E. T. DUMBLE-THE SOILS OF TEXAS. 
51 
Soils of Transportation. 
The Transported soils are readily divisible into two general classes: 
Drift soils, or Transported soils of the uplands. 
Alluvial soils, or Transported soils of the lowlands. 
DRIFT SOILS. 
In addition to the soils which have been directly derived from the va¬ 
rious belts of the different plains as already described, and to the Alluvial 
soils of the river valleys and their tributaries, there is a third class of 
soils which occupy comparatively large areas in various portions of the 
State. These are the Drift soils. They represent local accumulations of 
materials deposited at later times than the original beds. They frequently, 
if not generally, are underlaid by deposits of gravel and boulders, and 
their soils, although sometimes very similar to those of the surrounding 
area and diregtly derived from them, are often quite different. 
Without entering into extended details, a few examples will explain 
their occurrence and character better than can be done in any other way. 
Coastal Slope.— In Houston county, such prairies as Tyler, Nevill’s, 
Mustang, etc., are occupied by two to four feet of dark gray, almost black, 
sandy soil resting on thin beds of siliceous pebbles and fossil wood. This 
is underlaid by Tertiary materials. Similar bodies occur at various places 
in the area. 
In Williamson county, the greater part of the area which is underlaid 
by the materials belonging to the Upper Cretaceous or Black Prairie belt 
is covered with drift soil. It has its origin in the debris derived from 
rocks both of Lower and Upper Cretaceous age, and often there are bodies 
of undecomposed drift materials underlying these soils to a depth of sev¬ 
eral feet. A thin mantle of drift of flint and limestone pebbles remains 
upon the surface and characterizes the soil As a rule they are fertile, and 
are often inseparable by surface appearance from the purely residual soils 
of the region. 
Central Basin.— The Drift soils of the Central Basin are fully as 
abundant as those of the Coastal Slope, and they are of even greater im¬ 
portance than in the latter region. 
The Seymour plateau, Lipan Flat and similar bodies are of this char¬ 
acter, and are among the best soils of the entire area. 
A good example of one of these areas occurs at the town of Memphis, 
in Hall county. The town is located between the prongs of Parker creek, 
and the flat on which it is situated is a Quaternary deposit resting in a 
basin eroded in the sandy clays of the Permian. 
The following analyses, Nos. 46 and 47, soil and subsoil, from Tyler 
