Those notorious deserts. How Texas became notorious for its nearly nonexistent deserts (Eden: living, garden)

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by Yenisey

Not so far ago I learned that not only in Europe evidently false statement that Texas is composed mostly of deserts is popular.

From what does Texas derives its reputation as the deserted land? From its geographical location in Southwestern United States which is, by the way, disputable? From its proximity to New Mexico and Arizona, at least on the Contigous United States map?

Thing that is even more commonly associated with Texas is cowboy. How to graze and pasture all those Texan cows on deserts?

Logic fails when popular image starts?

The cowboy stereotype is also wrong
most people in Texas live in cities

[Yenisey]

Originally Posted by Dopo

The cowboy stereotype is also wrong
most people in Texas live in cities

I beg your pardon, I'm not a Texan, and I don't pretend to be smarter than your in Texas-related issues, but the cowboy is rightly associated with Texas, because it is associeted in historical context. Nobody thinks that today most of Texans are employed in agriculture. But after the Civil War through the end of the 19th century, Texas gained its reputation as the state of cowboys in the solid way. It is much alike as Boston and Massachusetts is considered to be of Puritan heritage. And those Puritan "ancestors" died four centuries ago. Texas, since at least circa 1900, more than a century, is not based on its cattle industry but it is remembered that it once was. Cowboys in Texas are more like cultural heritage, not like stereotype. Or am I wrong? Did you meet anyone who suggested that nowadays most Texans are cowboys?

Some evidence that Texas was indeed a place for cowboy in the latter half of the 19th century.
http://genealogytrails.com/tex/state...p1865-1886.jpg
Chisholm Trail - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cowboy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Midessan]

Here is a good pic of Wink. The famous Wink Sink #2.

[Yenisey]

Originally Posted by Midessan

Here is a good pic of Wink. The famous Wink Sink #2.

I do not get it. It is a proof for the statement that the water is also present in those nearly nonexistend Texan deserts?

[Midessan]

Originally Posted by Yenisey

I do not get it. It is a proof for the statement that the water is also present in those nearly nonexistend Texan deserts?

No, not really, just an interesting side note I guess. West Texas sits on top of a vast ancient sea. Water like you see there in the Wink Sink is not rain water but remnants of that sea.

[Yenisey]

Originally Posted by Midessan

No, not really, just an interesting side note I guess. West Texas sits on top of a vast ancient sea. Water like you see there in the Wink Sink is not rain water but remnants of that sea.

Thank you! It is a very interesting information. Looking at that image, I would never guess it may be created by something different than rain. The U.S. geology and geography is so vast and interesting, I always regret I do not know more of it.

And another way to deconstruct the topic myth.
The desert state that lies on a sea?

Unlikely.

[TexasReb]

=madrone2k;37679462]This thread prompted me to remember a western movie from the 60s, "Texas Across the River". In it, a group of people flee across the Sabine River into Texas ... whereupon they gaze into a vast desert landscape. Which, in reality, would have been either dense pine forest or cypress swamp. I have never forgotten the weirdness of that misrepresentation.

LOL I remember that movie too. And several others that when the actors crossed the Sabine River, suddenly the landscape become desert. LOL

[Cathy4017]

I was watching Big Jake (John Wayne) recently.

The movie was filmed mostly in Durango, Mexico, and didn't have the desert look it should have. Very green with a lot of trees and not that much scrub.

I laughed 'til I cried when they showed the sign at the railroad depot: McCandles, Texas. 315 ft elevation. Alpine 125 miles.

There isn't anything anywhere near Alpine (4500 ft and more) that is less than 2300 ft in elevation.....LOL!! Especially not within 125 miles.....

[Spookmeister]

Originally Posted by Midessan

Yeah, and most people can only name one city in Oregon, Seattle. j/k

Oh, my.....I'm hoping the jk was for the obvious, not "most people can only name one city"

[wintersbone]

yea and we all ride horses to work and we all live on huge 1000 acre ranches. lol