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Texas has one of the most distinct and recognizable shape of all the states in the U.S.. With its 267,339 square miles of territory, extending from the High Plains of the Texas Panhandle to the Gulf of Mexico, Texas is, except for Alaska, the largest state in the Union. One can travel eight hundred miles in a straight line within its borders.
This large area is made up of three major physical divisions: the Atlantic-Coastal plain, the Great Plains of Central North America, and the Rocky Mountain system. This fact that these areas join within the state gives the region a variety and contrast in topography, climate, and resources.
Along with many streams, bayous, and creeks, there are also thirteen major rivers in Texas. Three rivers make up parts of the boundary of Texas. The Sabine (east), Red (north), and Rio Grande (south). The Trinity, Neches, and San Jacinto are located in East Texas. The Brazos and Colorado cut across the High Plains region. The Nueces, San Antonio, Guadalupe, and Lavaca flow eastward from Central Texas. The Canadian River is an unusual Texas river, in that it flows northeast across the Panhandle, emptying into the Arkansas River.
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High Plains
A59.83.744 Donated by the Founders' Group
Dallas Garden Club of the Dallas Woman's Club
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The High Plains is a part of a great plain that extends from Texas northward into Canada. Once an awesome sea of grass that was rarely broken by trees or anything else as far as the eye could see, it is now frequently plowed into farmland. These farms are irrigated from large underground water supplies called aquifers.
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The Edwards Plateau is sometimes called the Hill Country. It is a broken tableland, an extension of the Great Plains but eroded into rocky, hilly country. In most places the soil is too shallow for farming. It is widely known as a livestock region, its ranches producing cattle, sheep, goats, wool, and mohair.
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Edwards Plateau
A59.83.521 Donated by the Founders' Group
Dallas Garden Club of the Dallas Woman's Club
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South Texas
A38.3.115 Centennial Visual Collection
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The South Texas Plain, or Rio Grande Valley, forms a rough triangle, bounded by a point near Corpus Christi, westward to Del Rio on the Rio Grande, and southward to the Gulf. It produces bountiful crops of citrus fruit, vegetables, and cotton.
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The Basin and Mountain Region is the most diverse of the Texas regions. It is a country of deserts and mountains, of bitterly cold winters and searing hot summers. It is primarily livestock country, for grass is able to grow in abundant supplies.
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Basin and Mountain region
A59.83.1888 Donated by the Founders' Group
Dallas Garden Club of the Dallas Woman's Club
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Gulf Coast
A59.83.615 Donated by the Founders' Group
Dallas Garden Club of the Dallas Woman's Club
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The Gulf Coast Plain extends inland from the Gulf approximately 100-200 miles. Near the coast the land is low and marshy; inland it is well-drained, with much heavy heavier soil with a great variety of vegetation.
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The East Texas region is often referred to as the Piney Woods. This name reflects the abundance of great, tall, stately pine trees. It is a country of forests and farmlands, of rolling hills and broad valleys. In the western part of the region is an extensive area of sandy soils and post oak timber, extending far into Central Texas.
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East Texas
A59.83.199 Donated by the Founders' Group
Dallas Garden Club of the Dallas Woman's Club
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Central Texas
A59.83.952 Donated by the Founders' Group
Dallas Garden Club of the Dallas Woman's Club
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The Central Texas Praries extend from the Colorado River in the vicinity of Austin northward to the Red River. The prarielands are broken by the Eastern Cross Timbers , a thin wedge of trees extending northward from Waco through Dallas, into the Red River Valley. East of this belt of timber is the Blackland Prairie, to the west lies the Grand Prairie.
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The Rolling Plains are separated from the High Plains to the west by the Caprock, a prominent limestone escarpment. Some of the Rolling Plains terrain is highly erode; other areas consist of spacious prairies. There is some petroleum production, but the mainstay of the economy of this region is agrarian - mainly cotton, wheat, sorghum, and cattle
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Rolling Plains
A59.83.109 Donated by the Founders' Group
Dallas Garden Club of the Dallas Woman's Club
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