GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 



DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY. 



GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 



The name East Texas is generally applied to that part of the State lying 

 east of the Brazos River. This area is bounded on the north by Indian Ter- 

 ritory and Arkansas, on the east by Louisiana, on the south by the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and on the west by the great prairie region of Central Texas. A 

 large part of this area is a heavily timbered region, and marks the southwest- 

 ern terminus of the great Atlantic timber belt, extending from the Arctic 

 regions continuously along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of 

 Mexico, until it finally disappears in the mesquite and cactus prairies between 

 the Colorado River and the Rio Grande. 



The country consists largely of the in-shore part of the bottom of the old 

 Tertiary Sea, which once covered the whole Gulf coast. This area has been 

 elevated into a table land one hundred to seven hundred feet above the pres- 

 ent sea level, sloping gradually to the southeast, and emptying its waters in 

 the same direction into the Gulf of Mexico. Since its elevation it has under- 

 gone great erosion, and is still being denuded at a tremendous rate. The strata 

 are all composed of sands and clays, and succumb very readily to the eroding 

 action of the atmospheric agencies. The result is that all that is left of the 

 once level surface of this table land are a few flat-topped hills and ridges, such 

 as are seen in the northeastern counties. East Texas as thus defined com- 

 prises a coast prairie region on the south, a great timber region in the center, 

 and an interior prairie country in the north and northwest. The coast prai- 

 ries reach inland along the Sabine about fifty miles, but as we go west they 

 spread farther and farther towards the interior, until, when we come to the 

 Brazos, they reach up the river for over a hundred miles. Near the Gulf 

 shore they are flat and low, rising twenty to thirty feet above tide water, 

 thickly covered with grass and cut by steep-sided channels of many rivers and 

 creeks. The monotony of the scenery is broken only by the narrow strips of 

 timber which follow the meandering courses of the streams down towards the 

 Gulf of Mexico. As we go inland the country slowly rises, and though the 

 prairies in their easterly part maintain their flat character, to the west they 

 become more undulating and broken, and groves of mesquite, hackberry, Cot- 

 tonwood, and other trees are seen in many places. Finally, we come to the 

 beautiful rolling country of Washington and Grimes counties, the southern 

 border of the timber region. Continuing west across the Brazos, the prairies 

 rapidly encroach more and more on the timber of the interior, until they cut 



