58 OIL FIELDS OF TEXAS-LOUISIANA COASTAL PLAIN. [bult,.2I2. 
its greatest development in this region. Beginning at the Trinity 
River these beds cover an area from 12 to 15 miles in width. In the 
Village Creek region this width has increased to about 30 miles, which 
is maintained as far east as the Sabine River, and apparently also 
along the line of the Kansas City Southern Railway in western Louis- 
iana. Their areal extent has not been mapped in Louisiana, but they 
probably cover the greater portion of the territory generall} T classed 
as long leaf pine fiats. The sands appear in T. X S., R. W., along 
Hickory Branch, and also at Phillips Bluff on the Calcasieu River, in 
T. 8 S., R. 6 W., and at a number of places between. They are also 
found in the Mendelsohn well about 2 miles north of Sulphur station, 
where they arc reported to be 200 feet thick and underlain by gravel. 
Closely associated with these sands and within a short distance 
from the surface tin' dark-blue clayey sands and clays give the 
water rising from them a peculiarly disagreeable fetid smell and 
taste, similar to that from decaying vegetable matter. Even boiling 
the water docs not destroy its peculiar taste. The surface material 
at these localities is usually dark gray in color and apparently almost 
impervious to water, and in wet weather remains covered with water 
for some time. These conditions are noticeable at Nona, Kountze, 
and other places. 
Several beds of clays are included in the division, but sands 
form the prevailing material. Where the Texas and New Orleans 
Railroad crosses Village Creek these sands have a thickness of 20 to 
30 feet and their texture and grayish color maybe seen in the old ballast 
pits of the railroad. Similar bluffs occur along the creek between 
this point and the crossing of the Gulf , Beaumont and Kansas City 
Railroad, in which locality the beds have a thickness of over 50 feet, 
ami occur as clear, white, fine sands overlain by brown ami gray 
mottled sands, showing in some places ferruginous indurations 
resembling a brown sandstone. 
In the Kountze region the sands have a thickness of 46 feet and 
over, as shown by well sections. Six miles west of the town the well 
dug for the Avater station of the .Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad 
shows a section of 46 feet, of which the upper 10 feet are mottled and 
the lower 10 feet white sands. Twelve miles west of Kountze the 
same sands are shown to be over 30 feet thick. 
These sands form the surface deposits covering the higher grounds 
in the neighborhood of Saratoga, Balson Prairie, in Hardin County, 
and Sour Lake. In the neighborhood of Saratoga they are yellowish 
white and contain considerable quantities of indurations of a soft 
sandstone. These sandstones or indurations also occur in the 
neighborhood of Sour Lake and at several places along the Trinity 
River. 
The Columbia sands form a very important member in the geologic 
section of the Beaumont oil fields, as the expensive drilling in this 
