Before 1909 the Texas legislature established and funded state geological surveys, beginning in 1858 with the Geological and Agricultural Survey of Texas, which continued until 1867, though it was suspended during the Civil War. In 1870 the legislature formed the second geological survey, with John W. Glenn as state geologist. Like the first, the second survey was surrounded by political turmoil. It finally began work in 1873 and survived only three years.

The third survey of the nineteenth century, the Geological and Mineralogical Survey, was established in 1888 by the Twentieth Legislature received state appropriations for six years and continued without funding for an additional five years before it officially ended in 1901. Under the direction of Edwin T. Dumble the third survey produced the scientific work that laid the foundation of Texas geological research. The annual reports of the survey contained studies of the regional geology of the state as well as special papers on mineral resources, including lignite, which was one of the most important commodities of the time.

Despite its accomplishments, the survey was a subject of conflict in the Twenty-third Legislature and was denied funding by Governor James S. Hogg in 1893. When funding was reconsidered in 1895, Governor Charles A. Culberson also vetoed the budget. During the disputes over the survey, the legislature transferred the library, records, and collections of the survey to the University of Texas. In 1901, when it established the University of Texas Mineral Survey, the Twenty-seventh Legislature began to shift responsibility for the survey to the university. The transfer of the geological survey to the university became complete in 1909, when the UT regents founded the Bureau of Economic Geology.

Source: , s.v. "Geological Surveys of Texas," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/GG/szg2.html (accessed October 22, 2009).