The Regions of Texas
  
  
  Texas is a state of mind, Texas is an obsession. Above all, 
  Texas is a nation in every sense of the word.-John Steinbeck
  
  Texas is a diversity of regional landscapes, which have 
  resulted from the geography of the state's natural features, 
  the varied cultures of the people who were "gone to Texas," 
  and the history that has shaped the perceptions and myths of 
  the state. Natural, physical, cultural, economic and 
  governmental factors categorize the multi-patterned regional 
  diversity of Texas.
  
  Natural factors include the environment, land forms, climate 
  and natural resources. Cultural patterns result from 
  settlement history, ethnicity, urban and rural issues, 
  religion and demographics. Economic factors influence 
  regional divisions through the development of important 
  resources. In Texas, land was the most important resource 
  dividing the state into regions. The development of cotton, 
  cattle and oil also has had a profound effect. Governmental 
  regions are administrative or political and are usually a 
  response to the need for supplying a service or program to a 
  specific subset of the population.
  
  
  Natural/Geographic Factors Influencing the Creation of 
  Regions
  The varied geography has caused inhabitants of different 
  sections of Texas to call their areas everything from "God's 
  country" to "eight miles south of the end of the World."1 
  The state includes barren desert brush land, dense forests, 
  canyons, coastal plains, rolling hills and flat-topped 
  mesas. There are places in West Texas where it seems the 
  annual rainfall is just a few drops and others in East Texas 
  where it reaches deluge proportions. There are counties with 
  populations larger than that of some western states and 
  others so lonely the armadillo population outstrips the 
  human. And as for climate, it's said that it gets so cold so 
  suddenly in North Texas, your water can freeze in your cup 
  before you drink it. It gets so hot in South Texas that 
  General Philip H. Sheridan said, "If I owned Texas and Hell, 
  I'd rent out Texas and live in Hell."2
  
  The fact that over-exaggeration seems to typify descriptions 
  of Texas is not surprising considering the immense size of 
  the state. It is farther from the eastern border of Texas to 
  El Paso (773 miles) than it is from El Paso to Los Angeles 
  (731 miles) or from Texarkana to Chicago (696 miles). Texas 
  is so large that 14 of the 50 states would fit within its 
  borders. Brewster County in West Texas, alone, is almost 
  large enough to hold the three smallest states. Texas 
  includes two time zones, eight independent river systems 
  that begin and remain within the state, and 13 climatic 
  regions.3 According to the 1990 Census, Texas also has three 
  of the ten most populous cities, Houston, Dallas and San 
  Antonio, along with three counties, Kenedy, King and Loving, 
  where the population density is less than one person per 
  square mile.
  
  The geographic regions of Texas are extensions of five of 
  the eight main physiographical regions of the U.S.: the Gulf 
  and Atlantic Coastal Plain, the Interior Lowlands, the Great 
  Plains, the Rocky Mountain system and the Intermontane 
  Plateaus. These geographic regions generally divide Texas 
  according to surface features and soil types.
  
  The Gulf Coastal Plain is an extension of the Gulf and 
  Atlantic Coastal Plain, and is located in the southern and 
  eastern third of Texas, roughly between the Sabine River and 
  the city of Del Rio. (See Map 1.) This area has the lowest 
  elevation in Texas, less than 1,000 feet above sea level, 
  and contains several "belts" of land or soil types formed by 
  the weathering of layers of rocks of varying types and 
  hardness.4 The Gulf Coastal Plain contains all of the coast 
  line of Texas along with the mouths of most of the major 
  rivers. The subregions of this area are the Piney Woods, 
  Post Oak Belt, Blackland Belt and Rio Grande Embayment. 
  
  The Piney Woods are in East Texas close to the Louisiana 
  border. In the far northeast corner of this area is an 
  agricultural and timber area where there are small farms and 
  woodlots. South of this area are the Piney Woods proper 
  where pine tree plantations, hay fields and cattle pastures 
  dominate. The Angelina, Sabine, Davy Crockett and Sam 
  Houston national forests and the Big Thicket National 
  Preserve are also located in the Piney Woods. The area is 
  home to the Texas lumber industry, including saw mills and 
  paper mills. The poultry industry has also developed here 
  thanks to the climate, rainfall and access to feed. Two 
  major oil fields are in East Texas, Spindletop near Beaumont 
  and the East Texas Oil Field that extends across five 
  counties, Rusk, Smith, Cherokee, Gregg and Upshur. Lignite 
  coal is also mined in the area.
  
  West of the Piney Woods lies the Post Oak Belt in East 
  Central Texas. The region has the same soil as that found in 
  both the Piney Woods and the Blackland Belt. (The Blackland 
  Belt, west of the Post Oak Belt is also on the Gulf Coastal 
  Plain.) Here the soil is fertile and the land is a rolling 
  prairie where cotton is an important crop. In the southern 
  part of the region is the Rio Grande Embayment. The southern 
  tip of the Rio Grande Embayment is called the Lower Rio 
  Grande Valley or simply The Valley, where fertile 
  agricultural land supports both crops and large cattle 
  ranches.5 
  
  The second major region is the North Central Plains that are 
  west of the Gulf Coastal Plain. The region is an extension 
  of the Interior Lowlands region of the U.S. The geologic 
  formations are both older and harder than those found on the 
  Gulf Coastal Plain and considerably eroded by rivers and 
  streams, although the same hilly patterns visible in parts 
  of the Gulf Coastal Plain are also found on the North 
  Central Plains and elevations can reach 2,200 feet.6
  
  The subareas of the North Central Plain include the Grand 
  Prairie and the Western Cross Timbers and the Rolling or 
  Osage Plains. The Grand Prairie and Western Cross Timbers 
  areas produce a variety of crops including wheat and cotton, 
  and cattle raising is an important industry. Located further 
  west, the Osage Plains make up the majority of the North 
  Central Plains. Slight rainfall and absence of a major 
  aquifer have necessitated the construction of several 
  reservoirs and the practice of strict conservation and 
  irrigation methods in some areas. Fortunately, both the 
  Trinity and Brazos rivers traverse the area. Cotton and 
  grain sorghum are the main crops, and both oil and 
  bituminous coal have been found in the region. 
  
  The third major geographic extension of the U.S. into Texas 
  is the Great Plains of the Central U.S. The region extends 
  from the northwest boundary of the Panhandle, south to the 
  Rio Grande. The region encompasses the High Plains, the 
  Edwards Plateau and the Llano Basin. The elevation in this 
  region can reach 3,200 feet.7 
  
  The High Plains are also known as the Llano Estacado or 
  Staked Plains. The explanations for the name range from 
  legend-that Coronado on his trek through the area left a 
  staked trail-to the practical-that horses had to be staked 
  down because there were few trees to tie them to-to the 
  physical-some areas of the Caprock Escarpment along the 
  area's eastern border have the appearance of a palisaded 
  fence. The Caprock Escarpment separates the High Plains from 
  the North Central Plains. Known as the "break in the 
  plains," the Caprock Escarpment is the hardpan mineral layer 
  that underlies the High Plains and protects the underlying 
  softer strata from erosion. 
  
  Typical rainfall in the High Plains region is barely enough 
  to sustain crops without irrigation, and only two major 
  rivers, the Canadian and Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red, 
  cross the region. Lack of rainfall has been a complaint 
  throughout the history of the High Plains. With the advent 
  of windmills, farmers began depending upon the Ogallala 
  Aquifer as a source of water. The level of the aquifer began 
  to decline once gasoline and electric powered pumps were 
  introduced, and for decades the amount of water taken 
  annually exceeded aquifer recharge. During the 1970s and 
  early 1980s, experts feared that the aquifer would soon be 
  depleted.
  
  Although recharge outpaced depletion for a few years in the 
  late 1980s, the future of the Ogallala is not secure. It 
  cannot be counted on to supply the total amount of water 
  needed in the High Plains in the future. Current studies 
  indicate that although the High Plains accounts for 65 
  percent of the total irrigated land in Texas, dryland 
  farming will become more prevalent in this area.8 
  
  While the area lacks a secure water supply, it has inherited 
  mineral wealth in the form of oil and natural gas deposits 
  that were discovered in the Panhandle and the Permian Basin 
  area around Midland and Odessa, bringing an oil boom to 
  nearby towns.
  
  Wheat and cotton are the traditional crops of the High 
  Plains. But recently, the area has become known for 
  producing grapes and wine. Although grapes are a relative 
  newcomer, the vineyards on the High Plains are gaining 
  national recognition. 
  
  South of the High Plains is the Edwards Plateau. This area 
  has a thin, limestone based soil and is a ranching region. 
  Livestock raised here include sheep, goats and cattle. It is 
  one of the major wool and mohair producing regions of the 
  U.S., and the area is divided into large ranches that 
  increase in size toward the west. Dividing the Edwards 
  Plateau from the Gulf Coastal Plain is the Balcones 
  Escarpment, which is a geologic fault of the underlying 
  strata of rock stretching from near Del Rio to Austin. 
  
  The Central or Llano Basin is the last subregion of this 
  area. Located close to the center of Texas, the land here is 
  suited to cattle and sheep ranches. This area was once known 
  as the Central Mineral Region due to the abundance of 
  minerals found there.
  
  The fourth and final major region is the Mountains and 
  Basins region in West Texas, which possibly includes a very 
  small part of the Rocky Mountain System along with an 
  extension of the Intermontane Plateaus region of the U.S. 
  The Mountains and Basins region is the area of Texas that 
  extends west of the Edwards Plateau. This area contains the 
  highest elevation in Texas, Guadalupe Peak in the Guadalupe 
  Mountains, part of a national park. The Davis Mountains are 
  the small portion of the Rocky Mountains system that is 
  recognized by some as extending into Texas. These mountains 
  are in the central part of the "spur" of Texas. Big Bend 
  National Park, located south of the Davis Mountains along 
  the bend of the Rio Grande, is the southern area of the 
  Mountains and Basins region. The only major river in the 
  area is the Rio Grande.
  
  Rainfall is very slight and unpredictable in this area, and 
  most of the land is divided into large ranches. The large 
  ranch size is necessary as the amount of land needed to 
  support one animal may be 50 acres or more due to the lack 
  of water. Sheep, goats and cattle are all raised in the 
  area, and crops include hay and cotton. Subregions of the 
  Mountains and Basins region include the Toyah Basin, the 
  Davis, Franklin and Guadalupe mountains. The mountain 
  clusters of the region are usually surrounded by desert 
  flats. 
  
  These natural regions and subregions are divided into 
  smaller regions by a host of factors including weather and 
  climate.
  
  In terms of weather, Texas is not only diverse, it's 
  extremely variable, according to William Holms, author of 
  the chapter on physical environment in Texas: a Geograph: 
  "Virtually every known atmospheric condition occurs and may 
  drastically change from one form to another without 
  warning."9 The state is home to the "blue norther," which 
  once produced a snow storm so severe that 1,400 sheep were 
  killed and remained frozen long enough for the owners to 
  shear them.10 Blue northers are possible in part because the 
  High Plains are dry and flat, allowing the wind to blow all 
  the way from Canada unimpeded. In contrast, in some South 
  Texas areas, snow is so uncommon that schools, airports and 
  roads close when it appears. Another example of how the area 
  is crippled by the infrequent occurrences of cold weather is 
  the devastation of a freeze on the important citrus crop in 
  the Rio Grande Valley.
  
  At the opposite end of the temperature spectrum, heat waves 
  have been so intense that during August 5-10, 1988, for 
  example, areas in North and West Texas recorded daily 
  temperatures in the 105 to 110 degree range. Recorded 
  temperatures in Texas can vary during the year from -16 to 
  108 degrees Fahrenheit as they have for the City of 
  Amarillo. Another indication of the temperature extremes in 
  Texas is the fact that Houston is the most air conditioned 
  city in the world.11
  
  Texas, in part due to its size, has also recorded more 
  tornadoes than any other state and is located in "Tornado 
  Alley," a region that stretches across several states. But 
  hurricanes, which hit along the state's coastal areas, have 
  caused more damage in terms of lives and property.12 The 
  hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900 is still considered one 
  of the nation's worst natural disasters. It nearly destroyed 
  the town and claimed about 6,000 lives. Recent hurricanes 
  have claimed far fewer lives but have caused billions of 
  dollars in property damage.
  
  The length of the growing season divides the state into 
  fairly wide east/west bands, from a southernmost high of 330 
  days in the Rio Grande Valley, to a northern low of 180 days 
  in the Panhandle. Soil formations follow a generally 
  northeast to southwest trend. Most of the soil in Texas is 
  fertile enough to support a range of agricultural products, 
  if adequate water is available.13 
  
  Precipitation divides the state into fairly narrow, 
  generally north/south bands. Rainfall diminishes as one 
  moves toward the west, from an eastern annual average of 58 
  inches to a western annual average of eight inches.14 River 
  basins cross the state in northwest to southeast bands. This 
  network of surface water becomes increasingly important when 
  considering the rainfall patterns. 
  
  Beneath the land are six major aquifers, the Ogallala, the 
  Trinity Sands, the Edwards Limestone-Trinity Sands, the 
  Edwards Limestone of the Balcones, the Carrizo-Wilcox Sands 
  and the Gulf Coastal Sands.15 These aquifers provided a 
  major source of water in the past, but most of the municipal 
  and industrial users now depend on surface water from 
  reservoirs. However, this is not true for San Antonio, 
  Texas' third largest metropolitan area, which depends on the 
  Edwards Aquifer as its primary source of water. Water, or 
  its lack, continues to be a controversial issue in many 
  parts of Texas, particularly as it determines a city's 
  ability to grow and attract industries.
  
  Land formation, climate, elevation, precipitation, water 
  availability and natural resources generally determine what 
  will grow in particular areas, how attractive these areas 
  are and, hence, who will settle there. Physical diversity 
  was an important factor in fostering the cultural diversity 
  of Texas, as settlers coming to Texas sought land that 
  looked familiar to them. 
  
  
  Cultural Regions
  The cultural diversity of the state is drawn from the people 
  who settled here. Inhabitants included everyone from slaves 
  to European princes, Midwestern farmers to Southern 
  plantation owners, notorious outlaws to famous lawmen, and 
  Mexican soldiers to buckskin-clad frontiersmen. The 
  availability of land drew them in, and many of these people 
  settled in areas that looked similar to their country or 
  state of origin.
  
  The varying ethnic traditions of the cultural groups and the 
  relationships between some of these groups also determined 
  in part where they settled, and even if they would be 
  allowed to settle. The regional cultures that resulted from 
  this confluence of people are indicated in the diverse array 
  of regional music and food. 
  
  The regional diversity in music can be seen in the country 
  and western and blues popular in Austin, Houston and 
  Dallas/Fort Worth, to the conjunto popular in San Antonio 
  and along the border, and the beer barrel polkas heard in 
  the German Hill Country. The diversity in music is 
  complemented by the diversity of popular food, which ranges 
  from enchiladas in McAllen to chili cook-offs in Terlingua 
  and San Marcos to sauerkraut in New Braunfels to 
  international cuisine from four star restaurants in Dallas 
  and Houston. The cultural diversity of Texas is highlighted 
  at the Texas Folklife Festival, an annual event sponsored by 
  the Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio.
  
  Texas, it has been said, has a history while "[o]ther 
  American regions merely had records of development."16 The 
  history of Texas has been a violent account of the conqueror 
  and the vanquished. The broad sweep of this chronicle 
  encompasses the Indian tribes, Spanish and Mexican 
  imperialism, the advent of Anglo Americans, the Texas 
  Revolution, the Civil War, the cattle and cotton empires, 
  the discovery of oil, the growth of cities and the emergence 
  of the "Texas Triangle." The Triangle is an economic entity 
  whose vertices are the cities of San Antonio, Dallas/Fort 
  Worth and Houston.
  
  This seemingly endless panorama and the development of so 
  vast an area resulted in the writing of an encyclopedia of 
  the history of Texas. This encyclopedia, called The Handbook 
  of Texas, was the only one that existed for any state at the 
  time of its release in 1952, and is currently being 
  updated.17 
  
  Throughout the historical annals, several threads weave a 
  distinct pattern in the creation of a particularly Texas 
  mindset and perceptions of Texas, which carry regional 
  implications. First, the availability of huge amounts of 
  land coupled with the struggle to obtain it and to maintain 
  possession of it in the face of incredible odds left an 
  indelible mark on the psyche of Texans. Texas was the one of 
  the few frontiers where settlers took on the Indians before 
  any soldiers arrived to intervene. The Indian depredations, 
  when added to the other difficulties of frontier survival, 
  have created the perceived characteristics of a "typical" 
  Texan: rugged independence, self reliance and individualism. 
  Texans also shared the attitude that the land was a Texans' 
  property, to be "expropriated, delineated and rendered 
  hospitable."18 
  
  Second, the years of Texas as an independent republic have 
  also left their mark. During this time, the Republic of 
  Texas warred with a larger, better equipped country and won, 
  and the Republic was recognized as a nation by the U.S., 
  France, the Netherlands and Great Britain, along with a few 
  German states.19 Texas is also the only state that has 
  conducted some of its own foreign policy.20 
  
  These factors helped create a sense of separateness and 
  superiority in the Texas mindset. While these character 
  traits were necessary at one time to overcome the hardship 
  of frontier settlement, they are sometimes at odds with 
  current social and economic policy development. They also 
  make consensus building difficult, not only for the state 
  among states, but among the cities and regions of the state 
  and among the people themselves.
  
  Consensus building is also difficult because Texas is a land 
  of great cultural diversity. Settlers range from the Indians 
  who first inhabited the land, to the Spanish and Mexicans, 
  to Anglos and African Americans, to Germans and other 
  Europeans.
  
  
  Cultural Regions: Native American Tribes
  Indians were the first settlers in Texas. It is believed 
  that their ancestors crossed the Bering Strait around 40,000 
  years ago.21 These immigrants traveled as small bands, some 
  eventually forming tribes. Regionally, they were divided 
  into the Jumano and Lipan Apache tribes along the western 
  Rio Grande, the Wichita Indians of the north central part of 
  the state, the Tonkawas in Central Texas, Coahuiltecans, 
  Karankawas and Attakapans of South Texas and the Gulf Coast 
  areas, the nomadic Plains Indians including the Comanches, 
  Kiowas and Apaches to the west and in the Panhandle, and the 
  Caddos in East Texas.22 (See Map 2.) 
  
  Culturally, the most highly developed Native Americans were 
  the Caddos in the Piney Woods area. Their lands allowed 
  cultivation of corn, beans, yams and vegetables. The Caddos 
  were sedentary, with a developed civilization. So impressed 
  were the Spanish with the Caddo culture that the name for 
  Texas comes from a Caddo word for ally or friend, "Taychas" 
  or "Tejas."23 
  
  In contrast, the land of the High Plains allowed limited 
  development. The Plains Indians were nomadic; the dry land 
  did not allow cultivation or a settled lifestyle. While the 
  Indians were the first settlers in Texas, those native to 
  the area before European colonization were either wiped out 
  by disease brought by the new settlers, assimilated into 
  another Indian society or pushed from the land by the influx 
  of the new settlers. 
  
  There were two reservations established by the state around 
  1855 for the native tribes of Texas, but the federal 
  government closed them in 1859 due to continuing hostilities 
  between the Anglos and Indians.24 A lament by Geronimo, an 
  Apache chief, foreshadowed the eclipse of the Native 
  Americans: "We are vanishing from the earth, yet I cannot 
  think we are useless or Usen (God) would not have created 
  us.... For each tribe of men Usen created, He also made a 
  home. In the land created for any particular tribe He placed 
  whatever would be best for the welfare of that tribe. When 
  (the Apaches) are taken from these homes they sicken and 
  die. How long will it be until it is said there are no 
  Apaches?"25 Today there are no Native American cultures with 
  an unbroken history that were native to Texas before the 
  entrance of the Europeans.
  
  There are reservations in Texas for a few of the Native 
  American tribes that migrated to Texas after the Europeans 
  arrived. Ironically, the Alabama-Coushattas were "pushed" 
  into Texas during the British expansion of the 1760s. They 
  are reported to have harbored Anglos fleeing Santa Anna's 
  army, which is probably the reason that they were allowed to 
  stay in Texas when other tribes were forced to go to the 
  Indian Territories. The Alabama-Coushatta reservation in 
  Polk County currently measures 4,351 acres.26 (See Map 2.)
  
  The Tiguas were forced into Texas after the Pueblo Revolt 
  expelled the Spanish from New Mexico. As they fled, the 
  Spanish were accompanied by the Ysleta Pueblo Indians. The 
  Indians eventually settled and built a new Pueblo called 
  Ysleta del Sur Pueblo near land that became El Paso.27 This 
  is the oldest continuously occupied community in Texas, 
  established in 1681. A reservation was not recognized by the 
  state until 1967 and the Tiguas currently are in litigation 
  for a Spanish land grant and other aboriginal land.28
  
  As an added note of interest, a former Native American tribe 
  which immigrated to Texas from the eastern U.S., was forced 
  from Texas in the 1800s, is one of the recent immigrant 
  groups back into Texas. After the Texas Revolution, the 
  Kickapoo Indian tribe split, with half moving to a 
  reservation in Oklahoma and the other half moving into 
  Mexico. The Mexican government granted them land for keeping 
  the border safe from the Plains Indians. Hard times on the 
  reservation caused by drought forced the Kickapoos to become 
  migrant farm workers in Texas around 1940. During the 1960s 
  they were living under the International Bridge at Eagle 
  Pass. In the 1980s both the state and federal governments 
  recognized the plight of the Kickapoos and deeded them a 
  reservation near Eagle Pass.29 
  
  The three tribes remaining on the reservations in Texas have 
  worked to maintain their cultural heritage in the face of 
  changing times. Today, the Tiguas, Alabama-Coushattas and 
  the Kickapoos strive to maintain family ties, teaching the 
  tribal traditions to successive generations. In the late 
  1980s, the tribes came under the authority of the federal 
  government as the Texas Indian Commission ceased operations.
  
  According to the 1990 Census, the largest number of Native 
  Americans live in metro areas where maintaining their 
  cultural identity is difficult. There are over 65,000 Native 
  Americans in Texas, and over 40,000 live in metro areas-just 
  under 18,000 in the Metroplex, just over 7,000 in Houston 
  and over 2,800 in San Antonio. The poverty level of Native 
  Americans is high and as assistance from the government has 
  fallen, their plight continues.30
  
  
  Cultural Regions: Mexican Americans
  In the beginning of Texas as an entity, the Spaniards 
  settled the area along the San Antonio River. While there 
  were many reasons for the settlement, its success was in 
  large part due to the fact that the land resembled the 
  ranching lands with which the Spanish were familiar.31 
  Although the Spanish made several attempts to maintain 
  settlements in East Texas (Nacogdoches), they were never 
  very successful. This was in part because the forest 
  environment was not amenable to the familiar Spanish 
  ranching lifestyle, and therefore did not attract the 
  typical Spanish settler. Thus a Hispanic cultural region 
  with the area along the San Antonio River as part of its 
  northeastern border was founded in the 1700s. The influence 
  of the Hispanic culture is so strong in the city that it has 
  been persuasively argued San Antonio is the Mexican American 
  cultural capital of the U.S., over other cities such as Los 
  Angeles and Santa Fe, where the influence is diluted.32
  
  After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, it 
  tried to strengthen its hold on Texas by increasing the 
  colonization of the area between San Antonio and East Texas 
  through the continued use of the Spanish empresario land 
  grant system. In the empresario system, a single person was 
  "granted" a large tract of land contingent upon the 
  settlement by a specific minimum number of families.33
  
  The empresario land grant issued to Moses Austin, and 
  fulfilled by his son Stephen, was the first to recruit 
  settlers from the U.S. It marked the beginning of the end of 
  Mexican rule and the beginning of the domination of Texas by 
  Anglo-American immigrants. 
  
  Following the Texas Revolution, an aggressive Anglo 
  population attempted to push the Mexican Texans farther 
  south, closer to the border with Mexico. During the days of 
  the Republic of Texas, there was a continuing state of war 
  with Mexico over the disputed border, although there were 
  few actual hostilities. Texas claimed the Rio Grande as its 
  southern border while Mexico believed that the Nueces River 
  divided them. The war, coupled with the memories of Santa 
  Anna's march through Texas, caused Anglo-Texans to maintain 
  hostile feelings towards Mexican Texans, even though many 
  Mexican Texans fought for an independent Texas. These 
  feelings continued after the annexation of Texas into the 
  United States in 1845.
  
  The Texas border disagreement, now between the U.S. and 
  Mexico, culminated in the Mexican War in 1846. The treaty 
  which ended the war was known as the Treaty of Guadalupe 
  Hidalgo. In the treaty, the Rio Grande was recognized as the 
  southern border of Texas. Although protocols to the treaty, 
  according to Mexico, guaranteed land, water and religious 
  rights and the right of cultural integrity to Mexicans 
  choosing to stay in Texas, the U.S. did not consider these 
  protocols binding.
  
  The continuing cultural clash between Hispanics and Anglos 
  was exacerbated by the unstable political situation in 
  Mexico. During the revolt against Mexican President Madero 
  in 1913, the area of the Texas border became the target for 
  Mexican raiders who looted and killed the resident 
  population. In addition, Anglos in 1915 found a copy of the 
  Plan of San Diego, which spelled out the methods for 
  Mexicans to take over the Southwestern U.S.
  
  The effect of the plan's discovery was to inflame the Anglo 
  population, increasing the prejudice against Mexican 
  Americans. These ethnic conflicts were also aggravated by 
  the influx of Anglos into the primarily Hispanic region of 
  the border in the 1920s. Though many of these Anglos were 
  Midwesterners, they quickly adopted the Anglo-Texan's 
  attitude of superiority over the Hispanics.34 
  
  In spite of the hostilities between the Anglo and Hispanic 
  populations the labor of Hispanics, particularly during 
  harvest time, was necessary to Texas agriculture, and 
  Hispanics needed the jobs.
  
  Many Mexicans originally came to the U.S. for better 
  opportunities including higher wages, and many meant to make 
  the U.S. their home, though others did not intend to 
  permanently settle here or become Americanized. Those who 
  didn't intend to Americanize resembled the early 
  Anglo-American settlers who fulfilled the Mexican empresario 
  land grants. The Anglo Americans came to Texas for land and 
  opportunity and did not intend to Mexicanize.35 Frequently, 
  both the Mexican immigrants who meant to settle and those 
  who did not, bypassed immigration fees and other 
  exclusionary tactics by illegally entering the country. 
  While Anglo-Texans did not want to increase the number of 
  Mexicans in Texas, Anglo growers did desire cheap Mexican 
  labor for the fields. 
  
  Mexicans, along with Asians, were the only two groups of 
  foreign sojourners in the U.S. who were systematically 
  confined to a widely enforced system of sojourner pluralism 
  intended to coerce their labor. Sojourner pluralism includes 
  the restrictions which keeps some immigrants from full 
  membership in the civic culture.36 According to Lawrence 
  Fuchs, immigration expert and political scientist, "the 
  system of sojourner pluralism was distinctive in the 
  Southwest to the extent of government cooperation in 
  amending and administering the immigration law for the 
  benefit of employers without regard to the immigration 
  statutes."37 
  
  The bracero programs were examples of how the system worked. 
  The first bracero program was an outgrowth of the 
  Immigration Act of 1917, the most restrictive in the history 
  of the U.S., requiring that immigrants pass a literacy test 
  and pay an increased head tax.38 The ninth proviso of the 
  act left a loophole for employers in the Southwest, however, 
  which allowed the Commissioner of Immigration to admit 
  otherwise inadmissible aliens into the U.S. provided their 
  stay was temporary. 
  
  Immigration barriers were thus lowered for Mexicans with the 
  requirement that they be employed in agriculture and return 
  to Mexico once their work in the U.S. was completed.39 The 
  proviso was later amended to allow the temporary workers to 
  be employed by railroad and lignite coal mining companies. 
  
  Cited by some as the first bracero or little bracero 
  program, the measures were seen as a means of stopping or at 
  least controlling the flow of legal and illegal immigrants 
  while insuring that the labor needs of the Southwest were 
  addressed.40 Southwestern employers were especially pleased 
  with the system, which offered a large supply of cheap labor 
  that could not organize.41 
  
  During World War II, growers again needed Mexican labor, and 
  a new bracero program was instituted. Although the Mexican 
  government tried to obtain guarantees from the U.S. 
  regarding repatriation and wages, most employers evaded 
  following any agreements between the countries.
  
  Texas did not participate in this or subsequent bracero 
  programs because the state's agricultural interests favored 
  an open border like the one that existed during World War I. 
  The Mexican government also refused to send braceros to the 
  state after June 1943 due to the number of complaints from 
  Mexican consuls regarding discrimination against Mexicans.
  
  Agricultural employers in Texas were able to continue to 
  hire illegal aliens as a source of cheap exploitable labor 
  with the unofficial sanction of the state's authorities. 
  Texas effectively maintained an open border during those 
  times when employers needed additional labor. Julian Samora, 
  author of Los Mojados: The Wetback Story, notes "Texas 
  farmers... probably hired more illegal Mexican aliens than 
  any other state."42
  
  When there was an excess of workers, the Texas Rangers, 
  Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Naturalization 
  Service (INS) deported these Mexicans or braceros. Included 
  with these deportees were many legal U.S. citizens. For 
  example, during the Depression, when there was an excess of 
  American workers, 400,000 Mexicans in the U.S. lost their 
  jobs and were deported without any deportation proceedings. 
  This mass deportation included thousands of U.S. citizens of 
  Mexican descent who were deported illegally.43 In this and 
  other policies toward immigrant Mexican Americans, and in 
  the Mexican American's own sojourner or nonsettler 
  mentality, lie some of the seeds to the current problems on 
  the border, particularly problems with illegal aliens.
  
  Another bracero program began in 1951 in response to the 
  labor needs caused by the Korean War. These braceros carried 
  back to Mexico news of the opportunities in the U.S., 
  causing a new surge of illegal aliens to cross the border. 
  As the number of illegals grew, organized labor began to 
  call for measures to stop the flow because the illegals 
  depressed the wage rate and competed with Americans for 
  jobs. Congress passed a law making it illegal to harbor an 
  undocumented alien, but the Southwest's labor needs were 
  addressed in a special provision of the law. Called the 
  Texas Proviso, the language of the provision made it clear 
  that employing was not harboring. 
  
  Eventually, many Mexican illegal aliens found work outside 
  of agriculture, moving into the cities of the border and 
  eventually farther away from the border. Their children, 
  born in America, were citizens, and most obtained work of 
  higher status than their parents.
  
  Children of illegal aliens and legal immigrants worked to 
  assimilate themselves into the American cultural system and 
  to improve their living conditions.44 Their response to the 
  treatment of Mexican American laborers resulted in the 
  formation of several politically oriented groups, including 
  La Raza Unida, the League of United Latin American Citizens 
  (LULAC) and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education 
  Fund (MALDEF). The political activities of Hispanics give 
  the border an even stronger regional identity. The most 
  recent example of the results of the political awareness of 
  Hispanics can be seen in the MALDEF and LULAC fight for 
  better educational institutions. Their publicized settlement 
  offer would add a large infusion of dollars to the 
  educational budget for programs and institutions along the 
  border. 
  
  Mexican Americans in the past were primarily settled along 
  the Texas/Mexico border and south of the San Antonio River, 
  due in part to the proximity of Mexico, the immigration laws 
  of the U.S. and the agricultural economy of the region, 
  which required Mexican labor. Another reason for the border 
  concentration is that Mexicans migrating to Texas tend to go 
  to areas that already have a concentration of Mexican 
  Americans. This tendency is called the "beaten-path effect." 
  This effect describes the process in which a first wave of 
  migrants settles, and then relatives and other countrymen 
  follow. Generally, the first wave migrants provide a support 
  network of temporary lodging and employment and housing 
  information.45
  
  As long as the economy of the U.S. remains more productive 
  and substantially wealthier than Mexico, large numbers of 
  both legal and illegal immigrants from Mexico might be 
  expected. But political stability, the improving Mexican 
  economy and the economic expansion possible with the passage 
  of the North American Free Trade Agreement could lessen the 
  amount of immigration from Mexico.
  
  Current population patterns indicate that those counties 
  with a high proportion of Hispanics have increased to 
  include counties farther north and east of the line of 
  border counties. While the San Antonio River still more or 
  less defines part of the Mexican American cultural border, 
  Hispanics have stretched and expanded their presence 
  throughout Texas.
  
  During 1880, most Hispanics were located in South Texas, 
  generally South of San Antonio. In 1930, counties with a 
  population over 50 percent Hispanic constituted a narrow 
  band along the border extending all the way to far West 
  Texas. Those counties where the population was 25-50 percent 
  Hispanic were concentrated in South and West Texas. A few 
  other counties with this proportion of Hispanics were just 
  northeast of San Antonio.46 There were no counties where the 
  population was 25 percent or greater in the Panhandle, 
  North, North Central or East Texas.
  
  The 1990 Census shows that the counties that are 25-50 
  percent Hispanic have extended north to Moore County in the 
  Panhandle and east to include McCulloch County. (See Map 3.) 
  The number of counties where the population is over 50 
  percent Hispanic has also increased, widening the band of 
  border counties. As Hispanics are one of the fastest growing 
  ethnicities, their presence in Texas counties farther 
  removed from the border is to be expected.
  
  The dominance of Mexican Americans in this broad belt 
  paralleling the Texas/Mexico border allows some general 
  characterizations of the region. The area is predominantly 
  Catholic and younger, according to the 1980 Census. In the 
  Hispanic border area, the median age, according to the 1980 
  Census, was less than 26 years for all but a few counties, 
  while the state median was 28 years. One reason cited is the 
  arrival of Mexican families with several children.47
  
  The border, particularly the lower Rio Grande Valley, is one 
  of the poorest, most undereducated areas within the state. 
  The median family income in Cameron County in 1960 was 56.8 
  percent of the national median income. In 1980, it was still 
  only 59.6 percent of the national median. The poverty 
  prevalent in the Valley is not equally shared by the 
  Hispanic and Anglo community. While Hispanics outnumber 
  Anglos five-to-one, they are six and one-half times as 
  likely to be poor.48 The 1990 Census data shows that the 
  counties in South and West Texas, with few exceptions, have 
  a lower per capita income than the state's per capita income 
  of $12,904. 
  
  The border area is described by Dr. Terry Jordan, author of 
  Texas, A Geography, as largely Hispanic, relatively low in 
  skills and dominated by low-paying jobs. The Texas Literacy 
  Council reports that many counties in South Texas have a 
  higher percentage of those 25 years and older who have not 
  completed high school.49
  
  
  Cultural Regions: Anglo Americans
  Anglo Americans found upon their arrival in Texas a vast 
  undeveloped land teeming with game. That the land was 
  inhabited made no difference; the Anglo attitude toward 
  native inhabitants had already been well established. To 
  quote one settler: 
  
  I cannot justify our taking the Indians' country from them 
  by force or fraud. But our ancestors adopted this policy 
  toward them through the pretended 'right of discovery,' we 
  inherited it, and we could not well avoid it. In their wars 
  against us, as well as in their intertribal wars, the Indian 
  policy was to kill all the old people and all men able to 
  bear arms, and to subject all the women and children to a 
  captivity worse than death. And we, being born and brought 
  up in their country, must fight and exterminate them to 
  secure our own existence.50 
  
  The fighting between the settlers and Indians along the 
  frontier of Texas, especially the state's western frontier, 
  was particularly violent and the violence. It lasted for 40 
  years, and during that time frontier defense was the most 
  crucial problem in Texas.51 It was a conflict the better 
  armed, better organized Anglo-Americans were destined to 
  win.
  
  The Anglo-Texan's felt their manifest destiny was to conquer 
  the land. As more and more of the native Indian tribes were 
  either driven off the land, decimated by diseases or 
  relegated to small reservations, a seemingly endless supply 
  of Anglo-American settlers came to occupy the land. 
  
  The northeastern area of Texas was settled mainly by Anglo 
  Americans from Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Illinois.52 
  This cultural area was known as the Upper South, a 
  subculture of the Middle Atlantic culture of the U.S. A 
  variety of ethnic groups, including German, English and 
  Scots-Irish, mingled to produce the Upper South culture.53 
  This diversity of European cultural heritages gave rise to 
  various ideas and practices that included log cabins, 
  covered wagons, the long rifle and family subsistence 
  farming. The settlers from the Upper South culture were 
  characterized as backwoodsmen or "slaveless yeomen who grew 
  little cotton or other subtropical cash crops. Grains, 
  especially corn and wheat, formed the backbone of the rural 
  economy."54
  
  Settlement by members of the Upper South culture began in 
  North and East Texas and moved steadily southward. These 
  settlers were "pushed" westward into the interior of Texas 
  by the influx of settlers from the Deep South into East 
  Texas. Eventually, this group of North and Central Texans of 
  Upper South ancestry moved into West Texas.55 
  
  East Texas, particularly Southeast Texas, was one of the 
  first areas to be settled, mostly from the states closest to 
  it, the states of the Deep or Lower South, including Alabama 
  and the other Gulf Coast states. But early settlement was 
  sparse due in part to Mexico's antislavery policy. 
  
  After the Texas Revolution, the Republic of Texas sanctioned 
  slavery, and immigration into East Texas increased. Settlers 
  of East Texas still came from the same areas of the Deep 
  South, but this time included many slave owners. Again, the 
  land influenced these settlers from the Lower South. As the 
  type of land was familiar and cotton plantations were 
  possible, these settlers found no reason to continue farther 
  into the state. The area began to resemble the economy of 
  their states of origin, exhibiting a mixture of poverty and 
  prosperity. Cotton, corn, cattle and hogs raised in rural 
  areas were the rule. The East Texas of the Deep South 
  culture is still where the Old South ends, and the western 
  border of the area marks where the West begins.56 
  
  In East Texas, cotton farming tapered off in the early 20th 
  century. Cotton prices were down, and the boll weevil and 
  root rot were a major problem in the area. East Texas 
  farmers began replanting their acres with pine plantations 
  and pastures in the 1930s.
  
  In the Piney Woods region of East Texas, the forests 
  attracted lumber companies, and the timber from East Texas 
  supported one of the first commercial industries in the 
  state. Lumberjacks used the Neches and Sabine rivers to 
  float the trees to the saw mills in Beaumont and Orange. The 
  peak year of lumber production was 1907. The forests were 
  devastated by 1920, particularly after a method of producing 
  sulfate paper pulp from yellow pine was discovered in 
  1911.57
  
  The forests that exist in East Texas today are the product 
  of the combined replanting efforts of the public and private 
  sectors. The State of Texas began purchasing land in 1920 to 
  serve as state forests. The Texas Forest Service was created 
  to assist in preserving the forests and to insure the 
  continued availability of lumber for Texans. 
  
  In the 1930s the Texas Legislature invited the federal 
  government to establish national forests in the state. Land 
  was purchased by the federal government beginning in 1934, 
  and pine forests were replanted in what became the four 
  national forests of Southeast Texas.58 
  
  Since then, the forest land has recovered somewhat from the 
  massive cutting that occurred in the first decades of this 
  century, and in the 1970s more pine trees were planted than 
  were cut. Since 1986, though, more timber has been harvested 
  than has been planted. Since about 60 percent of the 
  forested land in East Texas is in the hands of small private 
  landowners, the Texas Forest Service has worked to provide 
  methods for these landowners to replant their acres.59 
  
  By the beginning of the Civil War, the population of Anglos 
  in Texas was about evenly divided between settlers from the 
  Upper and Deep South. This pattern continued into the 20th 
  century, as pioneers from both the Upper and Deep South 
  cultures continued to migrate to Texas. These groups also 
  roughly maintained their previous settlement patterns, with 
  those from the Upper South settling north and west of the 
  San Antonio-Texarkana line, and those from the Lower South 
  settling below it.60
  
  Anglo Americans dominated these areas of North and East 
  Texas and moved south and west. Joining the pioneers of the 
  Upper and Lower South were Anglo Americans from the Lower 
  Midwest. These pioneers generally settled in the far north 
  Panhandle area of Texas. 
  
  Ranchers and buffalo hunters began settling in West Texas in 
  the 1870s. Most holdings of the cattlemen during this time 
  were small and located along waterways. Unlike other areas 
  in Texas, most of the early settlers were native Texans.61 
  They generally came from East or South Texas rather, than 
  another state or country. These ranchers participated in the 
  cattle drives of the era from about 1865 to 1885. 
  
  Western Texas changed as the cattle drives were impeded by 
  farmers and cattlemen in Kansas and other western states, 
  and the introduction of barbed wire.62 The weakening of 
  cattle prices in 1884 and the market crash of 1885, 
  exacerbated by a blizzard, caused many to leave the 
  industry. At this time, some ranchers began selling their 
  acreage to farmers, a trend that increased because land 
  prices had escalated to the point where it was more 
  advantageous to sell than to ranch.63 
  
  The sod busters who arrived to inhabit West Texas and the 
  Panhandle found growing crops an extremely variable 
  occupation as rain could not be counted on. Life on the 
  treeless plains was difficult in that farmers usually had to 
  haul both water and wood to their homes. The arrival of 
  mechanized pumps to provide water for irrigation, heavy 
  machinery and new crops assisted farmers in turning the High 
  Plains into the agricultural giant that it is today, with 
  cotton and wheat fields along with feedlot cattle.64
  
  The High Plains area remains a strong enclave of Anglo 
  Americans despite the relatively recent influx of Hispanics 
  into several counties. Anglos are still in the majority 
  ethnically in Texas, but are becoming proportionally 
  smaller. 
  
  In 1980, almost all Texas counties, except those in the 
  southern and western tips, were populated by a majority of 
  Anglo Americans. By 1990, one county in the Panhandle was 
  populated by only 25-50 percent Anglos, and several other 
  counties in the vicinity of the Texas-Mexico border had 
  decreased their percentage of Anglo-Americans. (See Map 4.)
  
  The immigration of Hispanics, both legal and illegal, and 
  other minority groups, combined with the higher birth rates 
  of most minority groups, translate into a probable decrease 
  in the proportion of Anglo Americans in Texas. This follows 
  a national expectation that in the not too distant future, 
  the "average" U.S. resident, as defined by Census 
  statistics, will trace his or her descent to Africa, Asia, 
  the Hispanic world, the Pacific Islands, Arabia-almost 
  anywhere but white Europe."65
  
  
  Cultural Regions: African Americans
  Although some free blacks were present during Spanish rule, 
  coexisting with white settlers, most blacks entered Texas as 
  slaves. By 1834, approximately 4,000 black 'indentured 
  servants' lived in Texas and in 1860, slaves comprised about 
  a third of the Texas population.66 Slave holders settled 
  along the eastern third of the state, east and south of a 
  line drawn from Texarkana to San Antonio. After 
  Emancipation, most former slaves remained in the same East 
  Texas areas and some worked for their former masters as 
  sharecroppers. Sharecropping is seen as "a Reconstruction 
  development that merged available land with labor in a 
  war-ravaged society short of capital."67
  
  In sharecropping, the tenant supplied the labor and little 
  else. The landowner supplied the land, most of the farming 
  necessities and usually extended credit for the purchase of 
  food.68 In return, the landlord received one-half the crop 
  rather than cash as the rent. Integral to the system of 
  sharecropping was the right of the landlord to dictate the 
  crops that a sharecropper would grow. 
  
  Sharecroppers forced to grow cotton were increasingly hurt 
  as cotton prices dropped in the late 1800s. The poor 
  economic conditions on the farms in East Texas caused a 
  number of African Americans to emigrate to the cities and 
  out of Texas. In the 20th century, economic conditions would 
  again stimulate an exodus both from rural areas to urban 
  areas and out of the state.
  
  Some blacks migrating to the cities were at first unable to 
  find work and eventually returned to farming, even though 
  rural blacks lived in incredible poverty. Those blacks who 
  remained in the cities found themselves segregated even 
  after a 1917 Supreme Court decision that frustrated, to an 
  extent, the legal segregation sought by Anglos. The 
  decision, while limiting segregation of residential areas 
  within cities, did not stop segregation, which was allowed 
  by local law and common practice. Segregation in the towns 
  was also accomplished through economic means. 
  
  Blacks had wanted separation for a time also in order to 
  feel free. According to James Smallwood, author of Time of 
  Hope, Time of Despair: Black Texans During Reconstruction, 
  the reasons for segregation were "because Blacks wanted to 
  be free of Anglos, because economics forced Negroes to seek 
  the cheapest housing, and because whites now wanted more 
  physical distance between the races."69 But continued 
  institutionalized segregation as characterized by the Jim 
  Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan was a hardship. 
  
  Life was hard for urban African Americans, but their lot was 
  better than for those in rural areas. In the cities, they 
  had greater access to a higher level of education, economic 
  security and later, to civil rights, than those living in 
  rural regions.70 
  
  Although the number of black immigrants to Texas outnumbered 
  black migrants from Texas in the late 1800s, the reverse was 
  true after 1900. While both Oklahoma and Louisiana received 
  many black migrants, 17,000 moved to the North by 1920.71 
  The out-migration of blacks was due in part to the lack of 
  economic opportunity in rural Texas, especially as cotton 
  prices dropped.
  
  Many African Americans also migrated from rural areas to the 
  closest large city as rural opportunities dwindled in the 
  early decades of the 20th century. "Most black farmers 
  remained tenants and fell further behind white farmers in 
  economic status. Even the agricultural program of the New 
  Deal, which stabilized farm prices in the depression of the 
  1930s, offered little aid to black sharecroppers, who found 
  themselves left out as landowners removed land from 
  production."72 African Americans were additionally hurt by 
  the introduction of new technology, especially farm 
  equipment which reduced the amount of labor necessary.
  
  Another migration to the cities occurred between 1940 and 
  1970.73 The attraction of the cities included the diversity 
  of jobs and higher wages. As they migrated to the closest 
  big city, blacks settled largely in Houston and Dallas.
  
  It was not until the decades after the Second World War that 
  considerable change occurred in the status of black Texans. 
  Supreme Court decisions, the Civil Rights movement, 
  executive orders, acts of Congress and a variety of 
  individual actions have all gone toward a "Second 
  Reconstruction," liberating blacks.74 Houston was the site 
  of the first Texas chapter of the National Association for 
  the Advancement of Colored People.75
  
  By the mid-1960s, many dissatisfied blacks had already left 
  Texas for opportunities in the cities of the North. Those 
  blacks who remained had a vested interest in the development 
  of Texas. 
  
  The number of African Americans as a percent of the 
  population has continued to diminish, from about 31 percent 
  in 1860 to 20 percent in 1900, to 11.9 percent in 1980 and 
  11.6 percent in 1990.76 Although the number of African 
  Americans living in Texas increased by over 300,000 from 
  1970 to 1980 and by over 300,000 from 1980 to 1990, their 
  percentage of the population has decreased.
  
  In 1930, there were three counties where blacks numbered 50 
  percent or more of the population. Blacks constituted 25-50 
  percent of county populations for most of the counties east 
  of a line drawn from Texarkana to San Antonio. By 1980, 
  there were no counties where blacks numbered 50 percent or 
  more of the population. By 1990, the number of counties with 
  a population from 25-50 percent black decreased to eight. 
  (See Map 5.)
  
  
  Cultural Regions: Europeans
  Germans settled several colonies in Texas, particularly in 
  the Central Texas Hill Country during the time of the 
  colonization programs in the 1800s. During 1844-1847, the 
  Adelsverein, a society of German noblemen, sent 7,400 
  immigrants to Texas under the leadership of Prince Carl 
  Solms-Braunfels and John O. Meusebach.77 The city of New 
  Braunfels, at first just a way station for the immigrants, 
  was so attractive that many settled there rather than on the 
  main land grant. Further settlement occurred in the cities 
  of Fredericksburg and Llano. 
  
  German colonization was typified by organized settlements 
  with well laid out streets, and fachwerk, which is a 
  construction technique where a wooden framework is filled in 
  with stone or brick. The cultural ethos of the Germans which 
  includes hard work and careful husbandry allowed them to 
  meet and overcome the adversity and challenge of settlement. 
  In describing the German settlers, David McComb, author of 
  Texas: A Modern History states, "[i]n the nineteenth century 
  the German farmers seemed to fare better than their Anglo 
  American counterparts. A higher percentage owned their land, 
  they reported higher incomes and production, and they spent 
  more money on fences and equipment."78
  
  Germans' agricultural practices did not employ slaves. They 
  practiced farming techniques that worked the land 
  intensively, devoting care to crops and livestock. German 
  farms were diversified in that they included fields, 
  pastures, gardens, orchards and vineyards.79
  
  There remains a distinctive German cultural region in Texas 
  centered around the towns of Fredericksburg and New 
  Braunfels. The cultural geographer D. W. Meinig, author of 
  Imperial Texas, believes that it has remained a distinctive 
  region of German culture due not only to perseverance of the 
  early German colonists and their emphasis on cultural 
  heritage, but also because there has been no oil or other 
  massive infusion of wealth to attract other people into the 
  area. The area where many Germans settled is still called 
  the German Hill Country. The area is German Methodist, 
  Lutheran and Roman Catholic in terms of religion, and 
  conservative in terms of politics.80
  
  The Germans were followed by the French, including 2,100 
  settlers following Henri Castro from Alsace.81 They settled 
  near San Antonio, in the city of Castroville. Other Western 
  European settlers included a large influx of Slavs, among 
  them were Czechs, Sorbs and Poles. According to Dr. Jordan, 
  Texas has more rural Czechs than any state in the union.82 
  The Czechs settled amongst the Germans but also outside of 
  the actual German colonies, generally in those counties east 
  of the main German settlements. There is still a recognized 
  Czech cultural element in this part of Texas, in part a 
  result of the craftsmanship of Czech stonecutters, seen in 
  many buildings and churches in this area. The persistence of 
  the Czech influence may be due to the "beaten-path-effect" 
  and an emphasis on cultural heritage, or due to the fact 
  that there was no oil or mineral wealth to draw other 
  settlers. This element was true for the Germans also.83
  
  Starting with relatively few immigrants, about 700 around 
  the time of the Civil War, "[b]y 1900, the number of 
  foreign-born Czechs in the state had climbed to 9,204 and by 
  1910, to 15,074. After this time, however, decreased 
  immigration caused the number to level off to 7,700 by 
  1940."84
  
  This mingling of Europeans with Anglo Americans and Mexican 
  Americans caused Central Texas to serve as a confluence of 
  cultures, containing distinctive ethnic diversity. 
  
  The patterns of settlement of the various ethnic and racial 
  groups divided early Texas into several cultural regions 
  which are still evident today. North, Northeast and West 
  Texas were where Anglo Americans of the Upper South and 
  Midwest cultures were predominant. East Texas was where most 
  blacks and Anglo Americans of the Deep South culture were 
  located. Central Texas is where a diversity of races and 
  ethnicities settled, and South Texas and the border are 
  where Mexican Americans were dominant. 
  
  
  Cultural Regions: Religion
  Religion divides the state into two major regions, 
  separating Texas into distinct parts along an east-west 
  boundary line drawn roughly from Houston to the corner of 
  the Panhandle and West Texas. The line bulges northward near 
  the city of Austin. According to Dr. Jordan, religion in 
  Texas "has a pronounced internal regionality."85 In the 
  north are those following a fundamentalist Protestant-based 
  religion. In the south are those following Catholicism, 
  Lutheranism and a wide representation of other religions. 
  The patterns of religious domination show the patterns of 
  cultural settlement. North and East Texas reflect the 
  Baptists and Protestants of the Midwest, Upper and Deep 
  South. Central and South Texas reflect settlement dominated 
  by Hispanics and Germans and a mixture of other cultures.
  
  The differences in these two major divisions are seen in 
  voting patterns, architecture, beverage preferences and 
  burial practices.86 Perhaps the most vivid indication of 
  these differences still existing today are the "dry" 
  counties located in north Texas, which ban the sale of 
  alcoholic beverages. Almost all of North Texas, East Texas 
  and the Panhandle are totally dry or partially dry according 
  to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The "wet" 
  counties to the south of these areas probably reflect the 
  domination of Hispanic and German settlement. The cultures 
  of these two settlement groups include beer drinking as a 
  social custom and wine as a religious sacrament.
  
  One interesting development in the "Bible Belt" is the 
  splintering of the evangelical Protestant church after 
  Emancipation. Due in part to segregation, blacks formed 
  separate churches, because the Baptist church of the Anglos 
  had preached that blacks should accept slavery as their 
  ordained way of life and to hope for better in the 
  afterlife. 
  
  
  Economic Regions
  Independence, individuality and self-reliance are 
  watch-words for Texas. The power these words have over 
  Texans is a holdover from frontier times and the romanticism 
  of the days of the Republic of Texas. The perceptions these 
  qualities invoke are the basis for a rural mystique, for the 
  myths of Texas as a frontier outpost dotted with cattle 
  ranches and later with oil derricks that still inspire our 
  imagination and seem, in part, to control our destiny. This 
  is particularly true as this destiny pertains to our 
  economy.
  
  Economically, Texas has historically been driven by the 
  availability of land and the "three Cs" of cattle, cotton 
  and crude. These resources are dependent on physical factors 
  or nature's bounty, and spawned primary or extractive 
  industries. The availability of cheap land attracted 
  settlers and the "three Cs" held out the promise of 
  prosperity if not wealth. 
  
  From the introduction of man to the Texas Prairie until well 
  into the 20th century, the population of Texas was involved 
  with agriculture in the form of hunting and gathering or 
  cultivation. Char Miller and David R. Johnson, authors of 
  Urban Texas, relate that, "the history of Texas has largely 
  been written in rural terms. The opening of the frontier, 
  the image of the cowboy, the tales of land conquered and 
  tamed into productivity for farming and ranching, and the 
  boom of oil all dominate our image of the state's past and 
  evolution."87 Rural Texas is the myth that has grown around 
  and in some ways still dominates Texas.
  
  
  Economic Regions: Land
  First and foremost in the history of Texas is the land, the 
  wide open spaces. The availability of land, particularly 
  cheap land, attracted settlers. "It is hard for us to 
  realize how the very size of Texas sparked the imaginations 
  of those crushing each other in the crowded countries and 
  little states of the world. They poured in, intoxicated with 
  the vision of all that space and heady with the idea of 
  getting all of it they could."88
  
  Coupled with the desire to get all of it they could was the 
  desire to settle in places that looked like home. Stephen F. 
  Austin recruited settlers from Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, 
  Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri for his land grant in the 
  Southern part of East Texas, and according to Meinig, "it 
  was good country for the kinds of colonists Austin sought: 
  broad bottomlands and gentle interfluves, a fine mixture of 
  prairie and woodland, richly grassed and well-watered, a 
  country to delight the eyes of any used to appraising the 
  humid woodlands of eastern America."89 German colonists 
  settled in Central Texas where the country resembled 
  "regions in Southern Germany where fruit trees grow in the 
  midst of ripening grain."90 Land helped divide Texas into 
  regions by determining who settled where. 
  
  As previously mentioned, the only successful Spanish 
  settlements were in the South Texas areas that resembled 
  familiar Spanish ranch lands. Ranching remained a favored 
  way of life as others immigrated to South Texas in the 
  1800s. One man in particular, Richard King, began to acquire 
  large tracts of land that eventually grew into the King 
  Ranch empire, 11 million acres on five continents with 
  825,000 acres in Texas.91
  
  Many ranching practices of the King Ranch spread to other 
  parts of Texas. The King Ranch was one of the first to fence 
  the land, to develop and use dipping vats and prods for 
  cattle and the first to develop an American breed of beef 
  cattle, the Santa Gertrudis. The King Ranch is still owned 
  and operated by descendants of Richard King.92
  
  Another indication of the amount of land available in Texas 
  is the deal that spawned the famous XIT Ranch. In 1879, the 
  Texas Legislature made a deal with the Capitol Syndicate to 
  trade over 3 million acres of public land in the High Plains 
  for a new capitol. The land became the famous XIT Ranch, 
  which was so large it extended over nine counties in the 
  High Plains.93
  
  Settlers from the Deep South area of the U.S. tended to stay 
  in East Texas, a region familiar to them as an extension of 
  the Atlantic Coastal Plain. 
  
  The settlement of cultural groups in turn determined to an 
  extent how the land was developed. If, for example, settlers 
  from the Upper South rather than the Deep South had migrated 
  to East Texas, it is possible that cotton would not have 
  been the early dominant crop, because those of the Upper 
  South culture did not follow the plantation system. If the 
  Spanish and Mexican governments had not been dominant in 
  South Texas, granting large amounts of land to single 
  families, the huge ranches of South and Southwest Texas 
  might not exist.
  
  The settlers changed the face of the land in the means that 
  they chose to tame it. In East and Central Texas, both 
  citizens and industries used a variety of means to change 
  the face of the land. Before the advent of Anglo settlement, 
  there were vast prairies and forests in the eastern third of 
  Texas. These two factors attracted both farmers and loggers.
  
  The settlers in East and Central Texas rapidly set out to 
  change and control the prairies, and through various means 
  including the ax, fire and domestic animals "[t]housands of 
  settlers embarked on one of the most intense slash-and-burn 
  campaigns ever seen."94 The ax was used to clear-cut areas 
  in the forest for settlements and acquire lumber for housing 
  and fence posts. 
  
  Fire was used to clear the prairies of brush. Its use was so 
  extensive that in 1845 the Texas Legislature made burning 
  the prairie illegal from July 1 to February 15 on any but a 
  settler's own land.95 This law had little effect. Various 
  eyewitness accounts indicate the smoke was so thick for 
  several days during one prairie fire that it obscured the 
  sun and "the implication is that the face of the country was 
  being changed by the extensive fires in a way new since the 
  coming of the Anglo-Americans."96
  
  The availability of extensive amounts of cheap land also led 
  to enormous waste. Many farmers cultivated the soil until it 
  was exhausted and then moved on. Cultivation eliminated the 
  native vegetation by destroying not only the seed source but 
  also the nutrient cycle.97 
  
  The domestic animals of the settlers also had a detrimental 
  effect. Cattle left by the Spanish and pigs left by the 
  French multiplied on the open prairie. Settlers brought with 
  them their own domestic animals which were also allowed to 
  roam freely on the land. This practice culminated in the 
  elimination of the prairie grasses in some areas. For 
  example, around San Antonio in 1823 the grass of the 
  surrounding prairie reached three feet in height; 30 years 
  later these same prairies were devoid of grass.98 Habitat 
  destruction caused by an increasing human population and 
  changing land usage patterns caused the black bears and 
  jaguars to disappear from East Texas.
  
  In the early 1900s, East Texas was exploited by the entrance 
  of large lumber concerns. These lumber companies first 
  exploited the forests to an alarming extent, only beginning 
  to use conservation methods when it became apparent that 
  their own interests were at stake.99 Clear-cutting of areas 
  of East Texas is still a concern today, centering on the 
  cutting of old growth timber and its impact on the wildlife, 
  and on the proper management tools that should be available 
  to combat the forest's insect pests.
  
  Sharecroppers and tenant farmers in East Texas were forced 
  off the land due partially to declining cotton prices and 
  the poverty caused by the Great Depression. Many former 
  farms were turned into pastures or pine plantations in the 
  20th century. The mechanization of the farm also allowed 
  more acres to be productively plowed with fewer men. From 
  1930 to 1957, the size of Texas farms increased and the 
  number of tenant farms decreased.100 Sharecroppers and farm 
  laborers left for opportunities in the city, which increased 
  with the beginning of World War II. In the years following 
  1950, sharecroppers and their way of life were all but 
  extinct.101
  
  In West Texas, the first Anglo inhabitants were the buffalo 
  hunters, who eliminated the herds from Texas in the 1880s. 
  They had more than strictly economic motives. The buffalo 
  served as the food pantry for the Plains Indians who raided 
  the settlements. With the elimination of the "Indian 
  commissary," Quanah Parker and the Comanches retired to the 
  reservation in Oklahoma in 1875. The last Indian raid by the 
  Apaches occurred in 1881 and the Plains were then open to 
  cattlemen.
  
  Cattlemen at first merely collected the free range cattle 
  and took them to market in a trail drive. They then 
  purchased or leased land on which to keep the cattle. As 
  other settlers, farmers or herders of other types of 
  livestock arrived, cattlemen began trying to acquire larger 
  tracts of land. This was possible because control of public 
  lands remained with Texas rather than the national 
  government. Most of the public land was in West Texas, and 
  Texas had liberal land purchase and lease laws which helped 
  the cattlemen. 
  
  The laws regarding land purchase were meant to bring in 
  settlers for small farms, but instead, they made it easy for 
  cattlemen to acquire large ranches. In justice to the 
  cattlemen, the dry nature of many parts of West Texas and 
  the Panhandle made controlling a large tract of land 
  necessary; in some areas of West Texas a score of acres are 
  needed to support just one cow and calf. 
  
  With the advent of fencing, overgrazing of the land became a 
  problem as stock became concentrated on the enclosed 
  land.102 Part of the problem with fencing stems from the 
  notion of range rights and the nature of absentee ownership. 
  Cattlemen frequently claimed range rights, or the right to 
  graze cattle, on land to which they had no title. The idea 
  that the grass was "free" in addition to the idea that it 
  would be impossible to overstock the range caused the 
  cattlemen to exceed the carrying capacity of the land. With 
  the introduction of barbed wire fences, many cattlemen 
  fenced in large tracts of land, some that they owned and 
  some that they claimed as a range right but to which they 
  had no title. Since the ranchers frequently did not own all 
  the land and felt that there was always more available, they 
  had no reason to protect or conserve the grassland. 
  
  In statements that are reflective of current ecological 
  concerns, one authority describes the change in West Texas: 
  "in twenty-one short years,... the range changed from a 
  virgin grassland to a manmade desert. In 1873 the buffalo 
  hunters arrived. By 1894 domestic cattle were dying by the 
  thousands on overgrazed ranges."103 
  
  In addition, the profitable nature of ranching brought 
  investment in cattle companies from as far away as Europe. 
  Absentee owners, who had no understanding of the land and 
  its characteristics, particularly of its cyclical droughts, 
  demanded an increase in the number of cattle so that they 
  could increase their profits. These demands would have 
  disastrous results.
  
  An example of the behavior that was in part responsible for 
  the overgrazing of Texas' grassland is found in the actions 
  of the Texas cattlemen. The high price brought by Texas beef 
  caused speculation to spread, attracting men who thought 
  they could make their fortune in Texas by rushing to get a 
  'range right,' and herds of cows to make them rich. They 
  bought every cow they could in an effort to get rich quick 
  and severely overstocked the ranges. 
  
  In the periods of severe winters and droughts that occurred 
  in the 1880s, rather than sell cattle for a low price, some 
  ranchers left them to forage through the winter, which led 
  to overgrazing. When a representative from the Department of 
  Agriculture discussed the problem with Texas producers, the 
  Texas ranchers passed a resolution. The resolution stated: 
  "That none of us know or care to know, anything about 
  grasses, native or otherwise, outside of the fact that for 
  the present there are lots of them, the best on record, and 
  we are after getting the most out of them while they 
  last."104 
  
  The introduction of barbed wire fences may have had an 
  adverse impact by allowing the poor land management 
  practices that led to the cattle "die-ups," but fencing also 
  had proved to be a major benefit in improving the cattle 
  herds and protecting crop land.
  
  Another 32 million acres of public domain land were used to 
  subsidize the railroads. The deal that Texas struck with the 
  railroads offered alternate sections of land to the railroad 
  for every mile of track laid. The remaining alternate 
  sections were reserved for the public school fund.105 Thus, 
  both Texas and the railroad companies had a vested interest 
  in attracting settlers to purchase these lands. 
  
  Land values rose as the population of the state rose, 
  railroads crossed the state and commercial agriculture 
  increased.106 When the value of the land rose, and "after 
  1900 many ranchers began to sell off large tracts for 
  developments other than cattle-raising."107 This was the 
  fate of the XIT. In 1901, the syndicate began selling pieces 
  of the ranch to farmers.108
  
  Both the land speculation companies and the railroads waged 
  an aggressive campaign to attract farmers to the arid 
  Panhandle and West Texas. Many farmers came but found 
  farming on the High Plains and in West Texas difficult due 
  to lack of water.
  
  In the 1930s, weather, geography, political history and 
  economics combined to deal family farms a double blow: the 
  Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. 
  
  In West Texas, the mid-1930s greatly increased the amount of 
  irrigated land in Texas. The development of mechanized water 
  pumps, heavy machinery and irrigation allowed the 
  cultivation of cotton on the High Plains, where it is still 
  the dominant crop.
  
  The land divided Texas into regions, not only by its 
  physical nature, but also by cultures. First, the physical 
  aspect of the land dictated where particular cultural groups 
  desired to settle, thus creating cultural enclaves. Second, 
  desire for the land and to protect the land from 
  encroachment either by an indigenous people, a foreign 
  entity or even people from the same cultural group but a 
  different background (such as farmers vs. cattlemen), 
  created cultural regions by "pushing" groups out or away. At 
  the end of the frontier era, urban areas experienced 
  exceptional growth. Cities have left their own indelible 
  mark on the land, by how and where they developed.
  
  
  Economic Regions: Cities
  The road from rural to urban Texas encompasses the 
  development of cities from frontier outposts to modern trade 
  centers. Today, Texas is an urban state and has been 
  classified as such since the 1950 Census.
  
  As the frontier moved west, towns developed as the trade 
  centers. Development of cities requires a symbiosis between 
  the towns and the rural areas. Without a town or a very good 
  transportation system, a rural area cannot develop much past 
  subsistence level. Without a rural hinterland to provide 
  labor and raw materials, there is no need for a trade center 
  and therefore no need for a town.
  
  The actual rise of cities is inextricably tied to the need 
  for trade. Cities are formed to do those tasks necessary in 
  central places, which begin as the service centers for the 
  farming areas or hinterland around them. Typically included 
  in a list of these services are grocery and food provision, 
  laundering, sale of clothing and hardware and offices for 
  doctors and dentists.109
  
  The reason for locating these functions in one place is the 
  advantage gained by "agglomeration economies." This economic 
  term refers to the benefits or cost reductions gained when a 
  firm locates near its suppliers and markets or when firms 
  locate close to other firms in the same industry, or from 
  firms sharing other things necessary to conducting business 
  such as public infrastructure.110 French historian Fernand 
  Braudel showed that "the profit motive and the quest for 
  capital accumulation drove the economic machine that was the 
  city, and as success followed upon success the city grew and 
  prospered."111
  
  The towns that developed as these trade centers were 
  typically near water, not only for drinking but also for 
  transportation. Although some of these waterways in Texas 
  were barely navigable, being slow moving and shallow, such 
  was the state of trails that they were preferred where 
  usable. Rural areas needed these routes and trade centers 
  for their products, especially cotton.
  
  As a result of the need to be near water, San Antonio is 
  located on the banks of the San Antonio River, Dallas is 
  located along the Trinity River and Galveston and Houston 
  are located at Gulf ports. 
  
  Urbanization, along with industrialization in Texas, was 
  impeded by the Civil War, the hostile frontier and 
  development problems in arid West Texas.112 By the dawn of 
  the 20th century, Texas was at least half a century 
  out-of-date when compared with the national mainstream.113 
  Maintaining the values and mores of the 19th century, Texans 
  were forced by the combination of the aforementioned 
  economics, weather, geography and political history from 
  their farms into cities.
  
  Infrastructure development in the form of the railroad 
  arrived to assist in urbanization. Eventually, as railroad 
  companies were capitalized, Texas became home to the most 
  railroad mileage in the country. Railroads were followed by 
  the advent of automobiles and the highway arteries that were 
  developed to carry them, and cities experienced a huge 
  increase in population. 
  
  The regional geographic location of a city has a profound 
  effect on its pattern of growth. This is particularly true 
  in Texas as cities are economic entities, natural resources 
  are distributed differently from region to region, and 
  natural resources have driven the Texas economy. The 
  distance between the cities also had an effect in that until 
  the introduction of railroads, cities developed, for the 
  most part, independently. 
  
  The size of Texas allowed the development of independent 
  regional urban centers. Three of these, Dallas, Houston and 
  San Antonio, developed local economic structures that were 
  different from each other, and therefore did not conflict 
  initially.114 
  
  San Antonio, the oldest large city in Texas, was established 
  as a supply point for the Spanish settlements in East Texas. 
  Unfortunately, these settlements never developed, and San 
  Antonio therefore lacked a supporting rural hinterland until 
  the mid-1800s. San Antonio was also too far away to benefit 
  from immigrants entering East and North Texas and was 
  hampered by several other factors, including a small 
  merchant class, limited capital and a large number of poor 
  Hispanics.115 
  
  Beginning with the Mexican War and San Antonio's strategic 
  position for a military base, economic conditions improved. 
  Additionally, the influx of German immigrants into the 
  surrounding area influenced the development in that they 
  produced surpluses for sale.116 Unfortunately in terms of 
  long term development, San Antonio had no ties to the 
  capital of the Northeast.
  
  San Antonio maintained its relative dominance due to the 
  development of its rural hinterland after Texas became a 
  state. However, the nonaggressiveness of the business 
  community "made San Antonio less competitive when the race 
  for regional dominance emerged full-blown in the early 
  twentieth century."117 Lack of capital seriously hampered 
  development in San Antonio, and it fell to third place 
  behind Houston and Dallas in 1930.
  
  The addition of military bases during the 1940s boosted the 
  San Antonio economy. The bases became a principal source of 
  income for the city,118 and today remain an integral part of 
  the economic structure of San Antonio. But with the decrease 
  in defense spending, their importance may diminish.
  
  San Antonio still serves as the trade center for a large 
  rural hinterland. Economic diversification away from 
  dependence on defense has included increased emphasis on 
  tourism and on biotechnology and the health industry.
  
  The site for the City of Dallas was chosen by Col. John C. 
  McCoy and John Neely Bryan. Early city fathers understood 
  the importance of transportation and put together a package 
  to lure the Houston and Texas Central Railroad to the city. 
  Dallas also used its legislators to get the Texas and 
  Pacific Railroad to pass close to the city.119 
  
  The struggle for regional dominance with Fort Worth aided 
  Dallas in its development. Both cities were agricultural 
  processing centers, Dallas of cotton and Fort Worth of 
  cattle. However, while Dallas pursued a diversified economy, 
  Fort Worth concentrated on meat packing.
  
  Diversification in Dallas caused finance, aviation and 
  manufacturing to become important along with cotton and 
  cotton processing. Insurance and banking developed to the 
  extent that several insurance companies were founded in the 
  city and the Federal Reserve headquarters for the 11th 
  district were located there.120
  
  As the city continued to develop, manufacturing became more 
  important. Ford Motor Company located an assembly plant in 
  the city after the sales and service center developed a 
  market for Ford cars.
  
  Fort Worth, originally established as Camp Worth west of 
  Dallas, developed during the time of the cattle drives. "Cow 
  Town," as the city became known, catered to the cowboys. The 
  coming of the railroad provided a spur to growth after the 
  cattle drives had ceased. The joining of Dallas and Fort 
  Worth into the Metroplex has allowed the two cities, once 
  rivals, to become a powerful regional economy.
  
  In Houston, the Mid-Atlantic, New England and European 
  origins of the merchants allowed the development of an 
  aggressive local economy. In fact, the site of Houston was 
  chosen by the Allen brothers of New York. Understanding the 
  "relationship between the function and location of cities 
  led them to select the site for modern Houston, 'at the most 
  interior point of year-round navigation in Texas.'"121 
  
  Realizing the importance of transportation, Houston was the 
  first city in Texas to have railroad connections with its 
  rural hinterland. Houston also pushed for expansion of the 
  railroad for a connection to Dallas, which gave the city a 
  connection with a transcontinental carrier, Southern 
  Pacific.122
  
  Building on the hurricane that struck Galveston in 1900, 
  which killed 6,000 people and destroyed most of the 
  structures, Houston used its legislative office holders to 
  secure federal funding for a deep water port.123 The 
  existence of this port spurred the development of the 
  petrochemical industry made possible by the discovery of oil 
  at Spindletop, near Beaumont. Houston is the capital of the 
  oil industry in the U.S. Petrochemicals, aerospace, 
  biotechnology and health services industries have been added 
  to oil and gas. 
  
  Despite the perception of Texas as a rural state on the 
  western frontier, Texas is the most urban state in the union 
  when considering the number of metropolitan statistical 
  areas (MSAs); Texas, with 27, has more MSAs than any other 
  state. Texas also has a large number of people living within 
  urban areas, over 80 percent according to the 1990 Census. 
  
  
  Economic Regions: The Texas Triangle
  Although defense spending during and after World War II 
  spurred the development of Sunbelt cities, most of the 
  cities in Texas remain regional trade centers for their 
  surrounding hinterlands. A few cities have risen above this 
  status into what might be considered higher order regional 
  centers, in terms of national and international trade. These 
  cities are the ones profiled above, Dallas along with Fort 
  Worth as part of the Metroplex, Houston and San Antonio. The 
  connection of these anchor cities inscribes the hollow 
  "Texas Triangle," which could be considered the economic 
  heart of Texas.
  
  Continuing with the central-place idea previously presented, 
  the Texas Triangle could be considered a high order central 
  place, comparable with New York, Los Angeles or Chicago. 
  
  The services provided, population and available 
  infrastructure may support such an idea of economic 
  importance. New York outstrips the Triangle in that it has 
  more than double the Triangle's population. Los Angeles is 
  closer, only about 65 percent larger, while Chicago is 
  smaller.
  
  Most large cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago 
  serve as a magnet for immigrants, increasing the racial mix. 
  The anchor cities of the Triangle are no different. The 1990 
  Census shows that about 34 percent of the Asian and Pacific 
  Islanders in Texas reside in Harris County, the location of 
  the City of Houston; around 16 percent live in Dallas 
  County, the location of the City of Dallas; about 9 percent 
  live in Tarrant County, the location of Fort Worth; and just 
  under 5 percent live in Bexar County, the location of San 
  Antonio. Of all Native Americans in Texas, an estimated 13 
  percent live in Dallas County, 12 percent in Harris County, 
  8 percent in Tarrant County and 6 percent in Bexar County. 
  
  The interstate highway system connects the vertices of the 
  Triangle. Dallas/Fort Worth and San Antonio are on 
  Interstate 35, a major north/south artery in the U.S., which 
  becomes the Inter-American Highway to Monterrey, Mexico. 
  Both Houston and San Antonio are on Interstate 10, a major 
  east/west artery that transverses the U.S. from 
  Jacksonville, Florida, on the Atlantic Ocean to Los Angeles 
  on the Pacific Coast. Dallas and Houston are connected by 
  Interstate 45. The anchor cities of the Triangle are also 
  connected with air transportation routes. The Dallas/Fort 
  Worth Airport is the major regional airport to the Southern 
  U.S.
  
  The high speed rail, currently proposed to connect the 
  Triangle cities, could provide another link for the area, 
  enhancing the view of the Triangle as an economic entity. 
  These transportation connections could become important 
  tools in an effort to more closely tie the economies of the 
  encompassed cities of the Triangle together. 
  
  Research and higher educational facilities are another 
  infrastructure support mechanism for the Triangle. Research 
  could be considered as an agglomeration economy; in other 
  words, there is a benefit in research centers locating close 
  to each other. It is not, therefore, surprising that nine of 
  the top ten major public research facilities in terms of 
  expenditures in Texas are located close to or within the 
  Triangle: 
  
  
  Dallas/Fort Worth MetroplexUT Southwestern Medical Center
  University of North Texas
  
  San AntonioUTHSC at San Antonio
  
  HoustonUT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
  
  UTHSC at Houston
  
  University of Houston
  
  UTMB at Galveston
  
  AustinUT at Austin
  
  Bryan/College StationTexas A&M University
  
  
  
  Most of the research and development dollars spent by public 
  institutions in Texas, approximately 88 percent, were spent 
  by these Triangle institutions. The research conducted near 
  the Triangle becomes important in that high tech companies 
  are generally dependent upon research, both in-house and 
  university generated. The biotechnology, aerospace 
  technology and computer technology research conducted at 
  these facilities supports the high tech industries located 
  within these cities. For example, the Microelectronics 
  Computer Technology Corporation chose to locate in Austin, 
  in part, for proximity to The University of Texas at 
  Austin.124
  
  The interstate highway connecting Dallas/Fort Worth and San 
  Antonio is a corridor of smaller MSAs including Austin, 
  Waco, Killeen and Waxahachie, site of the Superconducting 
  Super Collider, a major research facility. This area could 
  be considered the high tech corridor of Texas, connecting 
  the communication and information systems infrastructure of 
  Dallas with the computer technology industry of Austin with 
  the biotechnology industry of San Antonio. Other highway 
  arteries connect these high tech industries with the 
  biotechnology and aerospace industries of Houston.
  
  The high tech firms these cities attract are not limited to 
  those with a dominant presence in the city; a diversity of 
  high tech industries exists, with some on a much smaller 
  scale. These industries generally require higher skills and 
  a higher level of education from the working population. One 
  other measure that separates the Triangle generally from the 
  rest of Texas is the education level of the population. This 
  is an important measure in that an educated work force 
  attracts firms in those industries offering a higher wage. 
  According to the Adult Literacy Council, the counties that 
  comprise the Texas Triangle vertices and encompassed MSAs 
  have a higher percentage of the population 25 years and 
  older with a high school education.
  
  In terms of services provided, both the Metroplex and 
  Houston have operated as trade centers for the southern 
  region of the U.S. in their capacities as transportation 
  hubs, the deep water port for Houston and the Dallas/Fort 
  Worth Airport for the Metroplex. The Metroplex also acts as 
  a regional market hub for the southern U.S. San Antonio 
  provides a gateway to trade with Mexico.
  
  The Texas Triangle could describe the regional future of 
  Texas by dividing the state into two areas-the hollow 
  triangle that connects the anchor cities, and the rest of 
  Texas. In terms of demographics, housing, literacy, crime 
  and poverty rates, the Triangle's anchor cities will 
  probably begin to resemble each other much more than they 
  will resemble any other area in Texas. The rest of Texas, 
  the smaller cities and rural areas, will look markedly 
  different. 
  
  The metro areas at the vertices of the Triangle already 
  employ over 57 percent of the state's population, over 60 
  percent of the workers in transportation, communication and 
  public utilities, finance, insurance and real estate, and 
  services industries. The atmosphere generated by economic 
  activity alone is enough to set the Triangle apart. The 
  ethnic diversity also separates the Triangle from other 
  cities and areas in Texas, where one race or culture is 
  usually dominant.
  
  The Triangle cities will begin to resemble not only each 
  other but also other large cities. For example, Los Angeles 
  has drawn immigrants from all over the world. There are 
  large ethnic enclaves of Hispanics next to Asians. The Los 
  Angeles school system is overburdened with the diversity in 
  background of the students who must be taught, especially 
  when many arrive without the benefit of knowing English. 
  Houston is also beginning to exhibit the same problem as 
  many immigrants settle in or around Harris County. Another 
  way the Triangle may resemble other large trade centers is 
  in the type of crime they exhibit. Gang violence in New York 
  and Los Angeles is legendary. This type of violence is 
  already making its presence known in the Triangle cities 
  with news stories of drive-by shootings. 
  
  Although the Triangle anchor cities will, in some ways, look 
  like other large U.S. cities, they will also retain a 
  character of their own. These cities have room to grow while 
  most other large U.S. cities are landlocked by other cities. 
  Economic opportunity, more available jobs at higher wages 
  and more tolerance of differences will mark the Triangle. 
  The globalization of the economies of the cities of the 
  triangle will allow them to continue to dominate the Texas 
  economy. While other urban areas in Texas can expect 
  development, they will probably lag behind this economic 
  dynamo.
  
  
  Economic Regions: Cattle
  Cattle were introduced to Texas by the Spanish during the 
  1500s. South Texas was eminently suited to cattle raising, 
  and the animals were allowed to roam freely on the open 
  land. Augmented by English and French stock by the 1830s, 
  the existing Longhorns multiplied to an estimated five 
  million head by 1865.125
  
  Major trail drives began in the 1860s as entrepreneurs took 
  advantage of the available cattle. In 1866, an estimated 
  260,000 cattle were driven to Sedalia, Missouri, to meet the 
  Missouri Pacific Railroad. In the postbellum period, cattle 
  drives gave Texas a much needed infusion of capital.126
  
  The continuing popularity of the trail drives was influenced 
  by the abundance of "free cattle" and then "free grass" on 
  the open range and the profits to be made. While the profits 
  from other agricultural products decreased, cattle prices 
  boomed, and the capitalization of the cattle companies 
  exceeded that of the railroads.127
  
  It was in part thanks to open ranges in Texas, the free 
  herds on the Plains and a boom in cattle prices, that the 
  era of cattle drives was possible. The economics of the 
  cattle drives have been described as follows: "Longhorns 
  were worth three to four dollars each on the Llano Estacado 
  while in Chicago a steer was worth ten times that amount. It 
  cost about a dollar per head to drive a herd northward to a 
  railroad."128 Thus began one of the shortest, most romantic 
  periods of Texas history from around 1865 to 1887. The 
  cattle drives ended with the increasing resistance by 
  farmers and other ranchers, particularly in Kansas, because 
  cows trampled crops and South Texas cows carried tick fever. 
  Increasing use of barbed wire fencing, the extension of the 
  railroads into West Texas, erratic cattle prices, the severe 
  winters of the mid to late 1880s and the bottom dropping out 
  of the cattle market also contributed to the demise of the 
  cattle drives.
  
  Fencing began as farmers were taming the High Plains and 
  West Texas. As more of the land was occupied, settlers 
  became protective of their claim to the land. With the 
  introduction of barbed wire, the race was on to fence in 
  property. As there were no laws, many fenced in public roads 
  and blocked access to schools, boxed in another's property 
  and blocked access to waterways.129 Cattlemen who owned no 
  land considered the free range and access to water inherent 
  rights, and therefore cut through the fences.
  
  Fence "wars" began and were not stopped until the 
  administration of Governor John Ireland. In 1884, laws were 
  passed making fence-cutting a felony and putting up an 
  illegal fence a misdemeanor.130 The fence war subsided, but 
  it was the harbinger of the end of the era of the cattle 
  drives and of the frontier. Cattlemen could no longer count 
  on free ranges to fatten cattle and an open access way to 
  market. Fencing also concentrated livestock into smaller 
  areas and allowed overgrazing.131 
  
  Overgrazing and climate may have been the reasons for the 
  end of the cattle kingdoms. Don Biggers, in History That 
  Will Never Be Repeated: A Brief Review of the Cattle 
  Business and Periods of Prosperity and Eras of Disaster and 
  Depression Through Which It Passed Since 1876, stated, 
  
  In the winter of 1884 began a series of the most disastrous 
  years ever known in the cattle history.... When a blizzard 
  would sweep over the country the cattle would drift before 
  it, and it was then no uncommon sight to see great herds of 
  cattle rolling southward, nothing to eat, nothing to drink, 
  pelted by sleet and covered with snow... The winter of 1886 
  was very severe, and in the spring of 1887 occurred beyond a 
  doubt the awfullest die-up ever known in the United States. 
  From the Canadian borders to the Rio Grande the range 
  country was covered with carcasses.... I saw one instance 
  and heard of many others, where, for a distance of two and 
  three hundred yards the heaps of dead bodies were higher 
  than the fence.132 
  
  
  
  After this time of the "die-up," investors were reluctant to 
  put money into cattle drives and cattle companies, and the 
  era, along with a way of life, ended. The Indians had been 
  driven away, and the land was now privately owned. The 
  frontier was gone. 
  
  While cattle drives and ranching would seem to be far 
  removed from cities, the fact is that these activities 
  depended upon the cities. Walter Prescott Webb defined the 
  boundaries of the cattle industry by using lines drawn from 
  city to city as demarcation lines. These lines were from San 
  Antonio to Laredo to Brownsville to Old Indianola. 
  (Indianola, a once-active part located between Galveston and 
  Corpus Christi, was wiped out in the 19th century by a 
  hurricane.) This area defines a rural hinterland for these 
  cities.133 The cities along the Chisholm Trail can be used 
  to indicate the importance of urban areas to the trail 
  drives. San Antonio, Austin, Waco and Fort Worth "served as 
  collection points for north-bound cattle, as convenient 
  fords across a variety of rivers and streams and, not 
  incidentally, as outfitting centers, offering 'saddles, 
  rope, six-shooters, groceries and other supplies' to the 
  drovers."134
  
  The lasting contributions of the cattle drives are the 
  railroads that followed the trails to the cities, and the 
  spawning of both the cattle industry and the continuing 
  Texas icon of self-reliance, the cowboy. Although the days 
  of the cattle drives are over, cattle raising has remained 
  an important industry. The largest number of cattle in Texas 
  to date, 16.6 million, occurred in 1975, a high-point in the 
  cyclical cattle market.135 Since then, the number of cattle 
  has fallen as concern over cholesterol has grown and poultry 
  has grown increasingly popular. In response to these 
  concerns, cattlemen have begun breeding programs that are 
  producing leaner strains of beef.
  
  
  Economic Regions: Cotton
  Before 1865, agriculture in Texas generally followed the 
  frontier mode of self sufficiency, although cotton grown for 
  commercial purposes was important in East Texas. Cotton 
  became a prominent crop due to the immigration of settlers 
  from the Deep South. Entering East Texas, they found land 
  similar to that of their previous homes, and they continued 
  the plantation system of agriculture. Plantation agriculture 
  employed the cultivation of large tracts of land by slave 
  laborers. These slaves entered Texas when their owners 
  settled the land or slaves were purchased at auction.
  
  As the Civil War closed, commercial agriculture became 
  prevalent. Cotton, already a staple for some East Texas 
  farmers, was suited to the soil and climate in several areas 
  of Texas, was drought resistant, relatively valuable and did 
  not deplete the soil as greatly as other crops. Its 
  cultivation became more popular as the railroads moved west 
  and provided a better means of transporting the crop to 
  market.136 In addition, a cash crop was necessary as the 
  Civil War left the state cash poor. The cultivation of 
  cotton was reinforced by the high price of 83 cents per 
  pound paid for cotton at the end of the war.137
  
  The close of the Civil War forced the transformation of the 
  plantation system into that of sharecropping or tenant 
  farming. The program began as a result of the inability of 
  the cash poor white farmers to hire workers and the lack of 
  funds for land purchase by the former slaves. This situation 
  was augmented by the fact that farming was the only skill 
  most rural blacks had.
  
  In the sharecropping system, the landlord dictated the crop 
  or crops grown. As cotton brought the most cash, 
  sharecroppers were forced to cultivate cotton rather than 
  food crops. This in turn forced the sharecroppers to 
  purchase food from the landowner or from a merchant willing 
  to extend credit.
  
  The value of cotton after the Civil War caused it to be 
  planted as a cash crop in a cash poor state. By 1880, Texas 
  led all other states in the nation in cotton production.138 
  While farmers in the South have been criticized for allowing 
  themselves to be tied to one crop, it should be noted that 
  some sources indicate the cash crop economy was a stricture 
  forced by investors in the North who tied the availability 
  of credit to the planting of a cash crop.139 Other sources 
  state that while the price of cotton was dropping, so were 
  the prices for other agricultural commodities, and part of 
  the reason farmers continued to grow the crop was that while 
  cotton prices were depressed, it brought in more dollars per 
  acre than anything else. Cotton had another advantage: 
  during dry years, the entire crop rarely failed, thus 
  insuring the farmer some return on his investment.140.
  
  Subsequent to the high price initially brought by cotton at 
  the end of the Civil War, the price paid for cotton varied, 
  reaching a low of 4.6 cents per pound in 1894.141 As prices 
  dropped, farmers went into debt. In the following years, 
  they planted more acreage in cotton in an attempt to get out 
  of debt. This was particularly true of tenant farmers, as 
  the landlords had a vested interest in forcing the continued 
  growth of cotton and nothing else. Not only did landlords 
  receive cash from the sale of the cotton, but also from the 
  sale of food to the farmers. Increased production further 
  depressed the price of cotton.142 
  
  In the early 1900s, technology came to the farm. During this 
  time various farm implements and machinery were introduced 
  as labor saving devices and were used to increase 
  productivity.
  
  Farmers were hard hit by the drought during the war years of 
  1917 and 1918, which prevented them from profiting from 
  higher agricultural prices. They were also hard hit by the 
  national recessions of 1920 and 1923, when many former farm 
  owners were forced into the ranks of sharecroppers. Many had 
  speculated in land during the war years when prices were 
  high, and others had mortgaged their farms due to losses 
  sustained during the drought. 
  
  Farmers frequently speculated in land to acquire larger 
  farms. "Greater size and scale demanded greater financial 
  strength. Often the money to expand in cotton or cattle came 
  from Europe or the Northeast. This in turn has raised the 
  question of the growing dependence of Texas on the outside 
  world-the loss of cherished self-reliance."143
  
  By the time of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, many 
  farmers, especially sharecroppers, were barely getting by. 
  These two disasters forced many off rural farm land and into 
  the cities. 
  
  Growth in cotton production occurred after 1900 and the crop 
  became a major economic driver after 1927 when Texas A&M 
  developed varieties suitable for the western Texas 
  climate.144 Today, much of the cotton produced by Texas is 
  grown in the High Plains. 
  
  
  Economic Regions: Crude
  Oil, the resource and the images it conjures, changed the 
  perception of Texas from a backwoods frontier to a dynamic 
  industrial giant. This resource has had such a dominant 
  power over the perception of the state that it is almost 
  impossible to think of Texas and not think of oil. 
  
  Oil's impact has touched the entire state-from highways to 
  schools to those areas which have been fortunate enough to 
  have some tie to the industry. From the oil fields of East 
  and West Texas to the petroleum processing and petrochemical 
  plants of the Gulf Coast, many Texans directly benefited 
  from this bounty of nature. Many Texans also suffered when 
  the bottom dropped out of the oil industry. 
  
  Although minor discoveries of oil predate it, the Texas oil 
  industry was "born" in Corsicana in 1893. As would be the 
  case with other discoveries of oil, the drillers in 
  Corsicana were actually searching for water. With expanded 
  drilling and the introduction of the rotary drill, 
  production in 1900 only reached 2,300 barrels per day.145 
  
  Fortunately for Texas, this birth coincided with the growing 
  demand in "North America and Europe...for petroleum products 
  to fuel the gasoline engines of the street, grease the 
  machinery of the factory and light the lanterns of the 
  home." 146 
  
  In 1899, Patillo Higgins and Captain Anthony F. Lucas 
  entered into a drilling agreement, and the Captain began 
  drilling at Spindletop, a hill outside Beaumont. He was 
  discouraged by the failures of his early attempts. Lucas was 
  also discouraged by the continued rejection of his plans by 
  professionals in the field of geology, who said that salt 
  domes like Spindletop could not contain oil. Imagine their 
  surprise when on January 10, 1901, the Lucas Number 1 well 
  became a gusher and started the Texas oil boom. The oil boom 
  was followed by a land boom. Land that was formerly valued 
  at less than $10 an acre could now be sold for $900,000 an 
  acre.147 
  
  The impact of the discovery seemed to touch everything: 491 
  oil charters were issued that year, cotton took second place 
  to oil in the Texas economy, and an incredible influx of 
  people invaded the state.148 For example, Beaumont "swelled 
  with sightseekers, fortune seekers, deal-makers and oil 
  field workers; each train disgorged new hordes drawn by the 
  dream of instant wealth embodied in the dark gusher. One 
  Sunday alone, excursion trains dropped off at Beaumont some 
  15,000 people, who tramped through the mud and slime and oil 
  just to see this new wonder of the world. Upward of 16,000 
  people were said to be living in tents on the hill. 
  Beaumont's own population ballooned in a matter of months 
  from 10,000 to 50,000."149 
  
  The production at Spindletop caused a glut in the oil 
  market, and by midsummer of 1901, the price of oil was so 
  low that a barrel sold for three cents when a cup of water 
  in the oil field cost five cents. Many industries began 
  converting from coal to oil. Both railroad and steamship 
  companies began converting their locomotives and steamships 
  from coal burners to oil burners.150 Thus, the discovery 
  also indicated the inception of a shift in industrial 
  society. Spindletop also became the training ground for the 
  oil industry and for the rural population that left the 
  farms and ranches to work in the oil fields.151
  
  The Spindletop oil boom also spawned other companies and 
  industries in Texas. Gulf, Texaco and Humble Oil and 
  Refining Company, born at Spindletop, became prominent. 
  Howard R. Hughes, father of the famous recluse billionaire 
  Howard Hughes, founded Hughes Tool Company while a 
  contractor at Spindletop. His company made drill bits with 
  revolving cones that could penetrate strata that repelled 
  other drill bits.152
  
  Oil was first transported by way of railroad tank cars and 
  in 1891, Governor Hogg established the Texas Railroad 
  Commission to regulate railroad freight rates. The first oil 
  pipeline was built in 1902 but the Texas Railroad Commission 
  did not regulate pipelines until 1917 when the Texas 
  Legislature declared pipelines to be common carriers. The 
  Legislature also made the Commission responsible for 
  stopping the waste of oil and gas, but with the rush to find 
  oil and the state of oil field technology, waste was 
  inevitable.153
  
  More discoveries of oil followed Spindletop. Oil was 
  discovered in 1911 in Electra, in 1912 in Burkburnett, in 
  1917 in Ranger and Desdemona, in 1918 in Breckenridge, in 
  1920 in Mexia and in 1922 in Luling. From 1918 to 1926, oil 
  was discovered in the Panhandle, and from 1921 to 1929 in 
  the Permian Basin in West Texas.154 
  
  All the discoveries mentioned were a precursor to the 1930 
  discovery by Marion "Dad" Joiner in East Texas. His well, 
  the Daisy Bradford Number 3 came in a gusher on October 3, 
  1930.155 Once again, oil had been found where the experts 
  said it could not be. The East Texas oil field was a 
  different formation. The field was so large that it cut 
  across five counties. Within two years, 5,600 wells were 
  drilled around Kilgore and Longview, and 25,000 wells were 
  completed by 1938.156 The field came to be known as the 
  Black Giant.
  
  Oil was the flying start for Texas. It was the basis for the 
  petrochemical industry and provided the dollars to develop 
  the educational and highway systems. It also visited great 
  wealth on the landowners lucky enough to have their mineral 
  rights over a deposit. 
  
  Still, in the 1940s, the U.S. became a net importer of oil. 
  In the 1950s, the number of U.S. drilling rigs decreased. 
  Then, the size of the oil fields in the Middle East were 
  revealed, and dominance in the oil industry slowly shifted 
  from the U.S. fields to the Persian Gulf. In the 1960s, the 
  Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was 
  created. The machinations of OPEC in the 1970s, along with 
  the deregulation of oil prices by the government, brought 
  great wealth to Texas as the price per barrel for oil 
  increased. In the early 1970s, the Texas Railroad Commission 
  allowed production of oil at 100 percent of capacity. Oil 
  and gas severance taxes peaked in 1982 at over 28 percent of 
  total state taxes. The drop in oil prices in the early 1980s 
  precipitated a decline in the economy of Texas. The collapse 
  of oil prices in the mid-1980s exacerbated the decline. 
  Hitching our economic star to one wagon had a price.
  
  Regionally, oil had its greatest effect in East Texas and 
  West Texas where major fields were discovered. Perhaps 
  equally telling are the areas where the lack of an oil 
  impact allowed the development of a cohesive cultural 
  enclave. For example, it has been theorized that the German 
  Hill Country remained an identifiable culture precisely 
  because lack of oil prevented a boomtown dilution of the 
  culture.
  
  Oil wells use a lot of machinery and relatively little 
  labor; the petrochemical industry oil spawned is likewise 
  capital intensive. But far above and beyond these direct 
  effects, oil has had profound indirect consequences 
  throughout Texas. Gasoline refined from crude made possible 
  our love affair with the automobile, completely altering 
  where and how we work and live. Oil brought wealth to cities 
  and communities, with a ripple effect in the state's 
  economy, creating a pool of capital for financing unrelated 
  industries. And crude oil created a mystique that was 
  uniquely Texan, helping to define our state and our way of 
  life.
  
  
  Economic Regions: Diversification
  The economic factors that regionally divided and shaped 
  Texas were based on the bounty of nature and the limited 
  processing of that bounty that occurs within the state. 
  Agriculture, mineral extraction and the processing of the 
  commodities spawned by these interests continue to drive our 
  economy in part. While the continued role of agriculture and 
  raw materials in the economic future of Texas is not in 
  question, their status of primary importance to the economy 
  should be reevaluated.
  
  Indications are that growth and prosperity will most likely 
  result from the development and export of the products of 
  the high technology and the services industries. These 
  industries generally require a well developed, highly 
  skilled, highly educated work force. Texas in the past 
  profited from the availability of low-cost, low-skill 
  workers. This may no longer be the case as it becomes more 
  beneficial for labor intensive companies to move where the 
  work force is even cheaper.
  
  While high technology and services may drive the Texas 
  economy in the future, the methods Texans choose to handle 
  their physical resources will also continue to provide part 
  of the basis for the economic prosperity or decline in the 
  regions of Texas tomorrow. The combination of these 
  interests, industrial diversification, development of a 
  viable services sector and the export of the products of 
  same and the careful continued development of the resources 
  of Texas hold the most promise for a prosperous future.
  
  
  Overview of Cultural and Economic Regions
  Texas is huge-both in size and in outlook. Even if the early 
  settlers had been a homogeneous people, there would still be 
  regional enclaves caused by the diversification of geography 
  and resources. As we progress to the 21st century, the 
  stratification of Texas culture seems headed not toward 
  racial/ethnic segregation but more toward economic 
  segregation. This is seen most clearly in cities where the 
  rich typically live on one side and the poor on another. 
  While this currently seems to be a racial/ethnic division, 
  it could be more dependent on economics in the future, 
  thanks to the courts and a growing tolerance for 
  differences.
  
  Joe Frantz, former professor of history at The University of 
  Texas at Austin, once likened Texas to a spoiled child who 
  received a rich inheritance-cattle-and grew up attractive 
  and spoiled. When that fortune was laid to waste, the child 
  received another rich inheritance-oil. The child therefore 
  did not have to grow and mature, because something always 
  turned up.157
  
  The inheritance of the land and the "three Cs" of cattle, 
  cotton and crude have provided Texas with economic 
  prosperity in the past. But these legacies have reached 
  their zenith, and a declining dependence on both the 
  conventional agriculture base and extractive industries is 
  inevitable. No single new inheritance of the stature of the 
  three Cs lurks on the horizon to provide continued economic 
  growth. Alternative means for economic progress must be 
  sought, and included here should be an emphasis on 
  developing our human resources. A skilled, educated work 
  force holds the key to future economic independence for 
  Texas.
  
  Endnotes
  
  
  1Terry G. Jordan, "Perceptual Regions in Texas," 
  Geographical Review, vol. 68, no. 3 (July 1978), p. 302.
  
  2David G. McComb, Texas: A Modern History (Austin, Texas: 
  University of Texas Press, 1989), p. 7.
  
  3John Clements, Texas Facts: Flying the Colors (Dallas, 
  Texas: Clements Research II, Inc., 1988), p. 1; and Terry G. 
  Jordan, John L. Bean, Jr., and William M. Holmes, Texas, A 
  Geography (Boulder: Westview Press, 1984), pp. 40 and 25.
  
  4Elton M. Scott, Texas Geography (Oklahoma City: Harlow 
  Publishing Corporation, 1952), pp. 15 & 17.
  
  5W. Eugene Hollon, The Southwest: Old and New (Lincoln, 
  Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1961), pp. 10 - 11.
  
  6Jordan, Texas, A Geography, p. 9.
  
  7Scott, Texas Geography, p. 25.
  
  8Ric Jensen, "The Drying of Texas Agriculture," Texas Water 
  Resources, vol. 17, no. 3 (Fall 1991), pp. 1 & 3.
  
  9Jordan, Texas, A Geography, p. 22.
  
  10Del Weniger, "Nature, the Settler, and the Ecological 
  Perspective in Rural Texas," in Glen E. Lich and Dona B. 
  Reeves-Marquardt, ed., Texas Country: The Changing Rural 
  Scene (College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 
  1986), p. 24.
  
  11McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 7.
  
  12Dallas Morning News, 1992-1993 Texas Almanac (Dallas, 
  Texas: Texas Monthly Press, 1991), pp. 114-116; and McComb, 
  Texas: A Modern History, p. 6.
  
  13Jordan, Texas, A Geography, pp. 19 & 38.
  
  14 Texas Department of Water Resources, Water for Texas: A 
  Comprehensive Plan for the Future, Vol. 1 (Austin, Texas: 
  Texas Department of Water Resources, June 1984), p. 16.
  
  15Jordan, Texas, A Geography, p. 41.
  
  16T. R. Fehrenbach, Lone Star: A History of Texas and the 
  Texans (New York: American Legacy Press, 1983), p. 711.
  
  17The Handbook of Texas, edited by Walter Prescott Webb was 
  published in 1952 as a two volume set. A third volume was 
  later added. Nancy Baker Jones, Director of Research for the 
  Handbook of Texas, an effort by the Texas Historical 
  Association to provide an up-to-date reference, has no 
  knowledge of any other state with an historical 
  encyclopedia.
  
  18Ellen N. Murry, "Sorrow Whispers in the Winds," Texas 
  Journal, vol. 14, no. 2 (Spring/Summer 1992), p. 13.
  
  19The U.S. recognized Texas in 1837. In 1839 Texas signed a 
  recognition treaty with France. In 1840, the Republic of 
  Texas signed recognition treaties with the Netherlands and 
  Great Britain.
  
  20Glen E. Lich, "The Rural Scene in Texas: 
  Half-Created/Half-Perceived," in Lich and Reeves-Marquardt, 
  eds., Texas Country: The Changing Rural Scene, p. 14.
  
  21Jack Lowry, "The People," Texas Highways, vol. 38, no. 7 
  (July 1991), p. 44.
  
  22Earl H. Elam, "The Native Texans," in Donald W. 
  Whisenhunt, ed., Texas: A Sesquicentennial Celebration 
  (Austin, Texas: Eakin Press, 1984), pp. 6-29 & 131; and 
  McComb, Texas: A Modern History, pp. 12-20.
  
  23McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 14; and Earl H. Elam, 
  "The Native Texans," p. 16.
  
  24These reservations were on the Clear Fork of the Brazos in 
  Throckmorton County for the Comanches and the Brazos Indian 
  Reservation near the City of Graham for the Caddos, and 
  other refugee tribes such as the Cherokee and Delaware. 
  Ralph A. Wooster, "Statehood, War, and Reconstruction," in 
  Donald W. Whisenhunt, ed., Texas: A Sesquicentennial 
  Celebration (Austin, Texas: Eakin Press, 1984), p. 100.
  
  25Lipan Apaches continue to live on the Mescalero Apache 
  Reservation in New Mexico. Lowry, "The People," p. 51. 
  
  26Howard Peacock and Anne Garner, "Piney Paths to Glory," 
  Texas Highways, vol. 36, no. 9 (September 1989), p. 11.
  
  27Lowry, "The People," p. 47.
  
  28Jack Lowry, "A Celebration of Cultures," Texas Highways, 
  vol. 38, no 11 (November 1991), pp. 44-45.
  
  29Ibid., p. 47.
  
  30James E. Garcia, "Most Native Americans in Texas Face Hard 
  Life in Major Urban Areas," Austin American-Statesman (June 
  29, 1992), pp. A1 & A5; and 1990 Census of Population.
  
  31D. W. Meinig, Imperial Texas: An Interpretive Essay in 
  Cultural Geography (Austin, Texas: University of Texas 
  Press, 1969), p. 24.
  
  32David D. Arreola, "San Antonio: The Mexican American 
  Cultural Capital," Geographical Review, vol. 77, no. 1 (July 
  1987), pp. 17 & 33.
  
  33Meinig, Imperial Texas, p. 29.
  
  34Ibid., p. 100.
  
  35Fehrenbach, Lone Star, p. 695.
  
  36Lawrence H. Fuchs, The American Kaleidoscope: Race, 
  Ethnicity, and the Civic Culture (Hanover, New Hampshire: 
  Wesleyan University Press), p. xvii.
  
  37Ibid., p. 120.
  
  38Although the bracero programs of the World War II era are 
  more popularly known, the use of the ninth proviso of the 
  Immigration Act of 1917 to provide temporary workers for the 
  Southwest is cited by several authors as the first or 
  beginning of the bracero program. George C. Kiser in 
  "Mexican American Labor before World War II," calls it the 
  Bracero Program of World War I. Lawrence Fuchs in The 
  American Kaleidoscope: Race, Ethnicity, and the Civic 
  Culture, differentiates between the time periods by 
  referring to the program introduced in 1917 as the bracero 
  program and the programs introduced during the 1940s and 
  maintained until 1964 as the big bracero program. Matt S. 
  Meier and Feliciano Rivera in The Chicanos: A History of 
  Mexican Americans (page 203), refers to the World War I 
  period as the faint beginnings of the bracero program and 
  the mid-1920s as the second stage. The bracero programs of 
  the two time periods, 1917 to 1921 and following August 
  1942, had several things in common, including the fact that 
  the Mexican workers were to reside temporarily in the U.S. 
  and return to Mexico upon completion of duties and that 
  employers had responsibilities, which were stated in the 
  agreements between both Mexico and the U.S., that employers 
  generally ignored. The responsibilities included wage, 
  housing and transportation agreements. Farmers and other 
  agriculture interest groups supported the bracero programs 
  while American labor generally opposed them.
  
  39George C. Kiser, "Mexican American Labor before World War 
  II," Journals of Mexican-American History, vol. 2 (1972), p. 
  127.
  
  40Fuchs, The American Kaleidoscope, p. 120.
  
  41Kiser, "Mexican American Labor," p. 136.
  
  42Julian Samora, Los Mojados: The Wetback Story (Notre Dame: 
  University of Notre Dame Press, 1971), p. 45.
  
  43Fuchs, The American Kaleidoscope, p. 121.
  
  44Ibid., pp. 135-136; and Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The 
  Disuniting of America (Knoxville, Tennessee: Whittle Direct 
  Books, 1991), pp. 79-80.
  
  45John P. Blair, Urban and Regional Economics (Boston, 
  Massachusetts: Irwin, 1991), p. 319.
  
  46Jordan, Texas, A Geography, pp. 78 & 82.
  
  47Ibid., p. 58.
  
  48Robert Lee Maril, Poorest of Americans: The Mexican 
  Americans of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas (Notre 
  Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1989), pp. 7 & 10.
  
  49Texas Literacy Council, A Report on the State of Adult 
  Literacy in Texas 1990-'91 (Austin, Texas), pp. 30-35.
  
  50Ellen N. Murry, "Images and Perceptions: Mr. Lo," Texas 
  Journal, vol. 14, no. 2 (Spring/Summer, 1992), p. 14.
  
  51Fehrenbach, Lone Star, p. 447.
  
  52Meinig, Imperial Texas, p. 50.
  
  53McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 58.
  
  54Jordan, Texas, A Geography, p. 71.
  
  55Ibid., pp. 73 & 77.
  
  56McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 4.
  
  57Rupert Norval Richardson, Texas, the Lone Star State (New 
  York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1943), p. 437.
  
  58Walter Prescott Webb and H. Bailey Carroll, eds., The 
  Handbook of Texas, vol. 2 (Austin, Texas: The Texas 
  Historical Association, 1952), p. 260.
  
  59Telephone interview with Bruce Miles, Director, Texas 
  Forest Service, College Station, Texas, July 22, 1992.
  
  60Jordan, Texas, A Geography, p. 77.
  
  61Robert L. Martin, The City Moves West: Economic and 
  Industrial Growth in Central West Texas (Austin, Texas: 
  University of Texas Press, 1969), pp. 5-6.
  
  62Ibid., pp. 12-13.
  
  63John Stricklin Spratt, The Road to Spindletop: Economic 
  Change in Texas, 1875-1901 (Austin, Texas: University of 
  Texas Press, 1955), pp. 39 & 47; and Dallas Morning News, 
  Texas Almanac 1990 -1991, p. 55.
  
  64Fehrenbach, Lone Star, p. 665.
  
  65William A Henry, III, "Beyond the Melting Pot," Time, vol. 
  135, no. 15 (April 9, 1990), p. 28.
  
  66James M. Smallwood, Time of Hope, Time of Despair: Black 
  Texans During Reconstruction (Port Washington, New York: 
  Kennikat Press, 1981), pp. 5 & 7-8.
  
  67Robert A. Calvert, "Agrarian Texas," in Walter L. Buenger 
  and Robert A. Calvert ed., Texas Through Time: Evolving 
  Interpretations (College Station, Texas: Texas A&M 
  University Press, 1991), pp. 220-221.
  
  68Neil Fligstein, Going North: Migration of Blacks and 
  Whites from the South, 1900-1950 (New York: Academic Press, 
  1981), p. 28.
  
  69Smallwood, Time of Hope, Time of Despair, p. 118.
  
  70Barry A. Crouch, The Freedmen's Bureau and Black Texans 
  (Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1992), p. 37.
  
  71Barr, Black Texans, p. 145.
  
  72Alwyn Barr, "African Americans in Texas," in Buenger and 
  Calvert eds., Texas Through Time, p. 68.
  
  73Barr, Black Texans, p. 196.
  
  74C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, Third 
  Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974), p. 9.
  
  75Barr, Black Texans, p. 144.
  
  76Randolph B. Campbell, "Statehood, Civil War, 
  Reconstruction," in Buenger and Calvert, eds., Texas Through 
  Time, p. 169.
  
  77McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 62.
  
  78Ibid., p. 63.
  
  79Meinig, Imperial Texas, p. 53.
  
  80Ibid., pp. 102-103.
  
  81McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 62.
  
  82Jordan, Texas, A Geography, p. 86.
  
  83Robert L. Skrabanek, We're Czechs (College Station, Texas: 
  Texas A&M University Press, 1988), p. 7. 
  
  84Clinton Machann and James M. Mendl, Jr., eds. and 
  translators, Czech Voices: Stories from Texas in the 
  Amerikan Narodni Kalendar (College Station, Texas: Texas A&M 
  University Press, 1991), p. xviii. 
  
  85Jordan, Texas, A Geography, p. 115.
  
  86Ibid., p. 122.
  
  87Char Miller and David R. Johnson, Urban Texas: Politics 
  and Development (College Station, Texas: Texas A&M 
  University Press, 1990), p. xi.
  
  88Weniger, "Nature, the Settler, and the Ecological 
  Perspective in Rural Texas," p. 17.
  
  89Meinig, Imperial Texas, p. 29.
  
  90Weniger, "Nature, the Settler, and the Ecological 
  Perspective in Rural Texas," p. 19.
  
  91Larry D. Hodge and Sally S. Victor, "The Legendary King 
  Ranch," Texas Highways, vol. 38, no. 1 (January 1990), p. 5.
  
  92Ibid., pp. 5-7.
  
  93Fehrenbach, Lone Star, p. 608; and Dallas Morning News, 
  1992-93 Texas Almanac, p. 48.
  
  94Weniger, "Nature, the Settler, and the Ecological 
  Perspective in Rural Texas," p. 24.
  
  95Ibid.
  
  96Ibid., p. 25.
  
  97David D. Diamond, "Texas Prairies: Almost Gone . . . 
  Almost Forgotten," Texas Parks and Wildlife, vol. 48, no. 3 
  (March 1990), p. 8.
  
  98Weniger, "Nature, the Settler, and the Ecological 
  Perspective in Rural Texas," p. 28.
  
  99Fehrenbach, Lone Star, p. 665.
  
  100Ibid., p. 670.
  
  101Ibid.
  
  102Diamond, "Almost Gone," p. 8.
  
  103Weniger, "Nature, the Settler, and the Ecological 
  Perspective in Rural Texas," p. 30.
  
  104McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 87.
  
  105Martin, The City Moves West, p. 7.
  
  106Spratt, The Road to Spindletop, pp. 39, 41, 47
  
  107Fehrenbach, Lone Star, p. 665.
  
  108McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 115.
  
  109Leslie J. King, Central Place Theory (Beverly Hills, 
  California: Sage Publications, 1984), p. 21; and Blair, 
  Urban and Regional Economics, p. 79.
  
  110Blair, Urban and Regional Economics, pp. 78-79; and King, 
  Central Place Theory, p. 10.
  
  111King, Central Place Theory, p. 9.
  
  112Fehrenbach, Lone Star, p. 614.
  
  113Ibid., p. 633.
  
  114Miller and Johnson, Urban Texas, p. 10.
  
  115Ibid., p. 34.
  
  116Ibid.
  
  117Ibid., p. 14.
  
  118Hollon, The Southwest: Old and New, p. 460.
  
  119Miller and Johnson, Urban Texas, p. 12.
  
  120Ibid., p. 19; and Hollon, The Southwest: Old and New, p. 
  454.
  
  121Miller and Johnson, Urban Texas, p. 10.
  
  122Ibid., p. 11.
  
  123Ibid., p. 22; and Jordan, Texas, A Geography, p. 24.
  
  124Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Research 
  Expenditures: Texas Public Institutions of Higher Education, 
  September 1, 1991-August 31, 1992 (Austin, Texas, March 
  1993), pp. 2 & 17.
  
  125J. B. Smallwood, Jr. "Cotton, Cattle, and Crude," in Lich 
  and Reeves-Marquardt, eds., Texas Country, p. 74; and 
  McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 84.
  
  126Paul H. Carlson, "The Texas Frontier," in Whisenhut, ed., 
  Texas: A Sesquicentennial Celebration, p. 84; and McComb, 
  Texas: A Modern History, p. 87.
  
  127Smallwood, Jr. "Cotton, Cattle, and Crude," p. 75.
  
  128McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 84.
  
  129Joseph Glidden named his invention barbed wire and 
  patented his version in 1874. In 1878, John W. Gates, a 
  salesmen hired by Glidden, used medicine show tactics to 
  sell the wire to reluctant Texas ranchers. Gates put up a 
  corral on Military Plaza in San Antonio using barbed wire. 
  He then issued the following challenge "This is the finest 
  fence in the world. Light as air. Stronger than whiskey. 
  Cheaper than dirt. All steel, and miles long. The cattle 
  ain't been born that can get through it. Bring on your 
  steers, gentlemen!" Accepting the challenge, the cattlemen 
  lost. The longhorns broke a post but the barbed wire held. A 
  concurrent development, the Bessemer process (developed in 
  1876) allowed high quality steel to be made at a low price. 
  Larry D. Hodge, "Devil's Rope," Texas Highways, vol. 36, no. 
  11 (November 1989), pp. 3-5; and Richardson, Texas, the Lone 
  Star State, p. 317; and McComb, Texas: A Modern History, pp. 
  91-92.
  
  130McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 92; and Richardson, 
  Texas, the Lone Star State, p. 318.
  
  131Diamond, "Almost Gone," p. 8.
  
  132Thadis W. Box, "Range Deterioration in West Texas," 
  Southwestern Historical Quarterly, vol. 71 
  
  (July 1967), p. 43.
  
  133Miller and Johnson, Urban Texas, p. 4.
  
  134Ibid.
  
  135Jordan, Texas, A Geography, p. 158.
  
  136Smallwood, Jr. "Cotton, Cattle, and Crude," p. 93; and 
  Fligstein, Going North, p. 37.
  
  137Fligstein, Going North, p. 24.
  
  138McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 94
  
  139Fligstein, Going North, pp. 11 & 40-41.
  
  140Spratt, The Road to Spindletop, p. 24.
  
  141Ibid., p. 295.
  
  142Fligstein, Going North, p. 42.
  
  143Walter L. Buenger, "Flight from Modernity," in Buenger 
  and Calvert, eds., Texas Through Time, p. 314.
  
  144Calvert "Agrarian Texas," p. 218.
  
  145Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, 
  and Power (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991), p. 83.
  
  146McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 117.
  
  147Yergin, The Prize, p. 84.
  
  148McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 118.
  
  149Yergin, The Prize, p. 85.
  
  150Yergin, The Prize, p. 86; and Bobby D. Weaver, "Black 
  Gold: Oil Development in Texas," in Whisenhut, ed. Texas: A 
  Sesquicentennial Celebration, p. 271.
  
  151Yergin, The Prize, p. 87.
  
  152McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 119.
  
  153Walter Prescott Webb and H. Bailey Carroll, eds., The 
  Handbook of Texas, vol. 2 (Austin, Texas: The Texas 
  Historical Association, 1952), p. 307; McComb, Texas: A 
  Modern History, p. 98; and Dallas Morning News, 1988-89  
  Texas Almanac (Austin, Texas: Texas Monthly Press, 1987), 
  pp. 390 and 392. 
  
  154Ibid., p. 121.
  
  155Weaver, "Black Gold: Oil Development in Texas," p. 276.
  
  156Richardson, Texas, the Lone Star State, p. 442; and 
  McComb, Texas: A Modern History, p. 121.
  
  157Michael L. Gillette, Texas in Transition (LBJ School of 
  Public Affairs, Austin, Texas, 1986), p. 27.
 
  
  
  
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