Texas Almanac, 1996-1997 Page: 76
672 p. : col. ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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76 Texas Almanac 1996-1997
and Parker counties, respectively. The main stream
begins with the junction of the Elm and West forks at
Dallas. Its length is 550 river miles and its drainage
area, 17,969 square miles. Because of moderate to
heavy rainfall over its drainage area, it has a flow of
5,800,000 acre-feet near its mouth on the Gulf,
exceeded only by the Neches, Red and Sabine River
basins.
The Trinity derives its name from the Spanish "Trin-
idad." Alonso de Le6n named it La Santfalma Trin-
Idad (the Most Holy Trinity).
Navigation was developed along its lower course
with several riverport towns, such as Sebastopol in
Trinity County. For many years there has been a
basin-wide movement for navigation, conservation and
utilization of its water. The Trinity River Authority is a
state agency and the Trinity Improvement Assocla-
tion is a publicly supported nonprofit organization
advocating its development.
The Trinity has in its valley more large cities,
greater population and more Industrial develop-
ment than any other river basin in Texas. On the
Lower Coastal Plain there is large use of its waters for
rice irrigation. Largest reservoir on the Elm Fork is
Lewisville Lake (formerly Garza-Little Elm and Lake
Dallas). There are four reservoirs above Fort Worth -
Lake Worth, Eagle Mountain and Bridgeport on the
West Fork and Benbrook Lake on the Clear Fork.
Lavon Lake in southeast Collin County and Lake Ray
Hubbard in Collin, Dallas, Kaufman and Rockwall
counties are on the East Fork. ULivingston Lake is in
Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity and Walker counties. The
three major reservoirs below the Dallas-Fort Worth
area are Cedar Creek Reservoir and Richland-
Chambers Reservoir.
Neches River
The Neches is in East Texas, with total length of
about 416 miles and drainage area of 10,011 square
miles. Abundant rainfall over its entire basin gives it a
flow near the Gulf of about 6 million acre-feet a year.
The river takes its name from the Neches Indians that
the early Spanish explorers found living along its
banks. Principal tributary of the Neches, and compara-
ble with the Neches in length and flow above their con-
fluence, is the Angelina River, so named from
Angelina (Little Angel), a Hainai Indian gir who con-
verted to Christianity and played an important role in
the early development of this region.
Both the Neches and the Angelina run most of their
courses in the Piney Woods and there was much set-
tlement along them as early as the 1820s. Sam Ray-
burn (McGee Bend) Reservoir, near Jasper on the
Angelina River, was completed and dedicated in 1965.
Reservoirs located on the Neches River include
Lake Palestine in the upper portion of the basin and
B. A. Steinhagen Lake located at the junction of the
Neches and the Angellina rivers.
Sabine River
The Sabine River is formed by three forks rising in
Collin and Hunt counties. From its sources to its mouth
on Sabine Lake, it flows approximately 360 miles and
drains 9,733 square miles. Sabine comes from the
Spanish word for cypress, as does the name of the
Sabinal River, which flows into the Frio in Southwest
Texas. The Sabine has the largest water discharge
(6.8 million acre-feet) at its mouth of any Texas river.
Throughout most of Texas history the lower Sabine
has been the eastern Texas boundary line, though
for a while there was doubt as to whether the Sabine
or the Arroyo Hondo, east of the Sabine in Louisiana,
was the boundary. For a number of years the outlaw-
infested neutral ground lay between them. There was
also a boundary dispute in which it was alleged that
the Neches was really the Sabine and, therefore, the
boundary.Travelers over the Camino Real, or Old San Anto-
nio Road, crossed the Sabine at the famous Gaines
Ferry, and there were famous crossings for the Atas-
cosito Road and other travel and trade routes of that
day.
Two of Texas' larger man-made reservoirs have
been created by dams constructed on the Sabine
River. The first of these is Lake Tawakoni, in Hunt,
Rains and Van Zandt counties, with a capacity of
936,200 acre-feet. Toledo Bend Reservoir impounds
4,472,900 acre-feet of water on the Sabine in Newton,
Panola, Sabine and Shelby counties. This is a joint
project of Texas and Louisiana, through the Sabine
River Authority.
Red River
The Red River (1,360 miles) is exceeded in length
only by the Rio Grande among rivers associated with
Texas. Its original source is water in Curry County,
New Mexico, near the Texas boundary, forming a defi-
nite channel as it crosses Deaf Smith County, Texas, in
tributaries that flow into Prairie Dog Town Fork of the
Red River. These waters carve the spectacular Palo
Duro Canyon of the High Plains before the Red River
leaves the Caprock Escarpment, flowing eastward.
Where the Red River crosses the 100th meridian,
the river becomes the Texas-Oklahoma boundary
and is soon joined by the Salt Fork to form the main
channel. Its length across the Panhandle is about 200
miles and, from the Panhandle east, it is the Texas-
Oklahoma boundary line for 440 miles and thereafter
the Texas-Arkansas boundary for 40 miles before it
flows into Arkansas, where it swings south to flow
through Louisiana. The Red River is a part of the Mis-
siasippi drainage basin, and at one time it emptied
all of its water into the Mississippi. In recent years,
however, part of its water, especially at flood stage,
has flowed to the Gulf via the Atchafalaya. The Red
River takes its name from the red color of the current.
This caused every explorer who came to its banks to
call it "red" regardless of the language he spoke - Rio
Rojo or Rio Roxo in Spanish, Rivire Rouge in
French and Red River in English. The Spanish and
French names were often found on maps until the mid-
die of the last century when the English came to be
generally accepted. At an early date, the river became
the axis for French advance from Louisiana northwest-
ward as far as present-day Montague County. There
was consistent early navigation of the river from its
mouth on the Mississippi to Shreveport, above which
navigation was blocked by a natural log raft. A num-
ber of important gateways into Texas from the North
were established along the stream such as Pecan
Point and Jonesborough in Red River County, Col-
bert's Ferry and Preston in Grayson County and,
later, Dean 's Store Crossing in Wilbarger County.
The river was a menace to the early traveler because
of both its variable current and its quicksands, which
brought disaster to many a trail herd cow as well as ox
team and covered wagon.
The largest water conservation project on the Red
River is Texoma Lake, which is the largest lake lying
wholly or partly in Texas and the tenth-largest reser-
voir (in capacity) In the United States. Its capacity is
5,382,000 acre feet. Texas' share is 2,722,000.
Red River water's high content of salt and other min-
erals limits its usefulness along its upper reaches. Ten
salt springs and tributaries in Texas and Oklahoma
contribute most of these minerals.
The uppermost tributary of the Red River in Texas is
Tierra Blanca Creek, which rises in Curry County,
N.M., and flows easterly across Deaf Smith and Ran-
dall counties to become the Prairie Dog Town Fork a
few miles east of Canyon. Other principal tributaries in
Texas are the Pease and the Wichita in North Central
Texas and the Sulphur in Northeast Texas, which
flows into the Red River after it has crossed the bound-
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Ramos, Mary G. Texas Almanac, 1996-1997, book, 1995; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth162514/m1/76/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.