DKAINAGE OF JEFFERSON COUNTY^ TEXAS. 3 



for rice irrigation, about 500 miles of mains and. laterals being now 

 in use. The live-stock industry is extensive, particularly in the 

 southern part where many thousands of acres are given over to graz- 

 ing. The turpentine industry along Pine Island. Bayou is a source of 

 considerable activity and profit. The country between Beaumont and 

 Port Arthur is studded with huge oil tanks and oil pumping stations. 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



The sm'face of Jeffei'son County is typical of the CoastaP Plain, 

 being generally flat and level with few physical features especially 

 marked. The land was built from deposits brought from higher 

 elevations by the streams, and later exposed when the waters of the 

 GuK receded. Figm-e 2 (in pocket at end of bulletin) shows the 

 principal water courses, the watershed lines, and the areas drained by 

 the streams. 



The highest elevation in the coimty is 46 feet above sea level, in 

 the northwest part near Nome. From the northern part of the 

 county the ground slopes gradually southward to a great level tract 

 of salt marsh scarcely 1 foot above sea level bordering the Gulf, 

 Sabine Lake, and the lower reaches of the Neches River. To the 

 eye the whole county seems perfectly level, but instrumental surveys 

 show that the surface, excepting the low flat marshes, is undulating 

 and has a considerable slope. This fact is in a measure shown by the 

 locations of the main irrigation canals, which usually follow the 

 higher contours. The only marked slopes in the county, besides 

 the bluff bordering the JSFeches River marsh and the sloping banks 

 of Pine Island Bayou, are Spindletop oil field south of Beaumont 

 and Big Hill 7 miles south of Hamshire. Spindletop is 10 to 12 feet 

 higher than the ground one-half mile west of the center of the oil 

 held, and Big Hill has an elevation of about 20 feet above the sm*- 

 rounding country. There are a few places along Taylors Bayou near 

 I^a Belle where the banks are high. 



The entire northwest(;rn portion of the county is peculiarly devoid 

 of well-defmed streams or drainage channels. Water stands on the 

 ground for weeks at a time after every rain, and sometimes the land 

 remains under water throughout an entire season. Undor present 

 conditions evaporation is a greater agent of natural drainage in this 

 section than p<T(;olation or flow to any natural outlet. The west- 

 central part of the county is also lacking in large natural channt^is 

 which would aid drainagi^, and there are only a very few small 

 str<'ums like Sj^indletop Gully and the upper end of Big Hill Bayou 

 whi<;h carry the overflow waters down to the salt mai"sh adja(;<>,Jit to 

 t ho coast. Several large; bodi<!S of lev(;l iidand or fnish-water marshes 

 occiiv ill various j>urtB of tiic coiirity when; water stands tlu'. gi'eater 

 pivit (»f tlu; y<;ur. 



