I 
DRAIN AOE OF JEFFEESON COUNTY, TEXAS. 
Hillebrant Bayou is Bayou Din, similar in all respects to the upper 
end of Hillebrant Bayou. Above the Gulf & Interstate Railway 
crossing the channel is not well defined, and below the railroad the 
stream banks arc overgrown with timber and brush. The two other 
important tributaries, Pivitot Bayou and Willow Marsh, provide much 
better drainage to the adjacent lands than does Bayou Din. They are 
less winding, and they flow through open country, therefore the chan- 
nels are less obstructed by logs and driftwood than are the streams 
flowing through the woods. 
The great salt marsh is traversed by Salt Bayou which heads in 
Star Lake about midway between Sabine Pass and the west county 
line, leads northeasterly tlirough a number of shallow lakes and 
parallel to the Gulf shore, then turns north intp Taylors Bayou near 
West Port Arthur. It is the outlet for Kieth Lakes, Salt Lake, 
Knights Lake, Fence Lake, and some others. Big Hill Bayou is a 
much smaller watercourse draining an area between Salt Bayou and 
Taylors Bayou. Mud Bayou, in the extreme southwest corner of the 
county, flows through Chambers County into Galveston Bay and is 
the only stream not having its outlet in Jefferson County. Alligator 
Bayou drains a considerable area of marsh and of higher lands west 
and north of Port Arthur. In several places it spreads over the 
marshes without any defined channel, but in many respects is similar 
to Salt Bayou. These bodies of water are at tide level and are 
subject to all the tidal changes of the Gulf, the extent to which they 
are affected depending upon the height and duration of the tides. 
They are of little value as drainage channels because they have 
practically no fall and are very shallow and crooked. 
CLIMATE. 
The region is characterized by long warm summers and short mild 
winters. Records of the United States Weather Bureau indicate 
that the summer temperatures seldom exceed 100° F., and as a rule 
the heat is tempered by cool breezes from the Gulf, for the prevailing 
\vinds are southerly. The average annual temperature at Beaumont 
is about 68°, the average monthly ranging from about 52° in Febru- 
ary to 82° in July. Extreme variations from these averages some- 
times occur, heavy killing frosts in winter and very hot weather for 
short periods in sunmaer being not at all uncommon. In winter 
especially, sudden drops of temperature are caused by cold north winds 
commonly known as '^ northers"; the cold spells seldom last more 
than a few days at a time, however. 
The mean annual precipitation at Beaumont during the past 20 
years was 46.3 inches, and at Houston 48 inches. For ordinary crops 
the rainfall is sufficient in amount and evenly enough distributed, 
but rice culture makes irrigation necessary. 
