Texas Almanac, 1992-1993 Page: 74
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74 TEXAS ALMANAC 1992-1993
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 part prairie, but much of it
is covered with a dense growth of prickly pear, cactus,
mesquite, dwarf oak, catclaw, guajillo, huisache, black-
brush, cenizo and other wild shrubs. This country is de-
voted 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 commer-
cial centers, with San Antonio dominating trade.
There is some farming and the Winter Garden, cen-
tering in Dimmit and Zavala counties north of Laredo, is
Area of Texas
Texas occupies about 7 percent of the total water
and land area of the United States. Second in size
among the states, Texas, according to the revised
1980 U.S. Census Bureau figures, has a land and wa-
ter area of 266,807 square miles as compared with
Alaska's 591,004 square miles. California, third larg-
est state, has 158,706 square miles. Texas is as large
as all of New England, New York, Pennsylvania,
Ohio and Illinois combined.
The state's area consists of 262,017 square miles of
land and 4,790 square miles of inland water, or 167,-
690,880 acres of land area and 3,065,600 acres of
inland water.
The area given here differs from that given by
the State Land Office in the chapter on State Gov-
ernment.
LENGTH AND BREADTH
The longest straight-line distance in a general
north-south direction is 801 miles from the northwest
corner of the Panhandle to the extreme southern tip
of Texas on the Rio Grande below Brownsville. The
greatest east-west distance is 773 miles from the ex-
treme eastward bend in the Sabine River in Newton
County to the extreme western bulge of the Rio
Grande lust above El Paso. The geographic center of
Texas is southwest of Mercury in the northern por-
tion of McCulloch County.
LATITUDE, LONGITUDE--ELEVATION
The extremes of latitude and longitude are as fol-
lows: From Latitude 25 50' N. at the extreme south-
ern turn of the Rio Grande on the south line of
Cameron County to Latitude 36' 30' N. along the
north line of the Panhandle, and from Longitude 93
31' W. at the extreme eastern point on the Sabine
River on the east line of Newton County to Longi-
tude 106 38' W. on the extreme westward point on
the Rio Grande above El Paso.
In elevation the surface of the state varies from
sea level along the Gulf Coast to 8,749 feet at the
summit of Guadalupe Mountain in Culberson Coun-
ty.
TEXAS BOUNDARY LINE
The boundary of Texas by segments, including
only larger river bends and only the great arc of the
coast line, is as follows:
Miles
Rio Grande .............................................. 889.0
C oast line ................................................. 367.0
Sabine River, Lake and Pass..................... 180.0
Sabine River to Red River ...................... 106.5
R ed R iver ................................................ 480.0
East Panhandle line ............................... 133.6
North Panhandle line................................ 167.0
W est Panhandle line ................................. 310.2
Along 32nd parallel ................................... 209.0
T otal ................................................ 2,842.3
Following the smaller meanderings of the rivers and
the tidewater coast line, the following are the bound-
ary measurements:
Rio Grande ......................................... 1,248
Coast line (tidewater)............................... 624
Sabine River, Lake and Pass..................... 292
Red River .......................... ................. 726
The five line segments given above .......... 926
Total, including line segments given in
table above ........... ........................ 3,816
For Further Reading: "Texas: A Geography," by Ter-
ry G. Jordan with John L. Bean Jr. and William M.
Holmes; Westview Press, Boulder and London, 1984.irrigated 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 de-
voted to livestock raising. The rainfall is less than 25
inches annually and the hot summers bring heavy evap-
oration 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 (Opuntia) 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 meaning mountain,
also heavy forest or dense brush.)
INTERIOR LOWLAND
The North Central Plains of Texas are a southwes-
tern 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
Cap Rock 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
western 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 Cap Rock Escarpment. Annu-
al rainfall 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, Cor-
yell and some adjacent counties. It is a limestone-based
area, usually 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
agricultural economy and largely rural population, with
no large cities except Fort Worth on its eastern bound-
ary.
East and West Cross Timbers
Hanging over the top of the Grand Prairie and drop-
ping down on each side are the East and West Cross
Timbers. The two southward-extending bands are con-
nected 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 larg-
er 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 Colorado, 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
Texas area, known as the Staked Plains or the Spanish
equivalent, Llano Estacado,* is a vast, flat high plain cov-
ered with thick layers of alluvial material.
*Historians differ as to the origin of this name. Some
think that it came from the fact that the Coronado expe-
dition, 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 appear-
ance 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 Cap-
rock Escarpment is an outstanding natural boundary
line. Unlike the Balcones Escarpment, the Caprock
Escarpment is caused by surface erosion. In many
places this escarpment is a striking physical feature, ris-
ing abruptly 200, 500 and in some places almost 1,000 feet
above the plains at its base. Where rivers issue from the
eastern face of this escarpment there frequently are no-
table canyons, such as the Palo Duro Canyon on the
Prairie Dog Town Fork (main channel) of the Red Riv-74
TEXAS ALMANAC 1992-1993
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Kingston, Mike. Texas Almanac, 1992-1993, book, 1991; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth279642/m1/78/?rotate=90: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.