A fascinating thread on Texas
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What the Texans call a river, ain't usually much river.
Louisiana has rivers. Especially post Civil War, you had steamboats not only working the rivers, but working the bigger bayous. That's part of the reason we don't have the rail network that Texas has.
One of the disappointments of modern times, is the lack of barge traffic on Red River. A few decades ago, locks and dams were built on the Red and barges can now make Shreveport. That means navigable water from Shreveport to New Orleans, with ports at Alexandria and Baton Rouge along the way.
There are also locks and dams on the Ouachita. The Ouachita is navigable from Southern Arkansas to Monroe. South of Monroe at Jonesville, the Ouachita combines with Little River and the Tensas to form Black River which flows into the Red.
Down at Three Rivers, you have the Red, Old River and the Atchafalaya locks. Without those, the Mississippi would do what Old Man River does and would have changed course into the Atchafalaya, leaving New Orleans high (well, not very) and dry.
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Are we really surprised that topography, water, and mountain ranges dictated where communities and cities developed?
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Are we really surprised that topography, water, and mountain ranges dictated where communities and cities developed?
@LuFins-Dad said in A fascinating thread on Texas:
Are we really surprised that topography, water, and mountain ranges dictated where communities and cities developed?
The point was that the three cities in Texas followed unconventional cause-and-effect.
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@LuFins-Dad said in A fascinating thread on Texas:
Are we really surprised that topography, water, and mountain ranges dictated where communities and cities developed?
The point was that the three cities in Texas followed unconventional cause-and-effect.
@Aqua-Letifer said in A fascinating thread on Texas:
@LuFins-Dad said in A fascinating thread on Texas:
Are we really surprised that topography, water, and mountain ranges dictated where communities and cities developed?
The point was that the three cities in Texas followed unconventional cause-and-effect.
How was it unconventional? It made perfect sense for the line of cities going up the eastern ridge between Dallas and San Antonio. And as for Houston, it was the closest appropriate port to Galveston. Now why Galveston to begin with? Luck of the draw?
The Brad
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The details are interesting. Even if the overarching fact is straightforward and known.
As an analogy, imagine reading a fascinating piece about how flight evolved in birds. The fascinating thing would be the details, not the fact that flight evolved.
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@Aqua-Letifer said in A fascinating thread on Texas:
@LuFins-Dad said in A fascinating thread on Texas:
Are we really surprised that topography, water, and mountain ranges dictated where communities and cities developed?
The point was that the three cities in Texas followed unconventional cause-and-effect.
How was it unconventional? It made perfect sense for the line of cities going up the eastern ridge between Dallas and San Antonio. And as for Houston, it was the closest appropriate port to Galveston. Now why Galveston to begin with? Luck of the draw?
@LuFins-Dad said in A fascinating thread on Texas:
@Aqua-Letifer said in A fascinating thread on Texas:
@LuFins-Dad said in A fascinating thread on Texas:
Are we really surprised that topography, water, and mountain ranges dictated where communities and cities developed?
The point was that the three cities in Texas followed unconventional cause-and-effect.
How was it unconventional? It made perfect sense for the line of cities going up the eastern ridge between Dallas and San Antonio. And as for Houston, it was the closest appropriate port to Galveston. Now why Galveston to begin with? Luck of the draw?
Galveston's right on the Gulf. You have a shipping channel to get to Houston or a ship can dock at Freeport. Problem is, Galveston got wiped out in the 1900 Storm. 90% of Galveston ain't but about six or seven feet above sea level.
The Forgotten Storm scared the crap out of Galveston and prompted complete evacuation. It even made a large portion of Houston evacuate to Dallas and Austin/San Antonio.
Some background... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita
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Cool read, I didn't realize there was such a topographical change in Texas. In fact, now I can see it clearly on google maps where the west side of the state is brown/arid and the east side is greener. Never really though about it, always figured texas was consistent.
Also, wow... didn't realize google maps, if you zoom out enough, actually shows accurate cloud locations and even the sunlight:
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Cool read, I didn't realize there was such a topographical change in Texas. In fact, now I can see it clearly on google maps where the west side of the state is brown/arid and the east side is greener. Never really though about it, always figured texas was consistent.
Also, wow... didn't realize google maps, if you zoom out enough, actually shows accurate cloud locations and even the sunlight:
@89th said in A fascinating thread on Texas:
In fact, now I can see it clearly on google maps where the west side of the state is brown/arid and the east side is greener. Never really though about it, always figured texas was consistent.
It's real obvious when you fly from where I live. East Texas (The Big Thicket) is pretty and green. West Texas is a bunch of brown with an occasional bright green (irrigation) circle.
