Texas Almanac, 1996-1997 Page: 65
672 p. : col. ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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Environment
Post Oak Belt
The main Post Oak Belt of Texas is wedged between the
Pine Belt on the east, Blacklands on the west, and the
Coastal Prairies on the south, covering a considerable
area in East Central Texas. Principal industry is diversified
farming and livestock raising. Throughout, it is spotty in
character, with some insular areas of blackland soil and
some that closely resemble those of the Pine Belt. There
is a small isolated area of pines in Bastrop County known
as the "Lost Pines." The Post Oak Belt has lignite, com-
mercial clays and some other minerals.
Blackland Belt
The Blackland Belt stretches from the Rio Grande to the
Red River, lying just below the line of the Balcones Fault,
and varying in width from 15 to 70 miles. It is narrowest
below the segment of the Balcones Fault from the Rio
Grande to Bexar County and gradually widens as it runs
northeast to the Red River. Its rolling prairie, easily turned
by the plow, developed rapidly as a farming area until the
1930s and was the principal cotton-producing area of
Texas. Now, however, other Texas irrigated, mechanized
areas lead in farming. Because of the early growth, the
Blackland Belt is still the most thickly populated area in the
state and contains within it and along its border more of
the state's large and middle-sized cities than any other
area. Primarily because of this concentration of popula-
tion, this belt has the most diversified manufacturing
industry of the state.
Coastal Prairies
The Texas Coastal Prairies extend westward along the
coast from the Sabine River, reaching inland 30 to 60
miles. Between the Sabine and Galveston Bay, the line of
demarcation between the prairies and the Pine Belt forests
to the north is very distinct. The Coastal Prairie extends
along the Gulf from the Sabine to the Lower Rio Grande
Valley. The eastern half is covered with a heavy growth of
grass; the western half, which is more arid, is covered with
short grass and, in some places, with small timber and
brush. The soil is heavy clay. Grass supports the densest
cattle population in Texas, and cattle ranching is the princi-
pal agricultural industry. Rice is a major crop, grown under
irrigation from wells and rivers. Cotton, grain sorghum and
truck crops are grown.
Coastal Prairie areas have seen the greatest industrial
development in Texas history since World War II. Chief
concentration has been from Orange and Beaumont to
Houston, and much of the development has been in petro-
chemicals.
Corpus Christi, in the Coastal Bend, and Brownsville, in
the Lower Rio Grande Valley, have seaports and agricul-
tural and industrial sections. Cotton, grain, vegetables and
citrus fruits are the principal crops. Cattle production is sig-
nificant, with the famed King Ranch and other large
ranches located here.
Lower Rio Grande Valley
The deep alluvial soils and distinctive economy cause
the Lower Rio Grande Valley to be classified as a subre-
gion of the Gulf Coastal Plain. The Lower Valley, as it is
called locally, is Texas' greatest citrus-winter vegetable
area because of the normal absence of freezing weather
and the rich delta soils of the Rio Grande. Despite occa-
sional damaging freezes, as in 1951 and 1961, the Lower
Valley ranks high among the nation's fruit-and-truck
regions. Much of the acreage is irrigated, although dryland
farming also is practiced.
Rio Grande Plain
This may be roughly defined as lying south of San Anto-
nio between the Rio Grande and the Gulf Coast. The Rio
Grande Plain shows characteristics of both the Texas Gulf
Coastal Plain and the North Mexico Plains because there
is similarity of topography, climate and plant life all the way
from the Balcones Escarpment in Texas to the Sierra
Madre Oriental in Mexico, which runs past Monterrey
about 160 miles south of Laredo.
The Rio Grande Plain is partly prairie, but much of it is
covered with a dense growth of prickly pear, cactus,
mesquite, dwarf oak, catclaw, guajillo, huisache,
blackbrush, cenizo and other wild shrubs. This country is
devoted primarily to raising cattle, sheep and goats. The
Texas Angora goat and mohair industry centers in this
area and on the Edwards Plateau, which borders it on the
north. San Antonio and Laredo are its chief commercialcenters, with San Antonio dominating trade.
There is some farming, and the Winter Garden, center-
ing in Dimmit and Zavala counties north of Laredo, is irri-
gated from wells and streams to produce vegetables in
late winter and early spring. Primarily, however, the central
and western part of the Rio Grande Plain is devoted to
livestock raising. The rainfall is less than 25 inches annu-
ally and the hot summers bring heavy evaporation, so that
cultivation without irrigation is limited. Over a large area in
the central and western parts of the Rio Grande Plain, the
growth of small oaks, mesquite, prickly pear (Opuntla)
cactus and a variety of wild shrubs is very dense and it is
often called the Brush Country. It is also referred to as the
chaparral and the monte. (Monte is a Spanish word, one
meaning of which is dense brush.)
Interior Lowlands
North Central Plains
The North Central Plains of Texas are a southwestern
extension into Texas of the interior lowlands that extend
northward to the Canadian border, paralleling the Great
Plains to the West. The North Central Plains of Texas
extend from the Blackland Belt on the east to the Caprock
Escarpment on the west. From north to south they extend
from the Red River to the Colorado.
West Texas Rolling Plains
The West Texas Rolling Plains, approximately the west-
ern two-thirds of the North Central Plains in Texas, rise
from east to west in altitude from about 750 feet to 2,000
feet at the base of the Caprock Escarpment. Annual rain-
fall ranges from about 30 inches on the east to 20 on the
west. Temperature varies rather widely between summer's
heat and winter's cold.
This area still has a large cattle-raising industry with
many of the state's largest ranches. However, there is
much level, cultivable land.
Grand Prairie
Near the eastern edge of the North Central Plains is the
Grand Prairie, extending south from the Red River in an
irregular band through Cooke, Montague, Wise, Denton,
Tarrant, Parker, Hood, Johnson, Bosque, Coryell and
some adjacent counties. It is a limestone-based area, usu-
ally treeless except along the numerous streams, and
adapted primarily to livestock raising and staple-crop
growing.
Sometimes called the Fort Worth Prairie, it has an agri-
cultural economy and largely rural population, with no
large cities except Fort Worth on its eastern boundary.
East and West Cross Timbers
Hanging over the top of the Grand Prairie and dropping
down on each side are the East and West Cross Timbers.
The two southward-extending bands are connected by a
narrow strip along the Red River. The East Cross Timbers
extend southward from the Red River through eastern
Denton County and along the Dallas-Tarrant County
boundary, then through Johnson County to the Brazos
River and into Hill County. The much larger West Cross
Timbers extend from the Red River south through Clay,
Montague, Jack, Wise, Parker, Palo Pinto, Hood, Erath,
Eastland, Comanche, Brown and Mills counties to the Col-
orado River, where they meet the Edwards Plateau. Their
soils are adapted to fruit and vegetable crops, which reach
considerable commercial production in some areas in
Parker, Erath, Eastland and Comanche counties.
Great Plains
The Great Plains which lie to the east of the base of the
Rocky Mountains extend into Northwest Texas. This area,
which is a vast, flat, high plain covered with thick layers of
alluvial material, is known as the Staked Plains or the
Spanish equivalent, Llano Estacado.
Historians differ as to the origin of this name. Some think
that it came from the fact that the Coronado expedition,
crossing the trackless sea of grass, staked its route so that
it would be guided on its return trip. Others think that the
"estacado" refers to the palisaded appearance of the
Caprock in many places, especially the west-facing
escarpment in New Mexico.
The Caprock Escarpment is the dividing line between
the High Plains and the Lower Rolling Plains of West
Texas. Like the Balcones Escarpment, the Caprock
Escarpment is a striking physical feature, rising abruptly
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Ramos, Mary G. Texas Almanac, 1996-1997, book, 1995; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth162514/m1/65/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.