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Throckmorton into Haskell county, and south through Jones, Shackelford and Stephens into Callahan, Coleman and Brown counties. From reports from Eastland county, and coal said to be found there, there is no doubt but that it is also included in the boundaries of the carboniferous, which extends southward from Brown and Lampasas into Llano and Burnet counties. From former explorations, I feel confident that Concho, McCulloch, Menard and Mason counties belong mostly to the carboniferous period. It is also highly probable that a large portion of the unexplored region of the western part of the State belongs to the same formation. This much we know, that we have a larger coal field, by many thousand square miles, than Las ever before been made known.

The coal field in Young county, around Fort Belknap, has long been known, and its coal was used by the governmen officers, when Fort Belknap was occupied by them, many years ago.

A part of this bed of coal is about a mile above the Fort, outcropping- in several. ravines which empty into the Brazos river. On a recent visit to this place, with Col. Graham, of Young county , we found two beds of coal there, the upper between two and three feet thick; and the lower exposed about three feet in the bottom of the ravines, and. base not seen. This coal has been quarried to a considerable extent lately for the use of blacksmiths. At present. there are but two families living at the Fort, the government buildings having mostly been destroyed, and the remainder being in ruins. As there is plenty of good wood there, the coal is not now used for domestic purposes.

On Whiskey creek, about two miles north of Fort Belknap, there is a fine exposure of the coal strata, of which the following is a section, taken from near its junction with the Brazos river: