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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

Department of Agriculture, Insurance, Statistic, and History, Geological Survey of Texas,
Austin, Texas, November 1, 1892.

Hon. J. E. Hollingsworth, Commissioner of Agriculture, Insurance, Statistics, and History, Austin, Texas:

DEAR SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith my Report on the Brown Coal and Lignite of Texas, embodying the results of my investigations so far as I have been able to complete them.

The scope of the investigation might have taken a much wider range, but practical results were wanted, and I have therefore confined myself in this Report to the character, formation, occurrence, and fuel uses of brown coal and lignite.

As this character of fuel has not formed the subject of such detailed investigation in this country as it has in Europe, any description of the coal or its utilization must draw most largely from foreign sources, as it is only there that machinery and appliances can be found especially designed for its use, the adaptability of which have been proved by actual trial.

While a part of the material used has been derived from the excellent literature on this subject by German, French, and Italian authors—and I have endeavored to bring together the facts which bear on the subject by liberal quotations from the different authorities—it is also true that a large part of it was secured by my personal observations and investigations among the mines and factories of Germany and-Austria, and some of the most practical portions of the work could not have been obtained in any other manner.

I have also endeavored to bring together as clearly as possible the general statements regarding the geology and the details of the occurrence of the Texas deposits, in order that they might be the more readily accessible to those who may wish to use the Report.

In conclusion, I beg that you will accept my sincerest thanks for the constant support and encouragement which you have so kindly afforded me during the progress of the work.

Yours, very truly,

E. T. DUMBLE,
State Geologist.