NATIVE  SULPHUR  IN  EL  PASO  COUNTY.  TEX. 
By  G.  B.  Richardson. 
For  several  years"  native  suphur  has  been  known  in  El  Paso 
County,  Tex.  Some  prospecting  and  development  work  has  been 
done  and  two  carloads  of  sulphur  have  been  shipped,  but  very  little 
is  yet  known  of  the  extent  and  value  of  these  deposits. 
The  sulphur  occurs  associated  with  gypsum  in  northeastern  El 
Paso  County,  both  east  and  west  of  the  Screwbean-Rustler  Hills.  A. 
sketch  map  of  the  district  appears  opposite  page  574  and  an  outline  of 
the  local  topography  and  stratigraphy  is  given  on  pages  573  to  578  of 
this  bulletin. 
The  prospect  nearest  to  a  railroad  occurs  in  the  western  part  of 
Toyah  basin,  about  15  miles  southwest  of  Guadalupe  station,  on  the 
Pecos  Valley  road. 
Another  sulphur  prospect,  but  of  less  value,  is  about  the  same  dis- 
tance northwest  of  Toyah,  on  the  Texas  and  Pacific  Railroad.  Other 
prospects  occur  scattered  over  the  gypsum  belt  at  various  distances 
up  to  ^5  miles  from  the  first -mentioned  locality.  There  would  be 
little  difficulty  in  constructing  a  railroad  into  the  sulphur  fields,  for 
the  country  is  open  and  rises  gradually  westward  across  the  nearly 
fiat  Toyah  basin  and  through  valleys  in  the  Screwbean-Rustler  Hills 
into  the  gypsum  plain  beyond. 
This  country  is  fairly  well  supplied  with  water  from  shallow  wells, 
but  all  of  it  is  strongly  mineralized.  The  water  averages  almost  300 
parts  per  100,000  of  dissolved  salts,  of  which  about  two-thirds  is 
calcium  sulphate.  Fuel  can  be  furnished  for  a  limited  time  by  a 
growth  of  stunted  junipers.  Moreover,  there  is  a  hope  that  petro- 
leum or  gas  in  profitable  quantities  Avill  be  found  in  this  region. 
The  most  extensive  prospecting  has  been  done  in  the  vicinity  of 
Maverick  Spring,  which  is  in  the  Toyah  basin,  about  9  miles  north- 
east of  Rustler  Spring,  near  the  eastern  base  of  the  ScreAvbean-Rustler 
Hills.  Several  shallow  prospect  holes  have  been  dug  here  and  an 
area  of  considerable  size  has  been  scraped.  Sulphur  occurs  at  or 
near  the  surface  in  a  bare,  flat,  gypsum-covered  area  strewn  with  well- 
*  Skeats,  E.  M.,  and  others,  Bulletin  No.  2,  University  of  Texas  Mineral  Survey,  1902. 
589 
