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until May of that year and since that time have shipped about thirtyfour car loads of lignite, their markets being chiefly Fort Worth and Dallas.
The mine is situated about half a mile east of the village of Alba, on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway, and the lignite is reached by a shaft twenty-four feet deep. Of the eight feet of lignite about six feet are mined and one is left overhead to form a roof. Five drifts have been made into the lignite, in various directions, ranging from 150 to 265 feet each. These drifts are six feet wide and in some places roughly formed rooms from nine to twelve feet wide have been cut into their sides. The mine is ventilated by a few eight inch air shafts sunk from above, but no difficulty has ever been found on account of foul air or gas. The mine is perfectly dry, even at the face, although no provisions have ever been made for draining. The roof is solid and no timbering has been used in any portion of the mine except in the shaft and one or two props in one of the largest rooms.
The work at this mine is carried on intermittently and no lignite is mined until an order is received. The facilities for mining these deposits are good and a much greater amount can be obtained when a demand arises for this class of fuel.
Large deposits of lignite also occur in the neighborhood of Hawkins station on the Texas and Pacific Railway. This field is said to cover over a mile of territory, but its actual extent is not known.
In Houston county the lignite deposits lying in the southeastern portion of the county as well as the deposit at Hydes Bluff on the Trinity river were also examined.
From outcrops along the various streams, as well as the records of the different wells obtainable throughout the region, the southeastern coal field covers an area of about fourteen square miles and the lignite deposit is from four to six feet thick. This field is extensively developed in Trinity county where it is reported to cover a much greater area and to reach a thickness of ten feet.
At Hydes Bluff on the Trinity river, the section of the bluff shows two deposits of lignite, an upper and a lower. The upper deposit is about two feet thick and the lower nearly four feet. These deposits are exposed for nearly a quarter of a mile along the face of the bluff.
Several deposits of lignites were also seen at other places throughout the area surveyed but these were generally small and unimportant.
IRON ORES.
The main deposits of iron ores passed over, with the exception of those in Houston county, have already been described in the various reports of the Survey.
"June, 1890.
† Reports on the Iron Ore District of East Texas, Second Annual Report, 1890.