8 GULF TERTIARY OF TEXAS. 



it out altogether, and finally blend, beyond the Colorado, with the great prai- 

 ries of Southwest Texas. The timber that is found in the coast prairie region 

 of East Texas, along the streams and in isolated groves, is mostly cottonwood, 

 willow, elm, hackberry, sycamore, ash, water oak, pin oak, post oak, some red 

 oak, and cedar, and, in the western part of the area, pecan and mesquite. 

 Dense growths of vines, rattan, poison oak, and grape vine, have often wrapped 

 themselves about the trees, forming an impassable network. The spread of 

 the mesquite in this region is a noteworthy fact. When the country was first 

 settled it was a rare tree in the valley of the lower Brazos, and was identified 

 only with the western prairies. Since that time, however, it has spread to the 

 east, and is now seen in considerable quantities about Sealy and other Brazos 

 River towns. As we leave the coast prairies and enter the timber, we come 

 into a much higher, more rolling, and broken country, heavily covered with 

 pine, oak, and hickory. This is the region of gray sandy soils on the high- 

 lands, red clay or loamy soils on the lowlands, and rich dark chocolate soils 

 in the river bottoms. The country varies from two hundred to six hundred 

 feet above the Gulf, and sometimes, though rarely, the hill tops approach even 

 seven hundred feet. These hills have all been formed by the erosion of the 

 surrounding country, and nowhere in East Texas are there found any eleva- 

 tions which have resulted from the disturbance or contortion of the strata. 

 The highest points in the timber region, like Mount Selman and Gent Moun- 

 tain, in Cherokee County, Hynson's Mountain, in Harrison County, and many 

 others, have their summits capped by a horizontal, or almost horizontal, bed 

 of iron ore or sandstone, and to this covering they owe their existence, it hav- 

 ing protected them from the erosion which has worn down the surrounding 

 country. It has also given rise to a striking topography very much like that 

 of the western lava plains on a small scale. The hills, locally called "moun- 

 tains," sometimes occur as small, flat-topped hills — the "butte" and "mesa " of 

 the west — and at others spread out in broad plateaus, sometimes covering an 

 area of twenty or thirty square miles, deeply cut by the steep sided canyons, 

 and often showing an almost perpendicular slope. Such regions afford a 

 beautiful upland country, with a soil far different from the surrounding low- 

 lands, and a climate excellently adapted to the cultivation of fruit. In fact, 

 such lands are now among the greatest fruit districts of Texas, and bid fair to 

 become a worthy competitor of the California fruit country. Gent Mountain, 

 in the western part of Cherokee County, is a beautiful example of this plateau 

 country. It comprises over twenty square miles of area, is largely underlaid 

 by iron ore, capped by a sandy soil, and thickly covered with oak and hick- 

 ory. From its summit, looking south and west, can be seen the lowlands of 

 the Neches River bottom, and beyond, the rolling country of Anderson 

 County. To the north can be seen Gray's Mountain, Grimes Mountain, Rags- 



