Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Texas 
by Geological Survey of Texas - 1890

[Page 11]

"...Lakes are of very rare occurrence, and are never seen except in river 
bottoms, where they form muddy lagoons, abounding in fish and generally fed
by springs.  They are often of considerable depth, and are connected with the
main river by narrow channels.  The only instance of an upland lake seen by 
the writer in East Texas is in Freestone County, some five miles west of the
Trinity River, and amounts to little more than a large spring.  It is a small
circular body of clear water, occupying a depression in the clayey strata, 
some two hundred yards in diameter, and fed by springs.  It empties into the 
Trinity River and occupies an elevation of 175 feet above it.  The absence of
lakes in this country is due to two cases:
   1. The porous nature of the sandy strata which underlie the country and
      which form the ready channel for the subterranean drainage of a possible
      lake basin.
   2. The softness of the strata, which renders the natural cutting of channels
      a very rapid process, and consequently makes the existence of a closed
      basin suitable for a lake almost impossible.
..."

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[Page 83]

THE IRON ORES OF EAST TEXAS

...
37.  Siliceous Iron Ore, from 8 miles E. of Fairfield.
...

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[Page 91]

"...
  A hard bluish-gray limestone is found at Saline, in the northern part of 
Smith County; also under similar conditions in southwestern Smith County;
also at the Freestone County saline, two miles east of the town of Butler.
...."