Texaswithall: All About Texas

Texas With All: Everything About Texas

Early immigration into north and east Texas, during the days of the Republic and following the devastation of the Civil War, was largely from the Southern states. In the 1930s, the northeastern oil fields near Tyler (a drab town only redeemed by its beautiful rose gardens) proved to be the richest ever found in the US. In addition to oil, agriculture has become a prime source of commerce, with logging important in the densely forested east. The grand exception is, of course, the Metroplex - the area which includes Dallas and Fort Worth. The main tourist attractions and cultural life of the region are concentrated here; but if you enjoy exploring small-town America, and have a car, the north and east can yield more subtle pleasures. The national forests of Angelina, Davy Crockett, Sabine and Sam Houston in the east offer unsurpassed opportunities for outdoor living: the forest supervisor (tel 713/632-4446) in Lufkin, midway between Davy Crockett and Angelina on US-59, has details of free and private camping facilities. Fans of the movie will want to check out Paris, Texas, northeast on US-82.

Routes west from central Texas lead you through the state's backyard, where farmlands and rough-cut, juniper-covered hills give way to treeless, sandy landscapes. Of the towns, only Abilene and Sweetwater, both on I-20 toward El Paso, are even marginally interesting to be possible stopovers for long-distance drivers. In theory, this is rich, oil-bearing land, but the cities have taken a battering since the slump.

 

Contrary to popular belief, there's no oil in glitzy, status-conscious Dallas. Since its foundation as a prairie trading post, by Tennessee lawyer John Neely Bryan and his Arkansan friend Joe Dallas in 1841, successive generations of entrepreneurs have amassed wealth here through trade and finance, using first cattle and later oil reserves as collateral. One early group of European settlers of the 1850s a group of French intellectuals and artists known as the La Reunion co-operative had to pack up and move on after a series of summer droughts and a harsh winter; the few who stayed would include a future mayor of Dallas. The city still prides itself on their legacy of arts and high culture.

The city's image was catastrophically tarnished by the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, and it took the building of the giant Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in the 1960s, and the twin successes of the Dallas TV show and the Cowboys football team in the 1970s to restore confidence. After a slump in the late 1980s, the Cowboys are back in the big time, though their off-field antics have provided the nation's papers with some anti-Dallas copy once again.

Competitive with Houston, and smug about its cowtown neighbor Fort Worth, Dallas boasts of its sophistication and its old wealth. For all that, the stuffiness is tempered by a typically Texan delight in self-parody, and there's still fun to be had if you know where to look especially in the alternative Deep Ellum district, with its superb restaurants and nightlife.

The tall pine forests of east Texas bear more relation to Louisiana than to the rest of the state; while undeniably Texan, the locals also identify themselves culturally and geographically with the adjacent corners of Arkansas and Louisiana - the Arklatex - and you'll find jambalaya and gumbo in restaurants along with standard Texan dishes.

The Big Thicket National Preserve , south of the Piney Woods on US-96, is a remarkable composite of natural elements from the southwestern desert, central plains and Appalachian Mountains, with swamps and bayous to boot. The area once offered ideal refuge for outlaws, runaway slaves and gamblers; now it just hides a huge variety of plant and animal life, including deer, alligators, armadillos, possums, hogs and panthers, and over three hundred species of birds. Wild flowers, orchids and towering trees share space with cacti and yucca.

Nacogdoches, north of Angelina National Forest on US-59, claims to be the oldest town in Texas. One of the state's first five Spanish missions was established here in 1716, to keep a watchful eye on the French in Louisiana, and a pyramidal Caddo Indian Mound in the 500 block of Mound Street testifies to more ancient history. The Sterne-Hoya House, 211 S Lanana St, the town's oldest surviving and unreconstructed home, illustrates early pioneer life.

Fort Worth, often dismissed as some kind of poor relation to Dallas, in fact has a rush and energy largely missing in its more complacent neighbor thirty miles east. Unlike comparably cosmopolitan Dallas, this is one of the most Western cities in Texas. In the 1870s it was the last stop on the great cattle drive to Kansas, the Chisholm Trail; when the railroads arrived, it became a livestock market in its own right, with its own packing houses, while remaining a haven for cowboys and outlaws. The cattle trade is still a major industry, after aviation and defense, but the city can also pride itself on its thriving cultural life. Unlike the more anxious Dallas, Fort Worth doesn't feel the need to brag about its many excellent museums . For a place so wealthy (the grand Western Hills area claims to have proportionately more millionaires than any other US locale), it's surprisingly laid-back.

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