4 BULLETIlSr 193, U, S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



A natural sand, levee 4 to 6 feet high extends practically the full 

 length of the GiiK shore line. This levee was formed by wind and 

 wave action and protects the salt marsh adjacent to the Gulf from 

 ordinary storm tides. Owing to a gap in the levee, however, pro- 

 tection is not afforded against the extreme storm tides which occur 

 at UTegular intervals of one to ten years. 



WATERCOURSES. 



The Neches River is a winding stream 20 to 40 feet deep and ranging 

 from 400 to 800 feet wide. The banks are generally low and flat, 

 being scarcely 1 foot above the ordinary water level. Marshes 1 to 2 

 miles wide separate the high land from the river except at Colliers 

 Ferry, Beaumont, the Port Arthur Rice & Irrigation Co.'s pumping 

 plant, and Port Neches. The total length of bluif line fronting 

 directly on the river is about 3 miles. The river bluff, which extends 

 from the Neches Canal Co.'s pumping plant at Voth to the mouth 

 of the river, is higher than the land back from the stream, and prac- 

 tically aU drainage is away from the river. A few small gulUes 

 break the blujff line and provide drainage for adjacent ground, but 

 very little drainage from Jefferson County enters the Neches except 

 what comes through Pine Island Bayou. A strip of land bordering 

 that bayou along its entire length in the coimty and averaging about 

 3 miles wide slopes rather abruptly toward the stream and is drained 

 by that route; the remainder of the county, except a very small 

 portion in the southwestern corner and the great salt marsh bordering 

 on the GuLf, is drained into Sabine Lake by way of Taylors Bayou and 

 its tributaries. 



Taylors Bayou is the principal water course within the coimty, rising 

 in a large fresh-water marsh north of Hamshire and emptying into Sa- 

 bine Lake. It is very crooked, and is 10 to 15 feet deep and 200 to 400 

 feet wide along the lower portion. Tide water extends up the bayou 

 to a point near the center of the county. Upstream from that point 

 the banks of the bayou are covered with timber and heavy under- 

 brush. The channel as a rule is badly clogged with logs, driftwood, 

 and debris, which together with the bends in the stream, greatly 

 impede the natural drainage, although improvements in drainage 

 district INo. 3 have greatly relieved the upper reaches. The principal 

 tributaries of Taylors Bayou are the North Fork, HiUebrant Bayou, 

 Mayhaw Bayou, and Rodair Bayou. The North Fork is similar in all 

 respects to the upper end of the main channel. HiUebrant Bayou 

 is a tortuous stream flowmg through a strip of heavily timbered land. 

 It is badly obstructed by fallen timber, driftwood and brush growing 

 in the channel, except in the lower reaches where the chaimel is wide, 

 deep, and open. The western part of the city of Beaumont suffers 

 greatly from the frequent overflows. The principal tributary of 



