Texas Almanac, 1939-1940 Page: 40
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40 THE TEXAS ALMANAC-1939.
southern region, and stock farming
has expanded as an industry in those re-
gions where ranches have been cut into
small tracts. The country is well adapt-
ed to hog and poultry raising, and in re-
cent years there has been an increase in
the number of sheep on the plains. Un-
til the discovery of the great oil and
gas fields in the northern Panhandle a
little more than a decade ago, it was
thought that the Great Plains had rela-
tively little potentiality as a mineral
producing region. Next to the East Tex-
as field, the Panhandle oil field is the
greatest in the state today, and the gas
field of Collingsworth, Wheeler, Gray,
Hutchinson, Moore and contiguous coun-
ties is the greatest in the world. From
these great reservoirs of fuel pipe lines
supply consumers in fifteen states. It is
from this field that most of the great ex-
port of Texas natural gas comes. There
have been developed in recent years val-
uable gravel and clay pits in the Pan-
handle region. Borings in the southern
portion of this territory reveal great de-
posits of polyhalite and other potash-
bearing minerals, which undoubtedly
will be developed on a commercial scale
in the future. For some years there has
been commercial production of similar
deposits across the border in New
Mexico.
The commerce of the High Plains is
primarily that derived from agricultural
'industries, although the discovery of pe-
troleum and gas has contributed enor-
mously to the economic growth of the
North Plains region. Amarillo is the
principal city of the North Plains
though Pampa has grown in recent years
to a population and commercial stand-
ing of importance. Plainview, in the
middle of the plains region, and Lubbock,
on the South Plains, are the principal in-
dustrial, distribution and financial cen-
ters of their respective geographic ter-
ritories. Although the plains region as a
whole has witnessed the most rapid de-
velopment of any part of Texas during
the last two decades, it still has potenti-
ality in agricultural resources for great
future expansion.
Edwards Plateau.
The Edwards Plateau is that portion
of Texas lying just above the Balcones
Escarpment south of the Colorado River.
It extends across the Pecos, covering
most of Peeos and Terrell Counties and
the eastern third of Brewster County in
an extension known as the Stockton
Plateau. It is a region of rolling prairie
plains in the northern and western por-
tion, becoming mountainous with streams
sinking into deep gorges near the edge
of the plateau. It corresponds almost
completely coextensively with the Co-
manchean Cretaceous below the Colo-
rado River. On some physiographic
maps of Texas the Edwards Plateau ismarked as extending northward to in-
clude the area designated on preceding
pages as the Grand Prairie which, geo-
logically, is an extension of the Coman-
chean Cretaceous. In the classification
given here, however, the Grand Prairie
has been placed with the North Central
region. The Edwards Plateau is under-
laid by the great Edwards limestone
which forms a water reservoir that feeds
the streams flowing from it northward
and northwestward into the Colorado,
eastward into the San Marcos and Guad-
alupe, and southward into the San An-
tonio, Medina, Nueces, Frio and Devils
Rivers. The Edwards Plateau is one of
the greatest spring regions of the
United States and its beautiful peren-
nial flowing streams have made it famous
as a tourists' resort. The eastern and
southern portions are covered with ce-
dar on the uplands and great growths
of pecan and other hardwoods along the
streams. Kimble, Llano and Mason are
among the largest pecan producing
counties of Texas.
Along the Frio, Nueces, Guadalupe and
Medina Rivers are found growths of cy-
press. The well watered wooded sections
of the Edwards Plateau make it ideally
adapted to the preservation of game.
Deer, wild turkey and other game
abound and this is the principal hunting
ground of Texas sportsmen.
The elevation varies from 1,000 to 2,500
feet and the rainfall from 35 inches on
the extreme east to 20 inches on the
west. The soils are of limestone origin
and usually thin due to the broken na-
ture of the country, though there is con-
siderable cultivation along the narrow
valleys of the streams and on the prai-
ries of McCulloch, Concho, Tom Green,
Schleicher and Sutton Counties. Tech-
nically the soils are classed largely in
Denton, Valera and Ector rough land
groups. Cotton, oats and grain sor-
ghums are the chief products of the
cultivable areas.
The region is devoted primarily to
livestock raising. There is a large cattle
ranching industry, and within the con-
fines of the Edwards Plateau are found
probably 80 per cent of the sheep and
practically all of the Angora goats of
Texas. The brush, scrub oak, weeds and
grasses of this region are responsible for
Texas' No. 1 ranking in both wool and
mohair production. The Edwards Pla-
teau of Texas is the outstanding wool
and mohair producing region of the
United States.
The economy of the Edwards Pla-
teau is strictly a rural one. San An-
tonio on the southeast is the principal
distributing center though Austin on the
extreme east and San Angelo on the
north serve wide areas as distribution and
banking centers. San Angelo, Del Rio,
Brady, Fredericksburg and Kerrville are40
40
THE TEXAS ALMANAC-1939.
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Texas Almanac, 1939-1940, book, 1939; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117163/m1/42/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.