Page:EB1911 - Volume 26.djvu/721

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TEXAS

state line and serves both cities, a county court house (on the Arkansas side), and a Federal court building (on the Texas side). The chief trade is in lumber (especially hard woods, such as white oak and ash), cotton, cotton-seed oil and hides. Natural gas is piped here from the Caddo gas-fields, about 48 m. S., in Louisiana. The first permanent settlement here was made in 1874; Texarkana, Texas, was incorporated in 1875, and Texarkana, Arkansas, in 1881.

TEXAS, a south central state of the United States of America, extending from lat. 26° 51' N. to lat. 36° 39' N. and from long. 93° 30' W. to long. 106° 30' W. A western projection is bounded N. by New Mexico, but the main portion of the state is bounded N. by Oklahoma, from which it is separated in part by the Red river; a northern projection (the Panhandle) is bounded E. by Oklahoma, but the main portion is bounded E. by Arkansas and Louisiana, the Sabine river separating it in part from Louisiana; on the S.E. the state is bounded by the Gulf of Mexico; on the S.W. by Mexico, from which it is separated by the Rio Grande; on the W. by New Mexico. Texas is much the largest state in the Union. Its length and breadth are nearly equal—about 750 m.—and its area is 262,398 sq. m., of which 3498 sq. m. are water surface.

Physical Features.—Texas is crossed by four physiographic provinces. In the S.E. are the West Gulf Plains, a part of the Coastal Plain province. Thence westward to the 100th meridian are the prairies, the south-westward extension of the Prairie Plain province. The Great Plains (really a plateau) comprise the W. half of the state, except a mountainous area in the W. part of the Panhandle, which belongs to the Basin Range province. The surface is principally a series of plains sloping S.E. from the high plateau or from the mountains in the W. to the low shore of the Gulf of Mexico. The mountains of the Basin Range region, known in Texas as the Trans-Pecos Province, rise in Guadalupe Peak near the border of New Mexico, to nearly 9000 ft. (the greatest elevation in the state), and the Great Plains have a maximum elevation in northern Texas exceeding 4000 ft., but from these heights the surface descends to sea level and the mean elevation of the state is about 1700 ft. The Gulf Plains have a coast line of about 400 m., and are bordered along the Gulf of Mexico by a series of long narrow islands and peninsulas, or sandbars, which have been formed by the waves breaking on the shelving shore. Padre, the longest of these islands, extends northward from the mouth of the Rio Grande more than 100 m. Back of the islands are the quiet waters of lagoons, and at the mouths of rivers are several shallow bays indenting the mainland; these bays were formed by only a slight subsidence of the land and the rivers are filling them with deposits of silt. For 20 m. or more inland in the N. and for 50 m. inland in the S. the Gulf Plains are low and flat, seldom rising as much as 100 ft. above the sea, but farther W. the surface is more broken and rises to a maximum elevation of about 700 ft. Along a line drawn approximately S.S.W. from the S.E. corner of Oklahoma, the N.W. part of the Gulf Plains merges with the Prairie Plains. The N.E. portion of the Texas Prairie Plains is only gently rolling, but the S. portion is quite rugged, and the W. half rises in a succession of scarps or steps to an elevation of 2500 ft., to the Great Plains region, which extends westward past the valley of the Pecos river. One of the scarps or steps is the result of a great fault or displacement of the earth's crust, and is known as the Balcones fault scarp; others are due to erosion and weathering of alternate layers of hard and soft rocks lying almost horizontal. South of the parallel of the S. boundary of New Mexico the Great Plains province is known as the Edwards Plateau; between the Edwards Plateau and the valley of the Canadian river, as the Llano Estacado, or Staked Plains; and N. of the Canadian Valley, as the North Plains. The E. and S. parts of the Edwards Plateau and the E. margin of the Llano Estacado have been much dissected by headward erosion of streams, but the central portion of the Edwards Plateau and nearly all of the Llano Estacado have a notably even surface rising slowly to the north-westward. In the S.E. corner of the Trans-Pecos Province is a smaller plain known as the Stockton Plateau, but the remaining portion of this province is traversed from N.E. to S.W. by isolated mountain ranges of the Basin Range or block mountain type.

The N. portion of the Panhandle is drained by the Canadian river eastward into the Arkansas. The S. portion of the Panhandle and a strip along the N. border of the state, E. of the Panhandle, is drained by the Red river south-eastward into the Mississippi. The rest of the state is drained S.E. directly into the Gulf of Mexico. The Rio Grande and its principal tributary, the Pecos, drain narrow basins in the S.W.; these two rivers and the Canadian river rise in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and New Mexico, but all the other rivers by which the state is drained rise within its borders. The Red, the Brazos, the Colorado, the Guadalupe, and the Nueces rise on the E. or S.E. border of the Great Plains; the Sabine and the Trinity, on the Prairie Plains; and numerous small streams, on the Coastal Plain. In the Great Plains region and in the Trans-Pecos Province the rivers have cut deep canyons, and the character of the longer rivers in their upper courses varies from mere rivulets late in summer to swift and powerful streams during spring freshets. Most of the large Texas rivers have deposited great quantities of silt along their lower courses on the Coastal Plain, where the current is often sluggish and the banks are periodically overflowed. Texas has no large lakes; but freshwater lakes, which are fed either by streams or springs, are common on the Coastal Plain; the best known of them are Grand Lake in Colorado county, Clear Lake in Harris county, and Caddo Lake on the Louisiana border. On the Llano Estacado there are both freshwater and salt lakes, and there are a few salt lakes in the Trans-Pecos Province and near the mouth of the Rio Grande on the Coastal Plain.

The Texas Cretaceous is notably rich in the fossil remains of an invertebrate fauna and in the vicinity of Waco Cretaceous fossils of vertebrates have been obtained. Fossils of both vertebrates and invertebrates are also common in the Permian and Jurassic formations.

Fauna.—The varied fauna and flora of Texas may be classified in the following life-zones: the Canadian zone, on the highest parts of the Davis Mountains; the Transition zone, including high parts of the Davis, Chisos and Guadalupe mountains; the Upper Austral zone, Upper Sonoran division, in the Panhandle, E. of the Pecos Valley, and in the Staked Plain and Edwards Plateau; and the widely extending Lower Austral zone, covering most of the state and subdivided into the Lower Sonoran or arid western part, the Austroriparian, or humid eastern, and the narrow Gulf Strip, which is semi-tropical. Originally great herds of bison roamed over the Texas plains, and deer, bears and wolves were numerous, especially in the forests. Only a few of the larger wild animals remain, but the Texas fauna is still varied, for it includes not only many species common to northern and eastern United States but also several Mexican species. The few remaining bison are on a ranch near Goodnight, in Armstrong county, where they have been crossed with polled Angus cattle. White-tailed, Sonora, and grey mule-deer (Odocoileus) are found in the south-western counties; and there are a few antelope (Antilocapra Americana) in the west. Louisiana bears (Ursus luteolus) still inhabit the inaccessible canebrakes near the coast, and occasionally one is found farther west; and in the western mountains black (and cinnamon) bears, including the New Mexico black bear (Ursus Americanus amblyceps) still are found. Coyotes or prairie wolves (of which there is a local sub-species, Canis nebracensis texensis), grey wolves, prairie dogs (gophers), and jack rabbits are common on the plains; less common are the grey wolf or lobo (Canis griseus) and the timber wolf; and there are several species of foxes, including the swift. Cottontail rabbits, raccoons (including the Mexican variety), and squirrels are common in the forests. A few otters, beavers and minks are still found in eastern Texas. Opossums and skunks (several varieties of the Mephitis and several of the Spilogale, including S. interrupta, the prairie spotted skunk or “hydrophobia cat”) are found in nearly all parts of the state. The peccary (Tayassu angulatum), the armadillo (Tatu novemcinctum), the civet-cat (Bassariscus astutus flavus), the Mexican bighorn (Ovis mexicanus) and the jaguar are Mexican species found in southern or south-western Texas. The Mexican cougar (Felis hippolestes aztecus) is found in the west. Other felines are the ocelot (F. pardalis limitis) and red and grey cats (F. cacomitli) in the south, the Texan lynx (Lynx rufus texensis) in the south-east, and the plateau wild cat (L. baileyi) in the west. There are several varieties of grasshopper mice (Orychomys), white-footed mice (Peromyscus), harvest mice (Reithrodontomys), rice-rats (Oryzomys), wood-rats (Neotoma), voles (Microtus), &c. Bats inhabit caves in Burnet, Williamson, Lampasas, Gillespie and other counties. The mocking-bird is the principal song bird and it and the lark-sparrow are common throughout the state. The snowy heron is a rare plume bird seen occasionally along the coast. The scissor-tailed flycatcher, or Texas bird of paradise, is common on the prairies and in the lightly wooded districts. The Texas screech-owl, the Texas woodpecker, and the road runner, or ground cuckoo, are found mostly in southern and south-Western Texas. Among birds common in Texas as well as in the other Southern States are the cardinal, golden-fronted woodpecker, Mississippi kite, mourning-dove, and turkey-buzzard. In a narrow strip along the Gulf there are some Mexican or tropical birds, notably the caracara and two varieties of grackle (Megaquiscalus). The Texas Bob White or Texas quail is found principally in Texas and a few neighbouring states. The Texas game birds consist chiefly of plover, snipe, teal, mallard and wild geese. Texas has also the American coot or mud-hen and the pelican. Of reptiles there are the alligator, and several species each of turtles, lizards and snakes. Alligators are found in the low coast region and are especially numerous in the Nueces river. The painted box tortoise is common in the central part of the state; the snapping-turtle and the soft-shell turtle in most of the rivers and creeks; the Louisiana mud-turtle, in the coast marshes. The horned lizard, or horned toad (Phrynosoma cornutum, P. hernandesi; P. modestum),