme- 
diately underlying this shell, marl and clay. 
■ji -;!•***■«•* 
“Prof. Everhart,. of the State University at Austin, had a sample of the 
oil sent him for analysis during last summer, and we await his report with 
a great deal of interest. ['See 'Everhart, Edgar, Contributions from the 
Chemical Laboratory, University of Texas, Bulletin No. 4.] 
“The actual shipments of this oil amount to something over fourteen 
hundred barrels to May 1st, 1888.’’ 
112 . 
N'otes on the Iron Ore Deposits of Eastern Texas. , 
G-eological and Scientific Bnlletin, VoL I, No. 5. Honston, 
Sept., 1888. 
“The iron ores of the Tertiary formation, which occur so abundantly in 
Eastern Texas, have received more or less attention for many years. A 
