1.
Jasper, Texas
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Jasper is a city and the county seat of Jasper County, Texas, in the United States. The population was 8,247 at the 2000 census and 7,590 at the 2010 census, Jasper is situated in the Deep East Texas subregion, about 130 miles northeast of Houston. Jasper holds an annual Butterfly Festival the first Saturday in October to celebrate the migration of the monarch butterflies, the area, which was then part of Mexican Texas, was settled around 1824 by John Bevil. Thirty families occupied the settlement as early as 1830, when it was known as Snow River or Bevils Settlement after John R. Bevil, a hero of the American Revolution. In 1835, the town was renamed after William Jasper, a war hero from the American Revolution, Jasper was one of the 23 original counties when the Republic of Texas was created in 1836. Jasper became the county seat in 1844, becoming part of the United States with the Texas annexation in 1845, during the Civil War, the town housed a Confederate quartermaster depot and served as a major center for Confederate communication, transportation, and supply. Jasper was a Confederate Army headquarters for a nine-county area, following the war, Union troops led by General George Custer occupied Jasper, camping in the town square. The only known soldier of the American Revolution to be buried in Texas was Jasper resident Stephen Williams, the population declined to 360 in 1870, reflecting the hardships of the Civil War, but by 1885 had risen to 1,000. In 1896, Jasper had a population of 1,200, with the arrival of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway early in the 20th century, Jasper grew into a center for the manufacture of timber products. Lumber from two sawmills, with a capacity of 125,000 board feet, goods from basket and stave factories, logs, ties, poles. Jasper served as headquarters for the Lower Neches Valley Authoritys construction program, including Dam B at Town Bluff, local farmers raised broiler chickens and beef, and in the 1950s turned to dairying. Jasper also became the headquarters of the Morgan and Lindsey chain of variety stores, which at one time operated 85 outlets in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. In June 1998, the murder of James Byrd, Jr. catapulted Jasper into national news and led to the creation of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, three men, William King, Lawrence Russell Brewer, and Shawn Berry, were tried and convicted of capital murder. King and Brewer received the penalty, while Berry, who was the only suspect who cooperated during the investigation and implicated King. Brewer has been put to death, while King still awaits lethal injection, in 2000, Jasper had 8,247 residents and around 250 businesses. Jasper was also one of the locations for the recovery of the Space Shuttle Columbia wreckage in February 2003. Jasper was greatly affected by Hurricane Rita on September 25,2005, the town was also left without power or potable water for about three and a half weeks. In 2012, Jasper returned to attention during a bitterly fought political feud over the hiring and firing of Jasper’s first black police chief
2.
Piney Woods
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These coniferous forests are dominated by several species of pine as well as hardwoods including hickory and oak. The World Wide Fund for Nature considers the Piney Woods to be one of the critically endangered ecoregions of the United States, the United States Environmental Protection Agency defines most of this ecoregion as the South Central Plains. The Piney Woods cover a 54, 400-square-mile area of eastern Texas, northwestern Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas and it receives 40-52 inches of precipitation annually. The region has heavy to moderate rainfall, with some receiving over 60 in of rain per year. Longleaf, shortleaf and loblolly pines, along with bluejack and post oaks, a well-developed understory grows beneath the sparse canopy, and includes yaupon holly and flowering dogwood. Pine savannas consist of scattered longleaf and loblolly pines alongside black tupelos, sweetgums, other common trees in this ecoregion include eastern redbud, southern sugar maple, and American elm. American wisteria, a vine, may cover groves of trees Two varieties of wetlands are common in the Piney Woods, bayous are generally found near rivers, in bayous bald cypress, Spanish moss, and water lilies are common plants. Sloughs are shallow pools of standing water that most trees are not capable of growing in, other species, such as the purple bladderwort, a small carnivorous plant, have found niches in sloughs. Hardy species of prickly pear cactus and yucca can be both in the forests and wetlands. The indigenous Texas trailing phlox, a species, grows in the sandy soils of longleaf pine forests. Birds include sandhill cranes, black and turkey vultures, northern mockingbirds, American alligators are not as common as they once were, but their population has rebounded since the 1960s. Louisiana black bears are rare today, but still live in remote thickets, recently, there has been significant talk of reintroducing the black bear into many parts of East Texas. The most common fish is catfish, which are a native species, crayfish are common along river and creek banks. The Piney Woods Region of the four state area is an area for Bigfoot sightings. One such noted legend is the story of the Fouke Monster of Southern Arkansas, the area according to references lists this area to be the third highest in North America for these such sightings. Melanistic cougars, another probable cryptid, have been noted by residents, the majority of the commercial timber growing and wood processing in the state of Texas takes place in the Piney Woods region, which contains about 50,000 square kilometres of commercial forestland. The preserve contains ten distinct ecosystems according to the National Park Service, big Thicket National Preserve is one of two UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Texas. The preserve has also listed as a Globally Important Bird Area by the American Bird Conservancy
3.
Tyler County, Texas
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Tyler County is a county located in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 21,766, Tyler County is named for John Tyler, the tenth President of the United States. Despite its name, Tyler County does not contain the city of Tyler, Texas, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 936 square miles, of which 925 square miles is land and 11 square miles is water. U. S. Highway 69 U. S. Highway 190 U. S, the population density was 23 people per square mile. There were 10,419 housing units at a density of 11 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 84. 0% White,12. 0% Black or African American,0. 4% Native American,0. 2% Asian,0. 02% Pacific Islander,2. 5% from other races, and 1. 1% from two or more races. 3. 6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,24. 3% of all households were made up of individuals and 12. 4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.5 and the family size was 2.9. In the county, the population was out with 23. 2% under the age of 18,8. 0% from 18 to 24,27. 2% from 25 to 44,23. 8% from 45 to 64. The median age was 39 years, for every 100 females there were 106.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 108.2 males, the median income for a household in the county was $29,808, and the median income for a family was $35,195. Males had an income of $31,797 versus $19,594 for females. The per capita income for the county was $15,367, about 12. 6% of families and 15. 8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21. 0% of those under age 18 and 10. 1% of those age 65 or over. Dry counties in Texas Tyler County Airport
4.
Jasper County, Texas
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Jasper County is a county located in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 35,710, the county was created as a municipality in Mexico in 1834, and in 1837 was organized as a county in the Republic of Texas. It is named for William Jasper, an American Revolutionary War hero, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 970 square miles, of which 939 square miles is land and 31 square miles is covered by water. U. S. Highway 69 U. S. Highway 96 U. S, the population density was 38 people per square mile. The 16,576 housing units averaged 18 per square mile, about 3. 89% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. About 23% of all households were made up of individuals and 11. 2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.03. In the county, the population was distributed as 26. 50% under the age of 18,8. 00% from 18 to 24,26. 80% from 25 to 44,23. 40% from 45 to 64, the median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.60 males, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.10 males. The median income for a household in the county was $30,902, males had a median income of $31,739 versus $19,119 for females. The per capita income for the county was $15,636, about 15. 00% of families and 18. 10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23. 40% of those under age 18 and 17. 80% of those age 65 or over. County Judge - Judge Mark W. Allen Commissioner, Pct. #1 - Charles Shofner, Jr. Commissioner, Pct. #2 - Roy Parker Commissioner, Pct. #3 - Willie Stark Commissioner, Pct
5.
Neches River
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The Neches River begins in Van Zandt County east of Rhine Lake and flows for 416 miles through east Texas to its mouth on Sabine Lake near the Rainbow Bridge. Two major reservoirs, Lake Palestine and B. A. Steinhagen Reservoir are located on the Neches. Several cities are located along the Neches River Basin, including Tyler, Lufkin, Silsbee, Evadale, Beaumont, Vidor, Port Neches, Nederland, Groves, with the exception of the manmade lakes, much of the river is in a natural state. For example, from Lake B. A. Steinhagen down to Beaumont and this important ecosphere preserves the area where several ecosystems converge - an event that harkens back to the last glacial period. The Big Thicket Visitor Center is off U. S. Highway 69 several miles north of Kountze, the Lower Neches Valley Authority is the river authority which oversees the Neches River in Tyler, Hardin, Liberty, Chambers, and Jefferson counties of Texas. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service purchased land along the Neches River beginning in 2006 for the creation of the Neches River National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge includes land on which Dallas had proposed to build a reservoir to meet the needs of the city. Tentatively named Lake Fastrill, this reservoir was not scheduled to be built until 2050. However, in February 2010 the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the lower forty miles of the river, from the Beaumont Interstate 10 bridge to Sabine Lake, is industrialized. The river is a deep ship channel running between the Port of Beaumont to Sabine Lake. The channel is currently 40 feet deep and 400 ft wide, the total estimated cost of the Sabine-Neches Waterway project is $1.1 billion. Several petro-chemical plants are located in the rivers southern section. The Sabine-Neches Navigation District, formed in 1909, has management responsibilities of the portion of the river which is part of the Sabine-Neches Waterway, the Port of Beaumont is located on the Neches River at Beaumont, Texas. It begins near the mouth of the river and the Rainbow Bridge, list of Texas rivers USS Neches — a fleet oiler built in 1920. Sabine-Neches Waterway Lower Neches Valley Authority Neches River from the Handbook of Texas Online Fun365Days
6.
Angelina River
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The Angelina River is formed by the junction of Barnhardt and Shawnee creeks 3 miles northwest of Laneville in southwest central Rusk County, Texas. The river flows southeast for 120 miles and forms the boundaries between Cherokee and Nacogdoches, Angelina and Nacogdoches, and Angelina and San Augustine counties and it empties into the Neches River 12 miles north of Jasper in northwestern Jasper County. The Sam Rayburn Reservoir is on the part of the river. The river was named for a native Hasinai girl whom Spanish missionaries called Angelina and it was well known to Spanish and French explorers and to missionaries in East Texas. Spanish land grants along the stream back to the later eighteenth century. In 1832, the Battle of Nacogdoches spilled over onto the Angelina, River traffic on the Angelina began to die in the 1880s with the arrival of the railroads. By 1900, the stream was no longer navigable, farming and clear-cutting by the growing lumber industry in the rivers watershed caused the river to silt up, and numerous sandbars formed along its course. The Angelina River is mentioned in Rivertown by Texan Hayes Carll on his 2005 album Little Rock, mason Williams, in The Rivers of Texas on the album Of Time and Rivers Flowing, says the fair Angelina runs glossy and gliding. List of rivers of Texas U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Angelina River
7.
U.S. Route 190
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U. S. Route 190 is an east–west United States highway in Louisiana and Texas. It evolved from the shortest of intrastate routes in 1926 to a length comparable to a main Interstate Highway route, leading from the swamps and pine forests of Louisiana to the West Texas desert. It runs east through Texas Hill Country speckled with sage brush, intersecting with State Highway 305, crossing into Schleicher County, just outside Eldorado was where the raid of the Yearning for Zion Ranch gained national attention. Continuing on a northeastward route US190 enters McCulloch County and into Brady, Texas. Being the closest city to the center of Texas, the city proclaims being the True Heart of Texas. Continuing east US190 enters Lampasas County, entering Lometa, merging and running concurrent with U. S. Route 183 south into the city of Lampasas. Splitting from US183 and continuing east, US190 runs through Kempner and into the southern corner of Coryell County. On the east side of Copperas Cove, a concurrency with Interstate 14 begins, US190 then traverses through part of Fort Hood, into Bell County and Killeen. Being directly adjacent to the cantonment of Fort Hood, both Killeen and Copperas Cove depend on the fort and those stationed there. A restaurant in Killeen was the site of one of the worst mass shootings in U. S. history where 23 people were killed. US190 next intersects and merges with I-35 north through Belton and enters Temple, where Interstate 14 ends, continuing east and south US190 passes through Rogers and enters Milam County then Cameron and merges with U. S. Route 77 south for a distance. A few miles south of Cameron US190 merges and runs concurrent with U. S. Route 79 north, continuing east, US190 enters San Jacinto County, passing north of Oakhurst and Point Blank, crossing Lake Livingston, entering Polk County and into Onalaska. East of Woodville FM256 splits north and US190 crosses BA Steinhagen Lake, into Jasper County, intersecting with State Highway 63 east, continuing east US190 travels through Holly Springs enters Newton County and proceeds into Newton. In Newton US190 turns south through Bon Wier, and then crosses the Louisiana line, in Newton County, Texas, US190 has been designated one of the routes on the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail. The site number attached to the signs denote the location of the sign, the sign in the picture is located on the westbound side of the highway, inside the Texas line, just west of the Welcome to Texas sign near the Sabine River. US190 crosses the Sabine River and enters the western portion of Louisiana in swampy bayou terrain three miles west of Merryville, Louisiana, Merryville is the location of the old Coushatta Indian village. From Merryville the highway heads north by northeast to the community of Junction, Louisiana, Junction is where LA111 and US190 intersect and is the site of a roadside marker and the joining of two Indian trails. US190 runs concurrently with US171 to Ragley, where US190 parts with US171 heading east, from Ragley, the two-lane highway heads nearly due east almost parallel to Interstate 10 until Opelousas
8.
Hydropower
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Hydropower or water power is power derived from the energy of falling water or fast running water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. A trompe, which compressed air from falling water, is sometimes used to power other machinery at a distance. In the late 19th century, hydropower became a source for generating electricity, cragside in Northumberland was the first house powered by hydroelectricity in 1878 and the first commercial hydroelectric power plant was built at Niagara Falls in 1879. In 1881, street lamps in the city of Niagara Falls were powered by hydropower, since the early 20th century, the term has been used almost exclusively in conjunction with the modern development of hydroelectric power. In China and the rest of the Far East, hydraulically operated pot wheel pumps raised water into crop or irrigation canals, the power of a wave of water released from a tank was used for extraction of metal ores in a method known as hushing. The method was first used at the Dolaucothi Gold Mines in Wales from 75 AD onwards, hushing was also widely used in Britain in the Medieval and later periods to extract lead and tin ores. It later evolved into hydraulic mining when used during the California Gold Rush and these include an endless belt with jugs attached, a cow-powered shadoof, and a reciprocating device with hinged valves. In 1753, French engineer Bernard Forest de Bélidor published Architecture Hydraulique which described vertical-, the growing demand for the Industrial Revolution would drive development as well. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, water was the source of power for new inventions such as Richard Arkwrights water frame. In the 1830s, at the peak in US canal-building, hydropower provided the energy to transport barge traffic up. Technological advances had moved the water wheel into an enclosed turbine or water motor. Francis, while working as engineer of Lowells Locks and Canals company. He applied scientific principles and testing methods to the problem of turbine design and his mathematical and graphical calculation methods allowed confident design of high efficiency turbines to exactly match a sites specific flow conditions. The Francis reaction turbine is still in use today. Hydraulic power networks used pipes to carrying pressurized water and transmit power from the source to end users. The power source was normally a head of water, which could also be assisted by a pump and these were extensive in Victorian cities in the United Kingdom. A hydraulic power network was developed in Geneva, Switzerland. The world-famous Jet dEau was originally designed as the relief valve for the network
9.
Federation
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A federation is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions under a central government. The governmental or constitutional structure found in a federation is known as federalism and it can be considered the opposite of another system, the unitary state. Federations are often multiethnic and cover an area of territory. The initial agreements create a stability that encourages other common interests, at some time, that is recognized and a movement is organized to merge more closely. At other times, especially when common cultural factors are at such as ethnicity and language. The Old Swiss Confederacy was an example of formal non-unitary statehood. Several colonies and dominions in the New World consisted of autonomous provinces, the oldest continuous federation, and a role model for many subsequent federations, is the United States. Some of the New World federations failed, the Federal Republic of Central America broke up into independent states ten years after its founding, others, such as Argentina and Mexico, have shifted between federal, confederal, and unitary systems, before settling into federalism. Brazil became a federation only after the fall of the monarchy, australia and Canada are also federations. Germany is another nation-state that has switched between confederal, federal and unitary rules, since the German Confederation was founded in 1815, the North German Confederation, the succeeding German Empire and the Weimar Republic were federations. The Russian Federation has inherited a similar system, Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Malaysia became federations on or shortly before becoming independent from the British Empire. In some recent cases, federations have been instituted as a measure to handle ethnic conflict within a state, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iraq since 2005. The component states are in some sense sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may not be exercised by the central government, however, a federation is more than a mere loose alliance of independent states. The component states of a federation usually possess no powers in relation to foreign policy, however, German Länder have that power, which is beginning to be exercised on a European level. Some federations are called asymmetric because some states have more autonomy than others, an example of such a federation is Malaysia, in which Sarawak and Sabah agreed to form the federation on different terms and conditions from the states of Peninsular Malaysia. A federation often emerges from an agreement between a number of separate states. The purpose can be the will to solve problems and to provide for mutual defense or to create a nation state for an ethnicity spread over several states. The former was the case with the United States and Switzerland, however, as the histories of countries and nations vary, the federalist system of a state can be quite different from these models
10.
Sam Rayburn Reservoir
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Sam Rayburn Reservoir is a reservoir in the United States in Deep East Texas,70 mi north of Beaumont. The reservoir is fed by the Angelina River, the tributary of the Neches River. The reservoirs capacity is 3,997,600 acre feet, the reservoir is operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth district. Construction began September 7,1956 and the reservoir began serving its purpose on March 29,1965, the main purposes of the reservoir are flood control, hydroelectric power generation, and conservation of water. Construction costs, including those for recreation facilities, were estimated at about $66 million and it was known as McGee Bend Dam and Reservoir until 1963. Dedication ceremonies were held on May 8,1965, in accordance with the 1945 federal Rivers and Harbors Act, four reservoirs were originally approved for the Neches and Angelina Rivers Basin. They were designated as Dam A, Dam B, Rockland, the first to be built was Dam B, completed on the Neches River in 1953. The name was changed to Town Bluff Dam and B. A. Steinhagen Reservoir, in 1955, Congress approved the funding for McGee Bend Dam and Reservoir, and construction began in 1957. Congress changed the name to Sam Rayburn Dam and Reservoir in 1963, the Dam A and Rockland dams, which were to be on the Neches River upstream from the convergence of the Neches and Angelina Rivers, were deemed to be unnecessary and listed as deferred. Lake Sam Rayburn was known as a ground for serial killers Dean Corll, Elmer Wayne Henley. Corll, Brooks and Henley buried four of their 28 victims at the Lake, Henley later shot Corll to death, turned himself in to authorities and implicated Brooks, whereupon the two were sentenced to life in prison. U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Sam Rayburn Reservoir U. S
11.
Beaumont, Texas
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Beaumont is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas in the United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. Beaumont was founded as a town in 1835 by Northerners, the early European-American settlement had an economy based on the development of lumber, farming, and port industries. Rice became an important commodity crop in Texas, and is now cultivated in 23 counties, a big change occurred in 1901 with the Spindletop gusher, which demonstrated the potential of the huge oil field. With Spindletop, several companies developed in Beaumont, and some continue. The area rapidly developed as one of the major petro-chemical refining areas in the country, along with Port Arthur and Orange, Beaumont forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the Texas Gulf Coast. Beaumont is home of Lamar University, a national Carnegie Doctoral Research university with 14,966 students, including undergraduates and post graduates. Over the years, several corporations have been based in this city, gSUs Edison Plaza headquarters is still the tallest building in Beaumont. In 1824 Noah and Nancy Tevis settled on the west bank of the Neches River, soon after that, a small community grew up around the farm, which was named Tevis Bluff or Neches River Settlement. They began planning a town to be out on this land. Their partnership, J. P. Pulsifer and Company, controlled the first 50 acres upon which the town was founded and this town was named Beaumont, after Jefferson Beaumont, the brother-in-law of Henry Millard. They added more property for a total of 200 acres, Beaumont became a town on 16 December 1838. Beaumonts first mayor was Alexander Calder, from the towns founding in 1835, business activities included real estate, transportation, and retail sales. Later, other businesses were formed, especially in construction and operation, new building construction, lumber sales. The Port of Beaumont became a regional shipping center. Beaumont was a center for cattle raisers and farmers in its early years. With an active riverport by the 1880s, it became an important lumber and it exported rice as a commodity crop. The Beaumont Rice Mill, founded in 1892 by Joseph Eloi Broussard, was the first commercially successful rice mill in Texas, in addition, Broussard founded a company to operate an irrigation system to support rice culture. This helped stimulate the expansion of cultivation from 1500 acres in 1892 to 400,000 acres in 23 counties by his death in 1956
12.
United States Department of Energy
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The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States Government concerned with the United States policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material. It also directs research in genomics, the Human Genome Project originated in a DOE initiative, DOE sponsors more research in the physical sciences than any other U. S. federal agency, the majority of which is conducted through its system of National Laboratories. Former Governor of Texas Rick Perry is the current Secretary of Energy and he was confirmed by a 62 to 37 vote in the United States Senate on March 2,2017. In 1942, during World War II, the United States started the Manhattan Project, after the war in 1946, the Atomic Energy Commission was created to control the future of the project. The 1973 oil crisis called attention to the need to consolidate energy policy, on August 4,1977, President Jimmy Carter signed into law The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, which created the Department of Energy. Former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, who served under Presidents Nixon, a DOE spokesperson denied that phrases had been banned. In December 1999, the FBI was investigating how China obtained plans for a nuclear device. Wen Ho Lee was accused of stealing nuclear secrets from Los Alamos National Laboratory for the Peoples Republic of China, Federal officials, including then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, publicly named Lee as a suspect before he was charged with a crime. The U. S. Congress held hearings to investigate the Department of Energys mishandling of his case, republican senators thought that an independent agency should be in charge of nuclear weapons and security issues, not the Department of Energy. All but one of the 59 charges against Lee were eventually dropped because the investigation proved that the plans the Chinese obtained could not have come from Lee. Lee filed suit and won a $1.6 million settlement against the federal government, the department is under the control and supervision of a United States Secretary of Energy, a political appointee of the President of the United States. The Energy Secretary is assisted in managing the department by a United States Deputy Secretary of Energy, also appointed by the president, the department also has three under secretaries, each appointed by the president, who oversee the major areas of the departments work. The president also appoints seven officials with the rank of Assistant Secretary of Energy who have line management responsibility for major elements of the Department. The Energy Secretary assigns their functions and duties. S.4 billion budget request for DOE for fiscal year 2010, including $2.3 billion for the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The budget aims to expand the use of renewable energy sources while improving energy transmission infrastructure. It also makes significant investments in hybrids and plug-in hybrids, in smart grid technologies, most of the stimulus spending was in the form of grants and contracts. The contractor guarantees the energy improvements will generate savings, and after the contract ends, in loan guarantees, a conditional commitment requires to meet an equity commitment, as well as other conditions, before the loan guarantee is completed. The DOE budget includes $280 million to fund eight Energy Innovation Hubs, yet another hub will develop smart materials that will allow the electrical grid to adapt and respond to changing conditions
13.
Liberty, Texas
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Liberty is a city in the U. S. state of Texas, within Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. The population was 8,397 at the 2010 census and it serves as the seat of Liberty County. Liberty is the third oldest city in the state—established in 1831 on the banks of the Trinity River, the city also has a twin of the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its area code is 936 and its ZIP code is 77575, Liberty, Texas is the county seat of Liberty and the third oldest town in Texas. Travis, Sam Houston, and David Burnet all practiced law in Liberty, three brothers from Liberty died at the Alamo, while some 50 Liberty citizens fought in the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836 when Texas won its independence. Liberty is located on U. S. Highway 90 in the central part of Liberty County. The site is in an oil and gas production area served primarily by the Union Pacific Railroad. Liberty once stood at the head of navigation, both steamboat and barge, on the Trinity River. The town was founded by Mexican land commissioner José Francisco Madero Gaxiola in 1831 near the sites of a Spanish settlement called Atascosito and Champ dAsile, the area was first occupied by American squatters as early as 1818, when it was still under Spanish law. Madero established an office in the settlement in the Coahuila-Texas province and on May 5,1831, thus was formed a new municipality, Villa de la Santísima Trinidad de la Libertad translated “Village of the Most Holy Trinity of Liberty. ”Hugh B. Johnston was made alcalde. But the history of the Liberty area actually was recorded earlier in maps. From these earliest records and maps available of this area, documents show the Indian inhabitants were called the Orcoquisac tribe. The most accessible, and therefore, most frequently used route into the interior was the river, thus, the Trinity River of today was, in all probability, known as the Arkokisac River. A map attributed to a Spanish cosmographer Alonzo de Santa Cruz and his map, tentatively dated 1572, labels the river “Rio del Oro” or “River of Gold. ”LaSalle traversed the Trinity River in 1685 and called it the “River of Canoes. He reached the Trinity near Liberty, “finding Indians on the Trinity River living in rancherias of bearskin tents. ”In 1754 a party of French traders was arrested by Spanish Governor Barrios orders at the mouth of the Trinity at a site designated by Spaniards as El Orcoquisac. The leader, Blancpain, who claimed to have traded with the Indians for 25 years, was clearly a government agent, at Governor Barrios’ suggestion, the Presidio of San Agustin de Ahumada was erected in the summer of 1756 near El Orcoquisac, the spot of Blancpain’s capture. The mission of Nuestra Senora de la Luz was made by its side, the site of El Orcoquisac, the name of the settlement on the Trinity, was near a lagoon a short distance east of the Trinity, about two leagues from the head of the bay. They received the assistance of Jean LaFitte, known in history primarily for his pirate activities, seeking refuge from the restored Bourbon government in France, they named their colony “Champ d’Asile” – Place of Refuge
14.
Livingston, Texas
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Livingston is a city in and the county seat of Polk County, Texas, United States. With a population of 5,335 at the 2010 census and it is located approximately seventy-five miles north of Houston and was originally settled in 1835 as Springfield. Its name was changed to Livingston and became the county seat of Polk County in 1846, the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation is just to the east of Livingston. The 2000 census reported a resident population of 480 persons within the reservation, Livingston is located at 30°42′34″N 94°56′4″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 8.4 square miles. However, the town of Livingston is about 10 mi east of Lake Livingston, elevation,148 ft The zip code 77399 is used exclusively by a mail service called Escapees for those who are signed up with the service. As of the census of 2000,5,433 people,2,048 households, the population density was 649.9 inhabitants per square mile. There were 2,358 housing units at a density of 282.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 70. 38% White,18. 50% African American,0. 64% Native American,0. 83% Asian,8. 08% from other races, about 13. 90% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. About 30. 9% of all households were made up of individuals, the average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.13. In the town, the population was distributed as 27. 7% under the age of 18,9. 1% from 18 to 24,26. 5% from 25 to 44,19. 7% from 45 to 64, the median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.0 males, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $31,424, males had a median income of $30,318 versus $21,774 for females. The per capita income for the town was $17,214, about 18. 2% of families and 22. 3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27. 7% of those under age 18 and 17. 4% of those age 65 or over. In the 2010 Census, Livingston lost 1.8 percent of its population.2010 Census for Livingston, the Livingston Municipal Airport, operated by the City of Livingston, is located in West Livingston. Nearby West Livingston has the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Allan B, polunsky Unit, the location of the State of Texas death row since 1999. A few miles outside of Livingston is the IAH Polk County Secure Adult Detention Center, Livingston uses a manager-council system of government. The current mayor is Clarke Evans, the most common employers in Livingston are lumber operations and the Allan B
15.
Vinton, Louisiana
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Vinton is a town in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,212 at the 2010 census and it is part of the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Old Spanish Trail, which was neither old nor Spanish, the chief means of outside travel in the parish relied on riverboats plying the Sabine and Calcasieu rivers. Much of the marsh and bayous remained impassable, River travel made Lake Charles possible, just as mining for sulfur led to the founding of Sulphur. Settlers had long been in the Vinton area, jean Baptise Granger settled acreage between what is now Vinton and Big Woods about 1827, one of the first pioneers of the area. Even so, the area remained sparsely populated, the area had few settlers because France, New Spain, and Mexico disputed the western boundary of Louisiana for many years. When The United States made the Louisiana Purchase the disputed area was inherited, Spanish Lt. Col. Simón de Herrera and U. S. General James Wilkinson signed an agreement designating the area as neutral ground also known as the Neutral Strip, the agreement was not a treaty, and not ratified by either government, but was respected by both countries. The area, sometimes referred to as the Rio Hondo Territory, was off limits to the military of countries and settlers were not to be allowed, but this did not stop squatters from both countries. There had been attempts to improve transportation throughout the 19th century. In the 1830s, on the nearby Sabine River, Dr. Robert Neblett developed a bluff into a river port. Confederate soldiers in 1863 cut a road extending from Nibletts Bluff on the Sabine River to Alexandria. Although the road never developed into an artery, during the Civil War Nibletts Bluff became Fort Niblett. Fort Niblett continues to be commemorated as part of Nibletts Bluff Park supported by local taxes, the parish, and Vinton itself, might have remained an undeveloped rural backwater if two signal events had not changed that forever. The second, and most important for Vinton, was the arrival of a physician and former professor from Indiana, the economy of the town was further diversified and strengthened by the discovery of petroleum at Ged Lake. The part of Louisiana that included Calcasieu Parish was home to the finest longleaf pine in the world, when combined with the stands of cypress and other hardwood lumber, logging was a lucrative prospect. The railroad gave life to Vinton, starting with a switching track, although there would be a depot later, Vinton began as a whistle-stop called Blair. The source of the name is unknown, some have speculated that the railroad siding took its name from a local family
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Salinity
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Salinity is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water. This is usually measured in g salt k g sea water, a contour line of constant salinity is called an isohaline – or sometimes isohale. Salinity in rivers, lakes, and the ocean is conceptually simple, conceptually the salinity is the quantity of dissolved salt content of the water. Salts are compounds like sodium chloride, magnesium sulfate, potassium nitrate, the concentration of dissolved chloride ions is sometimes referred to as chlorinity. Operationally, dissolved matter is defined as that which can pass through a fine filter. Salinity can be expressed in the form of a mass fraction, Seawater typically has a mass salinity of around 35 g/kg, although lower values are typical near coasts where rivers enter the ocean. Rivers and lakes can have a range of salinities, from less than 0.01 g/kg to a few g/kg. The Dead Sea has a salinity of more than 200 g/kg, whatever pore size is used in the definition, the resulting salinity value of a given sample of natural water will not vary by more than a few percent. A bottled seawater product known as IAPSO Standard Seawater is used by oceanographers to standardize their measurements with enough precision to meet this requirement, measurement and definition difficulties arise because natural waters contain a complex mixture of many different elements from different sources in different molecular forms. The chemical properties of some of these depend on temperature and pressure. Many of these forms are difficult to measure with high accuracy, different practical definitions of salinity result from different attempts to account for these problems, to different levels of precision, while still remaining reasonably easy to use. For many purposes this sum can be limited to a set of eight major ions in natural waters, the major ions dominate the inorganic composition of most natural waters. Exceptions include some pit lakes and waters from some hydrothermal springs, the concentrations of dissolved gases like oxygen and nitrogen are not usually included in descriptions of salinity. However, carbon dioxide gas, which when dissolved is partially converted into carbonates and bicarbonates, is often included. Silicon in the form of acid, which usually appears as a neutral molecule in the pH range of most natural waters. The term salinity is, for oceanographers, usually associated with one of a set of measurement techniques. As the dominant techniques evolve, so do different descriptions of salinity, the distinctions between these different descriptions are important to physical oceanographers but are obscure and confusing to nonspecialists. Salinities were largely measured using titration-based techniques before the 1980s, titration with silver nitrate could be used to determine the concentration of halide ions to give a chlorinity
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Pollution
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Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. Pollution is often classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution, Air pollution has always accompanied civilizations. Pollution started from prehistoric times when man created the first fires, metal forging appears to be a key turning point in the creation of significant air pollution levels outside the home. The burning of coal and wood, and the presence of horses in concentrated areas made the cities the cesspools of pollution. The Industrial Revolution brought an infusion of untreated chemicals and wastes into local streams that served as the water supply, king Edward I of England banned the burning of sea-coal by proclamation in London in 1272, after its smoke became a problem. But the fuel was so common in England that this earliest of names for it was acquired because it could be carted away from some shores by the wheelbarrow and it was the industrial revolution that gave birth to environmental pollution as we know it today. London also recorded one of the extreme cases of water quality problems with the Great Stink on the Thames of 1858. Pollution issues escalated as population growth far exceeded view ability of neighborhoods to handle their waste problem, reformers began to demand sewer systems, and clean water. In 1870, the conditions in Berlin were among the worst in Europe. There were no toilets in the streets or squares. Visitors, especially women, often became desperate when nature called, in the public buildings the sanitary facilities were unbelievably primitive. As a metropolis, Berlin did not emerge from a state of barbarism into civilization until after 1870. Chicago and Cincinnati were the first two American cities to enact laws ensuring cleaner air in 1881, as historian Martin Melosi notes, The generation that first saw automobiles replacing the horses saw cars as miracles of cleanliness. By the 1940s, however, automobile-caused smog was an issue in Los Angeles. Other cities followed around the country early in the 20th century. Extreme smog events were experienced by the cities of Los Angeles and Donora, Pennsylvania in the late 1940s, Air pollution would continue to be a problem in England, especially later during the industrial revolution, and extending into the recent past with the Great Smog of 1952. Awareness of atmospheric pollution spread widely after World War II, with fears triggered by reports of fallout from atomic warfare. Then a non-nuclear event, The Great Smog of 1952 in London and this prompted some of the first major modern environmental legislation, The Clean Air Act of 1956
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Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
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The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department is a Texas state agency that oversees and protects wildlife and their habitats. In addition, the agency is responsible for managing the states parks, the agency maintains its headquarters at 4200 Smith School Road in Austin. In 1895, the Texas Legislature created the Fish and Oyster Commission to regulate fishing, the legislature added the Game Department to the commission in 1907. The Legislature created the State Parks Board as an entity in 1923. In 1963, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department was formed through merger of the State Parks Board, in 1983, the Texas legislature passed the Wildlife Conservation Act, giving the department the authority for managing fish and wildlife resources in all Texas counties. The department operates 95 state parks and historic sites,51 wildlife management areas, eight fish hatcheries, on January 1,2008, TPWD transferred management of several historic sites to the Texas Historical Commission. The agency employs more than 3,500 permanent employees, and 300 interns every summer, intern programs vary but are typically 12 weeks long and go from May until August. Game wardens and Park Police Officers undergo a 30-week course at TPWDs Texas Game Warden Training Center in rural Hamilton County, legal State Parks - includes Park Police Officers Wildlife TPWD publishes Texas Parks and Wildlife, a monthly magazine available both in print and online editions. The magazine features articles and full-color photos on topics such as birding, boating, camping, fishing, hunting, state parks, travel, wildlife, Texas Parks and Wildlife has been in publication since 1942. Texas Parks & Wildlife is a weekly, half-hour television series aired on Texas PBS stations, viewers can stream episodes on the PBS website and on the TPWD YouTube channel. Originally titled Made in Texas, the series production in 1985 as a magazine style show. For several years, the focused on one topic each week. In 1991, the name of the changed to Texas Parks & Wildlife. Beginning in June 2016 TPWD Game Wardens were featured in a new reality series on Animal Planet. Passport to Texas is a series broadcast on radio stations throughout Texas, as well as available as downloadable podcasts. The series includes 90 second radio spots on topics, including wildlife, state parks, founded in 1991, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation is the nonprofit funding partner of TPWD. List of Texas state parks Texas State Railroad Texas Parks & Wildlife Department website Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation website Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine Passport to Texas website
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United States Army
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
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US Army Corps of Engineers
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The United States Army Corps of Engineers, also sometimes shortened to CoE is a U. S. Although generally associated with dams, canals and flood protection in the United States, the Corps of Engineers provides outdoor recreation opportunities to the public, and provides 24% of U. S. hydropower capacity. The corps mission is to Deliver vital public and military engineering services, partnering in peace and war to strengthen our Nations security, energize the economy and their most visible missions include, Planning, designing, building, and operating locks and dams. Other civil engineering projects include flood control, beach nourishment, design and construction of flood protection systems through various federal mandates. Design and construction management of military facilities for the Army, Air Force, Army Reserve and Air Force Reserve and other Defense and Federal agencies. The history of United States Army Corps of Engineers can be traced back to 16 June 1775, colonel Richard Gridley became General George Washingtons first chief engineer, however, it was not until 1779 that Congress created a separate Corps of Engineers. One of its first tasks was to build fortifications near Boston at Bunker Hill, the first Corps of Engineers was mostly composed of French subjects who had been hired by General Washington from the service of Louis XVI. that the said Corps. Shall be stationed at West Point in the State of New York, until 1866, the superintendent of the United States Military Academy was always an officer of engineer. During the first half of the 19th century, West Point was the major and, for a while, the General Survey Act of 1824 authorized the use of Army engineers to survey road and canal routes. Separately authorized on 4 July 1838, the U. S and it was merged with the Corps of Engineers on 31 March 1863, at which point the Corps of Engineers also assumed the Lakes Survey District mission for the Great Lakes. In 1841, Congress created the Lake Survey, the survey, based in Detroit, Mich. was charged with conducting a hydrographical survey of the Northern and Northwestern Lakes and preparing and publishing nautical charts and other navigation aids. The Lake Survey published its first charts in 1852, in the mid-19th century, Corps of Engineers officers ran Lighthouse Districts in tandem with U. S. Naval officers. The Army Corps of Engineers played a significant role in the American Civil War, many of the men who would serve in the top leadership in this institution were West Point graduates who rose to military fame and power during the Civil War. Some of these men were Union Generals George McClellan, Henry Halleck, George Meade, and Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, Joseph Johnston, the versatility of officers in the Army Corps of Engineers contributed to the success of numerous missions throughout the Civil War. They were responsible for building pontoon and railroad bridges, forts and batteries, the destruction of supply lines. The Army Corps of Engineers served as a function in making the war effort logistically feasible. This method of building trenches was known as the zigzag pattern, from the beginning, many politicians wanted the Corps of Engineers to contribute to both military construction and works of a civil nature. During World War II the mission grew to more than 27,000 military, included were aircraft, tank assembly, and ammunition plants, camps for 5.3 million soldiers, depots, ports, and hospitals, as well as the Manhattan Project, and the Pentagon
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Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army.