TEXAS, a State in the South Central Division of the North American Union; bounded by Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisi ana, New Mexico, the States of Chihua hua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas in Mexico, and the Gulf of Mexico; admitted to the Union Dec. 29, 1845; capital, Austin; number of counties, 253; area, 265,780 square miles; pop. (1890) 2,235,527; (1900) 3,048,710; (1910) 3,896,542; (1920) 4,663,228.
Topography—The surface in the N.W. is covered with mountains, which, in pro ceeding S. E., subside into hills and undu lating plateaus, succeeded on approach ing the Gulf of Mexico, by low alluvial plains. These extend inland from 20 to 80 miles, are furrowed with deep ravines, and consist for the most part of rich prairie or forest land. The hilly region behind this is formed chiefly of sandstone and limestone ridges, separated by val leys of considerable fertility. In the mountainous region many of the sum mits are lofty, and covered with snow several months of the year. The general slope of the country gives all the rivers a more or less southerly direction. The Rio Grande, rising in Colorado, forms the W. and S. W. boundary of the state, from the 32d parallel to the sea. The Red river, which has its source in the Staked Plain, forms the greater part of the N. boundary. The other important rivers are the Colorado, the Brazos, the San Jacinto and Trinity, and the Sabine, which, during the greater part of its course, is the boundary between Texas and Louisiana. A long chain of lagoons stretches along the Gulf of Mexico.
Geology—The Alluvial, Tertiary, Cre taceous, and Carboniferous periods are well represented in Texas. The Alluvial extends along the coast, and is bordered by the Tertiary, with wide expansion in the E. N. W. of the Tertiary are exten sive tracts of Cretaceous formations, ex tending W. along the Red river and S. to San Antonio. The W. portion of the state is principally of Carboniferous formations with extensive coal measures.
Mineralogy.—Coal is the most valuable mineral product, but extensive beds of iron, lead, silver, bismuth, and gold are also found. Salt, building stones, clay, arsenic, antimony, mineral oils, and fer tilizers are among smaller productions. There are numerous mineral springs and oil wells. In the latter part of 1900 ex tensive oil fields were discovered near Beaumont, and produced a great boom in the Texas oil industry. The mineral
production is of great importance. Its value has been increased in recent years by the enormous development of the petroleum fields. This was especially notable in 1918, 1919 and 1920. The pro duction in 1918 was 38,750,031 barrels valued at $74,867,537. The production of coal is of great importance. There were mined in 1919 about 1,600,000 tons, com pared with 2,204,266 tons in 1918. The production of natural gas in 1918 was valued at $3,192,625. Other important mineral products are quicksilver, salt, gypsum, granite, clay products, asphalt, and zinc.
Agriculture.—The soil of Texas is, as a whole, extremely fertile. The two staple products are cotton and maize, both of which are largely cultivated in the lower or coast region, where sugar cane and tobacco also grow luxuriantly. Wheat, rye, oats, and barley thrive best in the black land prairie regions; and both there and at lower levels fruits in almost endless variety are abundant. The forests contain large tracts of oak. The pastures are often covered with the richest natural grasses, and the rearing of cattle is car ried on to the greatest advantage. Texas is one of the most important agricultural States. It has over 420,000 farms, with about 120,000,000 acres of farm land, of which about 30,000,000 acres is improved land. In the arid region a large area has been reclaimed under the Federal Reclamation Act. The acreage, value, and production of the principal crops in 1919 were as follows: corn, 6,760,000 acres, production 202,800,000 bushels, value $239,304,000; oats, 2,250,000 acres, production 94,500,000 bushels, value $60, 480,000; wheat, 1,900,000 acres, produc tion 31,350,000 bushels, value $62,700, 000; hay, 662,000 acres, production 1,258, 000 tons, value $22,644,000; potatoes, 52,000 acres, production 3,796,000 bush els, value $7,972,000; peanuts, 222,000 acres, production 5,550,000 bushels, value $13,209,000; sorghums, 1,798,000 acres, production 59,334,000 bushels, value $65, 667,000; cotton, 10,346,000 acres, produc tion 2,700,000 bales, value $472,500,000; rice, 218,000 acres, production 6,998,000 bushels, value $19,594,000.