Bosque County: Land and People (A History of Bosque County, Texas) Page: 3
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coldest months of a short winter. During the
winter months infrequent freezes result from
typical Texas "northers" that vary in inten-
sity from the mild cold fronts of early autumn
to the strong north winds that bring extreme-
ly cold weather into Texas from December
through March. Light snow and sleet often
accompany the "norther" into the central
Texas region.
The territory included within the boundar-
ies of Bosque County borders the Western
Cross Timbers on the northwest and lies
within the Black Prairie and Edwards Pla-
teau vegetational zones. Post oak, blackjack,
live oak, cedar, and mesquite are the prevail-
ing trees. Wide stretches of mesquite cover
the lowlands. The slopes of the flat-topped
hills, on the other hand, are covered with a
growth of cedar and scrub live oak blended
with scattered groves of Spanish oak, pin oak,
shin oak, post oak, burr oak, red oak, yaupon,
and redbud. The alluvial soils of the river
bottoms support dense growths of pecan,
American elm, cottonwood, ash, sycamore,
river birch, and a variety of oak species.
All of the grasses of the Grand and Black
prairies abound in Bosque County. The most
common of these grasses include Big and
Little Bluestem, both vigorous, long-lived
bunch grasses of the Andropogan species;
Grama grass (both side oaks and blue grama);
and Buffalograss. Sections of the Walnut
prairies, as well as the slopes of the river
valleys, are covered by vine-mesquite. Res-
cuegrass and Bermuda-grass are common in
the arable sections of the county, while
Johnsongrass is universally prevalent.
During the spring months the broad prai-
ries and flat-topped hills of Bosque County
are covered by a colorful assortment of wild
flowers. The mountain flowers include the
redbud, mountain laurel, Indian paintbrush,
mountain daisies, yucca, mountain pinks,
and prickly pear. The prairies and river
valleys, on the other hand, are blanketed with
a growth of fox-glove, mint, winecups, squaw
weeds, pink and white primroses, prickly
poppies and thistles, buckeye, wild plum,
black-eye Susans, cone flowers, golden rod,
dandelions, and the Texas bluebonnet.
It is significant to note that the character
of native vegetation common to the Bosque
territory has undergone a noticeable change
since the 1890's. As the Bosque lands were
occupied by settlers, native grasses were
plowed under and large sections of land put
under cultivation. Trees were felled for
houses and fences. In many instances grass
was eliminated entirely by erosion and
overgrazing. These factors, combined with
the construction of roads and other barriers
to the prairie fires that had aided materially
in cleaning the prairie, have led to the spread
of brush (especially cedar and mesquite) over
what was once level grasslands. As this
process continued, scrub timber overran
large areas and the soil began to wash witheach rain of the season. As a result, perennial
streams such as Neils Creek, Meridian Creek,
Childers Creek, and Cedron Creek became
intermittent while other smaller streams
were turned into dry branches.
The game animals of the Bosque area
include the red fox and an increasing number
of deer. Squirrel, racoon, opossum, and
armadillo are abundant in the woodlands
along the rivers and creeks. The rabbit family
is well represented by the cottontail and the
jackrabbit or hare. Due to the unrelentingpressure of stockmen, the wolf, coyote, and
bobcat (once numerous in Bosque County)
are now almost totally extinct. Snakes are
numerous, including three poisonous spe-
cies-the rattlesnake, cottonmouth mocca-
sin, and copperhead. Of these deadly reptiles,
the rattlesnake is most common, wintering in
the crevices of the limestone hills and
roaming the fields during the summer
months.
Bosque County is situated in North Cen-
tral Texas on the Grand Prairie sub-division
of the North Central Plains. The county is
bordered by Erath, Somervell, and Johnson
counties on the west, by Coryell and McLen-
nan counties on the south, and by Hill County
on the east. The Brazos River, flowing
southward to the Gulf of Mexico, forms a
natural boundary between Bosque County
and Hill County. Within these boundaries
lies an enclosed area of 906.1 square miles or
579,909.5 acres. In 1960 the lands of Bosque
County supported a population of 10,809-a
considerable decrease from the 1910 high of
19,013. This figure gives the county a relativ-
ely scattered population of approximately
eleven persons per square mile and is a
significant factor in the evolution of an
agrarian culture.
Following more recent trends for increas-
ingly large farms and larger mechanical
operations as well as the exodus from rural
areas to urban industrial centers, the popula-
tion of the county has decreased to 13,401 by
1980.
The surface of Bosque County, belonging
to the Grand Prairie sub-division of the
North Central Plains, is primarily an area of
limestone soils. The name Grand Prairie was
given to this region by Dr. Robert T. Hill,
dean of Texas geologists, and is generally
applied to that section of Texas bordered on
the east by the Balcones Fault and on the
west by the North Central Plains. The Grand
Prairie is distinguished by multiple ranges of
flat-topped hills or mesas separated by
lowland areas of grass-covered prairies.
Outcroppings of white limestone are charac-
teristic of the region. The geology of the
Grand Prairie region of Texas is adequately
illustrated by the stratification of Johnson
Peak, a 1300-foot elevation near Iredell in
northwest Bosque County. Johnson Peak has
a cap rock of fossiliferous, semi-crytaline
Edwards limestone (once known as Caprina
limestone). This limestone stratum, imbed-
ded with deposits of flint, has resisted the
erosion of centuries and gives a tableland
appearance to Johnson Peak and the kindred
hills.
Below the limestone cap rock of Johnson
Peak there is a slope of chalky, cracked
limestone known as the Comanche Peak
formation from a stratum found on Coman-
che Peak in southern Hood County. These
two limestone strata rest on a third layerknown as the Walnut clays, a formation
composing the level platform from which the
mesas rise. The Walnut clays (also known as
the Walnut prairies) are encircled by a fourth
formation known as the Puluxy sands, a
formation characterized by red, sandy soils
and dense growths of timber. The lower
slopes of the Johnson Peak profile include the
stratum known as the Glen Rose formation.
On the surface the Glen Rose formation is
characterized by yellow clay maris, outcrops
of sand, and deposits of limestone. The
Trinity sands, once the shoreline of a greatsea, form the lowest stratum of the Creta-
ceous formations of Bosque County. These
sands are buried beneath the surface of the
central Texas counties and constitute the
tremendous underground water reservoir of
the Texas artesian system.
Bosque County can be divided into four
major topographical divisions, namely: (1)
the Brazos River valley and Brazos drainage
basin on the east; (2) the central prairies, also
known as the Walnut Prairies, (3) the Bosque
River valley, and (4) the western hills of the
Lampasas Cut Plain type. Each of these
sections warrants detailed study and will be
considered separately.
The sandy slopes of the Brazos River valley
extend westward for a distance of ten to
twelve miles from the right bank of the river.
The valley has an indentation of 575 feet
below the surrounding plain in the Kimball
Bend region; the average depth of the valley
is 400 feet. The Brazos basin is characterized
by red sandy soil and growths of post oak,
cedar, and other trees native to the area. The
alluvial lands nearest the river include some
of the most desirable farms of the county, a
feature partially nullified by the completion
of Whitney Dam in 1951.
The central prairie belt covers more than
half of the surface of Bosque County and is
found in the eastern section of the county
between the Brazos and Bosque river basins.
This extensive prairie region, composed of
Walnut clays and black soil, is one of the most
fertile farming and grazing sections of the
county. Well drained by tributaries to the
Brazos River, the eastern prairies were
populated between the close of the Civil War
and the year 1900 by settlers from Germany.
In recent years large-scale ranching has made
its appearance in this section of the county.
In the extreme northeastern part of the
prairie belt, the Powelldale Mountains (a
chain of conical-shaped hills) rise from the
grasslands to give the immediate vicinity a
rough-appearing landscape.
The western hill section, including the
valley of the Bosque River, extends from the
river to the western boundary of the county.
This region is composed of numerous ranges
of flat-topped hills of the Lampasas Cut
Plain type. These hills are generally covered
with growths of scrub cedar and oak and are
featured by the Edwards limestone cap rock
of the Johnson and Comanche Peak variety.
Several of the western ranges have elevations
from 1000 to 1250 feet and are known as
"mountains" by natives of the county. The
Bosque hills are drained by the Bosque River
system. In the early days the stream of
settlers entered the Bosque River valley in
central McLennan County and followed the
valley to the northwest in search of new
homes. The Bosque valley suoports more
people per square mile than any other sectionof the county. Four principal towns-Valley
Mills, Clifton, Meridian, and Iredell-are
located on or near the banks of this river.
Over the years the Brazos River-the
copper-colored Brazos-has been one of the
most significant watercourses in Texas. The
Brazos is probably the river known to the
Caddo Indian tribes as the Tokonohono, and
its present name is found in the narratives of
the La Salle expedition and was well estab-
lished long before the close of the Spanish
period of Texas history. The full name of the
river is Brazos de Dios, meaning literally, the
Arms of God; legend says that the soldiers of
3
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Bosque County History Book Committee. Bosque County: Land and People (A History of Bosque County, Texas), book, 1985; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth91038/m1/19/?q=campbell: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Denton Public Library.