Ahhhhh shoot, I'll make it all real simple. If it ain't in Houston, then its a suburb of Houston ... ; ) ... anybody got another Shinner?
Later, ~F~ > At 10:37 AM 2/24/2009, Minton, Mark wrote: > > >I thought West Texas was everything west of the Pecos and east > > Texas >was everything east with the exception of Houston which is > > considered >no-mans land. > > You left out Central Texas, where the center of the caving > > universe is! > > As a trained, professional geographer (which qualifies me, along with > 6-bits worth of money, to ride on most any city bus) I have an opinion > or two on that. But first: > > Terms like East Texas, West Texas, Southwest Texas, and North Central > Texas define some nebulous and often dynamic regions oriented to > generalized compass directions. These terms are often interspersed by > both geographers and non-geographers in trying to define geographic > regions with somewhat less nebulous terms such as High Plains and > Coastal Bend. You can see that the two sets of terms are not > comparable. We should use either directional terms (which with a state > shaped like Texas is a bit of a stretch) or we should use > topographical terms (which are more descriptive of what's really > there). Or we could just color in the voting precincts and refer to > them as red or blue or yellow regions of the State. > > Based on humidity, vegetation, and other factors, it can be > considered that the eastward limits of West Texas can sometimes reach > as far as Kerrville--but not always. It swings back and forth a good > bit along with the related meteorlogical phenomenon known as a 'dry > line' and shares, from time-to-time, parts of what is called The Hill > Country with Central Texas. (Recall that The Hill Country and West > Texas are not in parallel competition with each other, so can share > territory.) To the west it extends nearly to Tucson, although some of > our caver associates (non-geographers) claim it stops at Midland--the > rest to the west being a nominal part of either Mexico or New > Mexico--I can't remember which. The question always arises in my mind > as to how far north West Texas extends. Does it include the Pan > Handle? > > Or is that North Texas? It is generally conceded, I think, that > Dallas and Forth Wort, and those menial towns up near the Red River > represent North Texas while the Pan Handle, which is farther north, > does not. 'Splain that if you can. If you pointed your compass in the > direction of the Pan Handle it would render north west, yet I don't > think that term is commonly applied to it. But, maybe? > > Neither does North Texas extend eastward into East Texas which is at > the same latitude and, again, I think, considered to be that great > humid area of black gumbo mud and tall mixed forest that extends west > pretty much as a continuation of Louisiana about as far west as the > trees do. The fact that The Great Plains also begin at that spot is > not a factor of compass direction but vegetation (and perhaps soil > type) and otherwise unrelated. Now I guess that there's a little area > up there north of the gumbo but still in the trees that's called > Northeast Texas by some on account of not wanting to leave out any of > the cardinal directions and winding up with a hole in the map. Being > close to Arkansas there's a lot of confusion rampant thereabouts. And > East Texas extends south a bit lower than Houston, encroaching well > into the lower latitudes, but not the terrain, of Central Texas > > South Texas is pretty much everything south of an east-west line > running through some arbitrary part of San Antonio--say the Balcones > Escarpment. North of that is Central Texas and, coincidentally, The > Hill Country (all 3 always capitalized). Now, where South Texas and > West Texas delineate themselves could be hard to put ones foot or > finger on--even were one to have large hands and feet. It's out there > somewhere in what we might oughta rightly call Southwest Texas, but > can't really define that either without a few stout drinks. (One thing > is certain--the college formerly called Southwest Texas State(SWTSTC) > was nowhere near that part of the State.) > > That leaves only the Coastal Plain, nominally running from > Brownsville to Port O'Connor (as they say in the hurricane weather > warnings), to be given a direction--obviously Southeast Texas, as that > direction is otherwise unasigned and probably more correctly occupied > by the Gulf of Mexico which can't be renamed. But it overlaps both > South Texas and East Texas at its extremes, both of which exhibit some > (sometimes significant, sometimes not) climatic differences. > > Now, there you have it; if you have questions please keep them to > yourself. ...and excuse my broken spell checker, por favor. --Ediger > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: > [email protected] For additional commands, > e-mail: [email protected] > --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
