Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-03-20
OYSTER SHELLS.
Texas Has Immense Inland De.
posits of Them.
EXPLAINED BY ODD TRADITIONS
Belief that the Aborigines Brought Them
In from the Coast to Build
Their Forts.

''ts' phO'NNa Va Unusual lhttlcob w lDt
scientific explorer. The formation of
Louisiana gives evidence of an an
tiquity beyond any other partof Amer
ica, and an aspect of age pervades much
OF the scenery. The ancient live oaks
with the gray Spanish moss draping
their gnarled limbs were n favorite
camping region when the Northern
soldiers occupied louisiana soil.
In Florida the unaccounted deposits
of phosphate, the hot springs, the
hummocks of the Everglades, the queer
inlets from the sea and the numerous
evidences of underground rivers honey
combing the coral rock ON which the
State lies, all suggest history differ
ent from that of the upper Atlantic
coast. The shell formations which
are seen at st. Augustine, Jacksonville
and other winter resorts have been
made familiar to the North through
tourists. 1t is not generally known,
however, that Texas has similar geo.
logical phenomena.
Houses built of oyster shells can be
seen i'll a large number of Texas towns.
The State was ut one time un-
| doubtedly part of the bed Of the Gulf
of Mexico. How many years ago geo.
logists do not know, and natural histor-
ians are puzzled at the forms of life,
so different are they from any to be
found elsewhere.
Running across the State from north
to south, says the Cincinnati EN-
quirer, is an immense ledge or sheet
of rock formed of oyster shells. This
ledge averages about twenty feet in
thickness, and is used for building
purposes in some places, while in
others it is ground up and placed upon
the soil as fertilizer There is large
quarry near Henrietta, in the northern
part of the State, and number of
handsome blocks have been constructed
from it. When first taken out of the
earth it is white and soft, but when
exposed to the air becomes hard and
turns a beautiful buff color. 1t was
formerly used for foundations only,
but during the past few years great
many handsome blocks and residences
have been built of it.
AS a rule the formation has become
stratified, but perfect she'll or shells
cemented together are sometimes found,
showing indisputably the nature of the
entire deposit. Even the hilltops al
covered with the shells, which are of
many varieties unknown to Texans
now. They were regarded by the early
settlers as of mysterious origin, and
many crude, superstitious notions pre-
vailed as to how and by whom they
were gathered and carried to the hill
tops.
The one which obtained most cred
ence was that the aborigines were COM
PEELED to defend their homes against
invasions of savage tribes from what
is now Old Mexico, and there being
no rocks along the coast every member
of this tribe was compelled to carry
oyster shells during great portion of
each year, in order to build forts. The
advocates of this idea point to the fact
that the principal deposits are upon
the hilltops, and the line of the oyster
ledge running from San Antonio to
Henrietta is very nearly identical with
the cross timbers, which looks as
though planted as a boundary line be-
tween two nations.
Another story is that there were
large, amphibious animals-now ex.
tinct-that carried the shells from the
sea to the tops of the hills, and then
devoured the bivalves at leisure.
Other wild, improbable stories have
| been told. OF course, it is definitely
known to scientists that by some great
convulsion of nature the great Texas
bed of mollusks was lifted out of the
sea and the oysters died. Streams
were cut through the country and the
shells We're left upon the hilltops, but
when that convulsion took place is not
known.
The deposit equals in extent and
thickness the coal fields of Pennsyl-
gania. In some places the shells are
burned for lime, in others roads are
made from them. In the vicinity of
San. Antonio and northeast from that
city there are many of these roads.
There were many more varieties of these
oysters than are known now. AT
Greenville can be seen a specimen of
enormous size, the shell being six
inches thick and weighing five pounds,
but the oyster itself was no larger than
can be found now.
Another variety which is frequently
seen is small, with coiled she'll, not
unlike nautilus in shape. A singular
species found near Weatherford il
called "the cocks comb, oysters, be-
cause of the shell, which is of beauti
full form, with serrated edge. These
did not seem to dwell in colonies, al
most oysters do, as they are fount
apart, and but few of them having
been discovered. While many of th'