What do YOU know about Texas??
Capital: Austin
Population: 20,851,820 (give or take a few)
Governor: Rick Perry (R, to January 2003)
Entered the Union: Dec. 29, 1845 As the: 28th state
Motto: Friendship
Nickname: Lone Star State
Flower: Bluebonnet
Bird: Mockingbird
Song: Texas, Our Texas
Sports Teams: Houston Astros, Texas Rangers (Baseball); Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks, (Basketball); Houston Comets (Women's Basketball) Dallas Cowboys (Football); Dallas Stars (Hockey).
Origin of Name: From a Native American word, Tejas meaning friends
Top 3 Industries: Trade, Real Estate, and Oil and Gas
SOME Points of Interest: Gulf Coast resort area, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, State capital in Austin, and the Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks.
Bordering States: Texas borders New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
Extending from sea level at the Gulf of Mexico to over 8,000 feet in the Guadalupe Mountains of far West Texas and from the semitropical Lower Rio Grande Valley to the High Plains of the Panhandle, Texas has a natural environment best described as "varied." This section of the 2000-2001 Texas Almanac discusses the physical features, geology, soils, water, vegetation and wildlife that are found in the Lone Star State. Below is a summary of the size, the boundaries, the highs and the lows of the state. Following the summary are several links to sites highlighting conservation efforts, endangered species and weather forecasts.
Area of Texas:
Texas occupies about 7 percent of the total water and land area of the United
States. Second in size among the states, Texas, according to the 1996
Statistical Abstract of the United States, has a land and water area of
267,277 square miles as compared with Alaska's 615,230 square miles.
California, third largest state, has 158,869 square miles. Texas is as large
as all of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina
combined. The state's area consists of 261,914 square miles of land and 5,363
square miles of water.
Length and Breadth of Texas:
The longest straight-line distance in a general north-south direction is 801
miles from the northwest corner of the Panhandle to the extreme southern tip
of Texas on the Rio Grande below Brownsville. The greatest east-west distance
is 773 miles from the extreme eastward bend in the Sabine River in Newton
County to the extreme western bulge of the Rio Grande just above El Paso.
Center of Texas:
The geographic center of Texas is about 15 miles northeast of Brady in
northern McCulloch County.
Texas' Boundary Lines:
The boundary of Texas by segments, including only larger river bends and only
the great arc of the coastline, is as follows:
Rio Grande -- 889.0 Miles
Coastline -- 367.0 Miles
Sabine River, Lake and Pass -- 180.0 Miles
*Sabine River to Red River -- 106.5 Miles
Red River -- 480.0 Miles
*East Panhandle line -- 133.6 Miles
*North Panhandle line -- 167.0 Miles
*West Panhandle line -- 310.2 Miles
*Along 32nd parallel -- 209.0 Miles
Total -- 2,842.3 Miles
Following the smaller meanderings of the rivers and the
tidewater coastline, the following are the boundary measurements:
Rio Grande -- 1,254 Miles
Coastline (tidewater) -- 624 Miles
Sabine River, Lake and Pass -- 292 Miles
Red River -- 726 Miles
*The five unchanged line segments above -- 926 Miles Total (including segments
marked *) -- 3,822 Miles
Latitude and Longitude of Texas:
The extremes of latitude and longitude are as follows: From Latitude 25° 50'
N. at the extreme southern turn of the Rio Grande on the south line of Cameron
County to Latitude 36° 30' N. along the north line of the Panhandle, and from
Longitude 93° 31' W. at the extreme eastern point on the Sabine River on the
east line of Newton County to Longitude 106° 38' W. on the extreme westward
point on the Rio Grande above El Paso.
Altitudes of Texas Places:
The highest point in the state is Guadalupe Peak at 8,749 feet above sea
level. Its twin, El Capitan, stands at 8,085 feet and also is located in
Culberson county near the New Mexico state line. Both are in Guadalupe
Mountains National Park, which includes scenic McKittrick Canyon. These
elevations and the others in this article have been determined by the U. S.
Geological Survey, unless otherwise noted.
The named peaks aunty -- 8,378 (also called Baldy Peak)
Hunter Peak, Culberson County -- 8,368 (also called Pine Top Mtn.)
El Capitan, Culberson County -- 8,085
Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County is the highest town of any size in Texas at 5,050 feet, and the county has the highest average elevation. The highest state highway point also is in the county at McDonald Observatory at the end of a tap from State Highway 118 on Mount Locke. The observatory stands at 6,781 feet, as determined by the Texas Department of Transportation.
The highest railway point is Paisano Pass, 14 miles east of Marfa in Presidio County.
Sea level is the lowest elevation determined in Texas, and it can be found in all the coastal counties. No point in the state has been found by the geological survey to be below sea level.
Latitude and Longitude of Texas Places:
To find the latitude and longitude of any place in Texas (or the rest of the
United States), click here to go to the U.S. Geological Survey's mapping
information site, then find the heading "Query the GNIS Online
Database" and click on "United States and Territories."
