DRAINAGE OF JEFFERSON" COUNTY^ TEXAS. 5 



Hillebrant Bayou is Bayou Din, similar iii all respects to the upper 

 end of Hillebrant Bayou. Above the Gulf & Interstate Railway 

 crossing the channel is not well defined, and below the raUroad the 

 stream banks are overgrown with timber and brush. The two other 

 important tributaries, Pivitot Bayou and Willow Marsh, provide much 

 better drainage to the adjacent lands than does Bayou Din. They are 

 less winding, and they flow through open country, therefore the chan- 

 nels are less obstructed by logs and driftwood than are the streams 

 flowing through the woods. 



The great salt marsh is traversed by Salt Bayou which heads in 

 Star Lake about midway between Sabine Pass and the west county 

 line, leads northeasterly through a number of shallow lakes and 

 parallel to the Gulf shore, then turns north into Taylors Bayou near 

 West Port Arthur. It is the outlet for Kieth Lakes, Salt Lake, 

 Knights Lake, Fence Lake, and some others. Big Hill Bayou is a 

 much smaUer watercourse draming an area between Salt Bayou and 

 Tayloi-s Bayou. Mud Bayou, in the extreme southwest corner of the 

 county, flows through Chambers County into Galveston Bay and is 

 the only stream not having its outlet in Jefferson County. Alligator 

 Bayou drains a considerable area of marsh and of higher lands west 

 and north of Port Arthur. In several places it spreads over the 

 marshes without any defined channel, but in many respects is similar 

 to Salt Bayou. These bodies of water are at tide level and are 

 subject to all the tidal changes of the Gulf, the extent to which they 

 are affected dependmg upon the height and duration of the tides. 

 They arc of little value as drainage channels because they have 

 practically no fall and are very shallow and crooked. 



CLIMATE. 



The region is characterized by long warm summers and short mild 

 winters. Records of the United States Weather Bureau indicate 

 that the summer temperatures seldom exceed 100° F., and as a rule 

 the heat is tempered by cool breezes from the Gulf, for the prevailing 

 winds are southerly. The average annual temperature at Beaumont 

 is about 68°, the average monthly ranging from about 52° in Febru- 

 ary to 82° in July. Extreme variations from these averages some- 

 times occur, heavy killing frosts in winter and very hot weather for 

 short periods in summer being not at all uncommon. In winter 

 especially, sudden drops of temperature are caused by cold north winds 

 commfinly known as "northers"; the cold spells seldom last more 

 than a few days at a tinu;, however. 



The mean annual precipitation at Beaumont during the ])ast 20 

 years was 40.3 inches, and at Houston 48 inches. For ordinary crops 

 the rainfall is sufficient in amount and evenly enougli distributed, 

 but rice culture makes irrigation necessary. 



