DRAINAGE OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, TEXAS. 7 



and lo\r spots, dense growths of rushes and reeds are found. Both the 

 prairies and the marshes are used for grazing purposes. Approxi- 

 mately nine-tenths of the county is in open prairie or marsh, the 

 remainder being covered with the native gi'owth of timber and under- 

 brush. Lawhorns Woods, located north and west of Fannett, and 

 Pine Island Bayou Woods are the largest timber areas, but several 

 other patches are found along the upper reaches of Taylors Bayou, 

 on Hillebrant Bayou and Bayou Din, and along the Neches River 

 bluff. Pine is the predominating tree, but water oak, live oak, and 

 post oak are also plentiful. The undergrowth is thick and consists of 

 palmetto and other semitropical vegetation, green briars, and black- 

 berry bushes. 



PRESENT DRAINAGE SITUATION. 



As a whole, the county has very poor natural drainage, as has 

 been indicated. In only a few favored spots is the ground well 

 drained, and practically every farm should have artificial drainage 

 either by open ditches or by tile. Farmers in all parts of the county 

 have suffered severe losses, and the rice farmers are particularly in 

 need of some means of draining their fields during planting and 

 harvesting seasons. Practically the entire southern half of the 

 comity is very wet and marshy at aU times, and until some system 

 of thorough drainage is installed the land can not be cultivated at all. 



DRAINAGE DISTRICTS ORGANIZED. 



Drainage district No. 3, comprising about 47,000 acres south of 

 Hamshire, has had surveys and plans made, and construction has 

 been completed. Two other attempts to organize drainage districts 

 have been made, but owing to lack of cooperation among the land- 

 owners and to the inadequacy of the law the organizations have 

 not been perfected and no construction work has been done. Some 

 years ago several drainage ditches were constructed south of China, 

 but thej' have not been well maintained and will need to be recon- 

 structed before they will fulfill the purpose for which they were 

 intended. They have no outlets and are neither large enough nor 



decT) enough. 



THE SURVEY. 



Carefully checked base levels were first run on all the railroads 

 from Bcuumont to the boundaries of the county. Bench marks 

 were estiiblished at intcsrvals of 1 mile or less on railroad mile})Osts 

 or other convenient objects. All elevations were referred to sea-level 

 datum as estublislied by War l)e|)art mt^nt engineers. Lines of levels 

 were run across the county at intc^rvals of 1 mile or less, aj)proxi- 

 mately cast and west or north and south, generally witli the slope 

 of the groiirul. Floads and fetu-fs wer(^ often followed U>v conven- 

 i(!nf-c. I'if. lines wcr^^ run jjci'jjendicularly to Uie eioss lines in order 



