The 1928 Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide Page: 104

                                
104                 THE TEXAS ALMANAC.

LEVEE DISTRICTS OF TEXAS-(Continued)
Kaufman County:
No 14, King's Creek...........    1.032.39  3.31
Lamar County:
No 2 N    Slilphur    .....       2.30000   6.44
Limestone County:
No 1. Navasoa  .. ..             2.100 00  5.23
Navarro County:
No. 2 Chambers Creek    ..        1.250 00  4.50
No. 7. ('hambers Creek  . ......   800.00   2.36
Red River County:
No 6. Sulphur    .   .    ..  .    519 00    1.51
Titus County:
No 1 Sulphur          ..       . 2 500 00    5.85
Travis County:
No 1, Boggy Creek                   65 50    .40

Total ..
Summary of Levee
.Q -
Early districts   10 104,136 25
Districts   under
act of 1915 or
later acts,which
have had plans
approved  ..... 71 387,498 71
Total ..... 1811491,634.96
Districts  which
have  not sub-
mltted plans    11 15.171 29

.. 15,171.29  40.25
Districts.
-5
.          a5
S        MS
$1,477,259.36 130.78
17,669,066.47 *519.95
19,146,325.831 698.65
686,711 001 40.25

(;rand  totally  I
(27 counties) 1921506 806 251$19 833.036 851 738.90
*In addition there are 47 92 miles of channel
work.
The totals for the 71 districts for which plans
have been approved under the act of 1915 and later
acts show that the average cost per mile of levee
is $31,146 63, and that the average cost per acre
for the acreage included in the districts is $45 66.
This cost includes new channels, care of interior
drainage, and some repairs, etc.   However, these
averages have been raised appreciably by recent
approval of the plans for the levee of the Dallas
city district. Previously the averages were $22,-
317.69 per mile of levee and $11 50 per acre of
land reclaimed

DRAINAGE AREA AND         PROJECTS IN
COASTAL BELT.
Aside from the water conservation work
and reclamation of river overflow lands
through levee districts, there is a large
area along the coast susceptible of im-
provement through drainage. In Mata-
gorda, Whartan, Calhoun, Harris, Gal-
veston, Chambers, Jefferson, Fort Bend
and Liberty Counties are most of the
lands susceptible of improvement through
drainage   The soils are fertile.
The State Reclamation Engineer esti-
mates that there are 5,000,000 acres in the
coastal plains that could be reclaimed by
drainage. He estimates that, after mak-
ing necessary deductions for floodways,
ditches and other areas that could not be
utilized, there are 4,500,000 acres that
could be cultivated.
There are at present about sixty-six
drainage districts in Texas, lying largely
in the coast country. Total acreage is
3 924,706 and the total bonds issued to
date amount to $8,380,510. In this is
counted the Colorado River raft removal
proJect
AREA OF OVERFLOW BOTTOM LANDS.
There are about 3,000,000 acres of river
bottom   lands subject to   overflow  in
Texas, according to the estimates of the
State  Reclamation   Engineer. Of    this
amount he estimates that about 60 per
cent, or 1,800,000 acres, are susceptible of
profitable recovery through levee con-
struction.
DEVIL'S SINK HOLE,
This is a cavern in Edwards County. From the
edge of the entrance there is a sheer drop of more
than 200 feet There is a large area inside with a
hll rising to a height of 100 feet from the floor.

Large Springs in Texas.

One of the noteworthy spring water
areas of the United States lies in South-
west Texas. These springs are grouped
into two divisions by geologists (1) those
flowing from fissures along the line of
the Balcones escarpment in that section
extending  approximately  from   Austin
southwestward through San Antonio to
Del Rio, and (2) the springs on the sur-
face of the Edwards Plateau, the great
limestone area which may be described as
lying south and west of the Colorado and
west and north of Austin and San An-
tonio, and extending westward across the
Pecos to the foot of the Davis and Chisos
Mountains.
The   Edwards Plateau    is  underlaid
largely by Lower Cretaceous limestones,
which dip toward the southeast and in
that direction pass under the younger
f rmations of the low lying coastal plain.
The coastal plain is underlaid near the
Edwards Plateau by Cretaceous forma-
tions  (chiefly  Upper Cretaceous) and
farther seaward by Tertiary and Quater-
nary deposits  Along the general course
of the Balcones escarpment the rocks are
broken  by   a  complicated  system  of
faults.* The springs in the zone of the

escarpment are classed generally as arte-
sian springs (rising to the surface by
pressure), and those on the Edwards
Plateau as gravity springs, the water
flowing from the ground where valleys
have eroded down to the water table.
The springs of this region fluctuate ap-
preciably in volume, and respond, though
slowly, to volume of precipitation over
the surface of the Edwards Plateau. The
strata of water from  which they come
are not thought to be very deep, but the
slowness of the springs to respond to
volume of rainfall indicates that they are
fed frcm a vast reservoir. The tempera-
ture of these springs is usually between
68 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The water
is clear and free from mineral taste.
Springs of the Balcones Escarpment.
There are a large number of springs
lying in the zone of the Balcones escarp-
ment, the line of demarcation where the
bluff of the Edwards Plateau may be
said to face out over the coastal p'ains.
Data on these springs is rather meager,
but during recent years some measure-
ments have been made by the State Board
of Water Engineers in co-operation with
the United States Geological Survey.