H kJnnedy D ] DETAILED SECTIONS. 45 
sands appear in several small cuttings along the line of the Missouri, 
Kansas and Texas Railway going westward from Houston ; and near 
Brunner, on Buffalo Bayou, in the vicinity of Houston, banks from 
15 to 20 or more feet high are made up of the brownish-gray sand 
with thin ledges of coarse soft sandstone or sand concretions of this 
formation. The same sands are also found in cuttings near the San 
Jacinto River, and at Crosby, on the Southern Pacific Railroad east 
from Houston. The sandy deposits also form the summit of Dayton 
Hill, in Liberty County, and show a thickness of at least 15 feet in 
cuttings along the line of railroad. South of Dayton they form the 
bluff marking the edge of the Trinity River bottom lands. Indura- 
tions of these sands in the form of sandstones occur at many places. 
Near Tarkington Prairie, in Liberty County, and between that place 
and the Trinity River, they form hills of considerable height and 
extent. These indurations also occur on the same river about 3 miles 
northwest of the town of Liberty, as well as at several places south 
and east, notably in old ballast pits a little east of the town. 
Of economic interest in connection with these sands are the various 
small deposits of carbonate of iron found in the form of thin, irregu- 
lar sheets or as stains throughout the beds. This ore is freely soluble 
in carbonated water, and seepage carries the solution out into small 
gulches or ravines, where, coming in contact with oxygen, the iron is 
precipitated and forms a brilliant iridescence on the surface of the 
water. This has frequently been mistaken for petroleum, and many 
of the so-called petroleum springs or seeps found in the areas belong- 
ing to these beds are this iron in course of deposition. 
From Houston south to the coast the country is almost flat, perhaps 
sloping at a rate of 10 inches to 1 foot per mile. This region is occu- 
pied by the clays and sands of the Beaumont beds and clays and sands 
of post-Pleistocene age, while in the immediate vicinity of the head 
of Galveston Bay the coastal or sea marshes begin. 
The underground conditions of this section are practically unknown. 
Few wells of great depth have been drilled, the most important being 
the deep well at Galveston (3,070 feet) and the deep well at Hunts- 
ville (about 2,203 feet). The section of the Huntsville well is as 
follows : 
Section of well at Huntsville. 
Feet. 
1. Clays and sandy clay, with water bed at 339 feet .» 417 
2. Water-bearing sand 67 
3. Clays, etc ' - 506 
4. Sand . 159 
5. Clays 477 
6. Sands 577 
2, 203 
Several wells, ranging from 600 to 900 feet in depth, have been drilled 
at Houston. The Brazos Valley Oil Company and the New York and 
Texas Land Company's wells at Angleton have already been referred 
