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Texas, largest state in the coterminous United States. It is located in the S Central part of the country and is bounded by Oklahoma, across the Red R. except in the Texas panhandle (N); Arkansas (NE); Louisiana, across the Sabine R. (E); the Gulf of Mexico (SE); Mexico, across the Rio Grande R. (SW); and New Mexico (W).
Area, 267,338 sq mi (692,405 sq km).
Pop. (2000) 20,851,820, a 22.8% increase since the 1990 census.
Capital, Austin. Largest city, Houston.
Nickname, Lone Star State.
Motto, Friendship. State bird, mockingbird.
State flower, bluebonnet.
State tree, pecan.
Texas is roughly spade shaped. The vast expanse of the state contains great regional differences (the distance from Beaumont to El Paso is greater than that from New York to Chicago).
Mineral resources compete with industry for primary economic importance in Texas. The state is the leading U.S. producer of oil, natural gas, and natural-gas liquids, despite recent production declines. It is also a major producer of helium, salt, sulfur, sodium sulfate, clays, gypsum, cement, and talc.
Texas manufactures an enormous variety of products, including chemicals and chemical products, petroleum, food and food products, transportation equipment, machinery, and primary and fabricated metals. The development and manufacture of electronic equipment, such as computers, has in recent decades become one of the state's leading industries; the area around Dallas-Fort Worth has become known as “Silicon Prairie,” a name now also extended to Austin and its suburbs. Agriculturally, Texas is one of the most important states in the country. It easily leads the nation in producing cattle, cotton, and cottonseed. Texas also has more farms, farmland, sheep, and lambs than any other state.
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is in the Houston area. Other places of interest in the state include Big Bend National Park,Guadalupe Mountains National Park , Amistad and Lake Meredith national recreation areas, Padre Island National Seashore, San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, and Arkansas National Wildlife Refuge, winter home of the whooping crane. Austin is the capital; Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio are the largest cities.
Among the many institutions of higher learning in Texas are the University of Texas, mainly at Austin, but with large branches at Arlington, El Paso, and the Dallas suburb of Richardson.
*Information from Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | |
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HISTORY OF CANYON LAKE
Formation (impounding) of Canyon Lake occurred during 1964 as the result of legislative efforts by then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and prompted by a need to curtail area flooding, enable water conservation and provide for area recreation. Actual construction of the dam commenced on June 27, 1958 by contractor Tecon Corporation (Dallas, Texas) accomplished by damming the Guadalupe River.
Management of Canyon Lake (reservoir controlling authority) is handled jointly by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority (GBRA).
MISCELLANEOUS FACTS:
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943 ft. above sea level (spill way);
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909 ft. msl (conservation pool);
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382,000 acre-feet of storage capacity;
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8,240 acres of surface area;
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125 ft. maximum depth;
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80+ miles of shoreline;
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16 boat ramps;
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7 public parks;
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2 public marinas
Additional information concerning Canyon Lake, Texas:
The Handbook of Texas
The Edwards Aquifer Homepage
US Army Corps of Engineers
We hope that you enjoy your stay at Canyon Lake, Texas.
Thanks for visiting!
Courtesy of the Chamber of Commerce |
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GUADALUPE RIVER
The name Guadalupe, or Nuestra Señor de Guadalupe, has been applied to the present river, at least in its lower courses since 1689, when the stream was so named by Alonso De León. Domingo de los Ríos, who maintained a colony on the river from 1691 to 1693, renamed it San Augustan, but the name Guadalupe continued to be used. Most of the early explorers, including Father Isidro Felix de Espinosa, Domingo Ramón, and the Marques de Aguayo, called the Guadalupe River the San Ybón above its junction with Comal, and referred to the Comal River as the Guadalupe. Above the mouth of the Comal the name Guadalupe was applied to the present river at least as early as 1727, When Pedro de Rivera y Villa Lon so referred to it. Artifacts dating from the Archaic era have been found in thr Guadalupe River valley, suggesting that the area has supported human habitation for several thousand years. The peoples encountered by early explorers belonged to the Tonkawa, Waco, Lipan, Apache, and Karankawa Indians. Settlers from Mexico, Europe, and the United State gradually displaced these early inhabitants. European settlement along the Guadalupe began as early as the 1720s, when the Spanish established several missions above the site of present Victoria. Settlement farther upriver increased in the late 1830s. Seguin (then called Walnut Springs) was surveyed by Benjamin McCulloch in 1839, and New Braunfels was founded in 1845 by a group of German settlers led by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels. The construction of railroads through the middle and upper Guadalupe valley in the 1880s brought large numbers of new residents to the area. In 1958 US Army Corps of Engineers in cooperation with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority began construction of the dan at Canyon Lake with completion in 1964, the dam provided the first effective flood control.
Today Canyon Lake and the Guadalupe river are Great magnets to the area.
Thanks for stopping by!
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