4 BULLETIN 193^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 
A natural sand levee 4 to 6 feet high extends practically the full 
length of the Gulf shore line. This levee was formed by wind and 
wave action and protects the salt marsh adjacent to the Gulf from 
ordinary storm tides. Owing to a gap in the levee, however, pro- 
tection is not afforded against the extreme storm tides which occur 
at irregular intervals of one to ten years. 
WATERCOURvSES. 
■ The Neches Kiver is a windmg stream 20 to 40 feet deep and ranging 
from 400 to 800 feet wide. The banks are generally low and flat, 
bemg scarcely 1 foot above the ordinary water level. Marshes 1 to 2 
miles wide separate the high land from the river except at Colliers 
Ferry, Beaumont, the Port Arthm' Hice & Irrigation Co.'s pmnping 
plant, and Port Neches. The total length of bluff line fronting 
directly on the river is about 3 miles. The river bluff, which extends 
from the Neches Canal Co.'s pumping plant at Voth to the mouth 
of the river, is higher than the land back from the stream, and prac- 
tically all drainage is away from the river. A few small gullies 
break the bluff line and provide drainage for adjacent gi-ound, but 
very little drainage from Jefferson County enters the Neches except 
what comes through Pine Island Bayou. A strip of land bordering 
that bayou along its entire length in the county and averaging about 
3 miles wide slopes rather abruptly toward the stream and is drained 
by that route; the remainder of the comity, except a very small 
portion in the southwestern corner and the great salt marsh bordering 
on the GuK, is drained into Sabine Lake by way of Taylors Bayou and 
its tributaries. 
Taylors Bayou is the principal water course within the county, rising 
in a large fresh-water marsh north of Hamshire and emptying into Sa- 
bine Lake. It is very crooked, and is 10 to 15 feet deep and 200 to 400 
feet wide along the lower portion. Tide water extends up the bayou 
to a point near the center of the county. Upstream from that point 
the banks of the bayou are covered with timber and heavy under- 
brush. The channel as a rule is badly clogged with logs, driftwood, 
and debris, which together with the bends in the stream, greatly 
impede the natural drainage, although improvements in drainage 
district JNo. 3 have greatly relieved the upper reaches. The principal 
tributaries of Taylors Bayou are the North Fork, Hillebrant Bayou, 
Mayhaw Bayou, and Rodair Bayou. The North Fork is similar m all 
respects to the upper end of the main channel. Hillebrant Bayou 
is a tortuous stream flowing through a strip of heavily timbered land. 
It is badly obstructed by fallen timber, driftwood and brush growing 
in the channel, except in the lower reaches where the channel is wide, 
deep, and open. The western part of the city of Beaumont suffers 
greatly from the frequent overflows. The principal tributary of 
