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Co-incidentally, that also seems to be where Dixie and the Midwest die out culturally.
It's not coincidental at all, actually. Settlement effectively stopped where the moisture level dropped off and what used to be called "The Great American desert" began. It wasn't until industrialization brought better agricultural irrigation. It also coincided with a few years of pretty good rainfall and heavy advertisements. But none of this really happened until the Midwest and the South had settled culturally. The Midwest spread as far as agricultural production could sustain it and the Deep South spread as far as cotton could grow. That ends up being about the 100th.
Two other maps to consider:
The first is this precipitation map. Either the yellow or the gold zone would make a decent marker of the start of the West.
This is an elevation map. The light green is where the elevation starts climbing again going east to west.
Keep in mind that there has been cultural-spillover. So, the borders have likely changed slightly more than geography.
The linguistic map goes a bit further west. It's not perfect either, but you could combine the two.
IMO, its at the 100th meridian. I wouldn't include San Antonio, but just to the west. Definitely at Fort Stockton and Midland-Odessa. Also, once you get west of Oklahoma City, maybe around El Reno or further west to Elk City it starts feeling more western.
I would say the 100th meridian is probably the best definition of where the West begins. There are elements of Western culture east of the 100th meridian especially in Texas and Oklahoma, but those areas are also heavily Southern (Dixie) as well. The pure west starts at the 100th meridian.
Sounds about right to me. Pretty much anything west of the Hill Country is definitely the West. Although some would argue that the west starts closer to the I-35 corridor.
IMO, its at the 100th meridian. I wouldn't include San Antonio, but just to the west. Definitely at Fort Stockton and Midland-Odessa. Also, once you get west of Oklahoma City, maybe around El Reno or further west to Elk City it starts feeling more western.
San Antonio is the one major Texas city I haven't been to (and it often gets overshadowed by Austin's media hype) but I've always considered it more of a Western city. However, recently I've heard several people say it is more of a Southern city than it is a Western one.
IMO, its at the 100th meridian. I wouldn't include San Antonio, but just to the west. Definitely at Fort Stockton and Midland-Odessa. Also, once you get west of Oklahoma City, maybe around El Reno or further west to Elk City it starts feeling more western.
Would it be consistently at the 100th up to the Canadian border, or would it fluctuate east or west up there?
San Antonio is the one major Texas city I haven't been to (and it often gets overshadowed by Austin's media hype) but I've always considered it more of a Western city. However, recently I've heard several people say it is more of a Southern city than it is a Western one.
Agreed. Recently I've heard people refer to San Antonio as a southern city, including a native, and I'm like "huh?" The only major cities in Texas I consider to be southern are Dallas and Houston. Austin and San Antonio have always seemed much more Southwestern (or western) to me.
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