BULLETIN or THE 
No. 193 
Contribution from the Office of Experiment Stations, A. C. True, Director 
April 30, 1915. 
(PROFESSIONAL PAPER.) 
THE DRAINAGE OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, TEXAS. 
JJy 11. A. Ku'P, A. G. Hall, and S. "W. Frescoln, Drainage Engineers. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Introduction 1 
Genoral description of county 2 
The survoj' 7 
The drainage problem 8 
Run-off 10 
rage. 
Proposed plan of drainage 13 
Estimate of cost 24 
Conclusion 32 
Appendix: Ditch sizes and earthworks 33 
INTRODUCTION. 
The drainage of Jefferson County, like the drainage of all other 
counties along the Texas Gulf coast, has been generally recognized 
in recent years as one of the most imjDortant steps in the agricultural 
development and settlement of this comparatively new country. 
SeYcral attempts have been made to organize drainage districts 
withm the county under the Texas drainage law and to start actual 
construction of some drainage canals to relieve the land of the surplus 
water, but up to the present time construction has been carried out 
in only one district. Outside of that district few canals have been 
constructed, and the conditions throughout the county generally have 
not been improved. 
In January, 1912, the Chamber of Commerce of Beamnont requested 
the assistance of Drainage Investigations, Office of Experiment Sta- 
tions, United States Department of Agriculture, in making drainage 
plans and estimates for Jefferson County. On February 15 the county 
commissioners' court adopted resolutions agreeing that if Drainage 
Investigations would make the necessary survey and prepare a drain- 
age plan the county would bear one-half the cost. The survey and 
Note.— This report is intended especially for engineers, dxainage district officials, and present and pros- 
pective owTiers of land near the Gulf of Mexico, particularly in Texas and Louisiana. The run-off formula 
and discussion will interest all engineers concerned with land drainage, 
78948°— Bull. 193—15 1 
