BULLETIN 193^ U. S. DEPAKTMENT OF AGEICULTUKE. 
Iarkat^sas 
plan were roughly estimated to cost $15,000. Following a prelim- 
inary investigation and report, tlie cooperation offered by the coxmty 
commissioners was accepted and the sm'vey was authorized. Head- 
quarters for the survey 
were established at 
Beaumont; field work 
was begun April 8 and 
completed December 
1, 1912. 
GENERAL DESCRIP- 
TION OF JEFFERSON 
COUNTY. 
Jefferson County is 
wholly within the 
Coastal Plain of south- 
east Texas, reaching 
from the Gulf of Mex- 
ico on the south to 
Pine Island Bayou on 
the north and sepa- 
rated from Louisiana 
by Sabine Lake and 
Sabine Pass. (See fig. 
1.) The area is ap- 
proximately 956 
square miles, or 612,- 
000 acres, and the 
population about 40,- 
000. The prmcipal 
cities of the county 
are Beaumont and 
Port Arthur. The 
proposed Intercoastal 
Canal to connect the 
Neches River and the 
Fig. 1.— Map showing location of Jefferson County in Texas. 
Sabine-Neches Canal with Galveston Bay will traverse the southern 
part of the county, and Taylors Bayou is used extensively for trans- 
portation by the farmers in the central part. About 100 miles of 
shell highways and about 500 miles of gi'aded earth roads traverse 
practically aU parts of the county except the great salt marshes 
bordering on the Gulf. 
The principal agricultural products of the county are rice and 
garden truck, but quantities of cotton, corn, and fruits are raised. 
In the northern half of the county is a very extensive system of canals 
