Jim Wells County

Jim Wells County is on U.S. Highway 281 west of Corpus Christi in the Rio Grande Plain region of South Texas. It is bordered by Live Oak and San Patricio counties on the north, Nueces and Kleberg counties on the east, Brooks County on the south, and Duval County on the west. Alice, the county seat and largest town, is located near the center of the county at 27°39' north latitude and 98°05' west longitude. Other communities include Orange Grove, Ben Bolt, Sandia, and Premont. The county covers 845 square miles. The terrain is flat, with elevations ranging from 200 to 400 feet. Soils are generally light to dark, with loamy surfaces over reddish, clayey subsoils and limestone forty inches below the surface. Gray to black, cracking, clayey soils are also found in some areas. The county's vegetation is typical of the South Texas Plains region, with grasslands, mesquite, post oak, live oak, and cacti predominating. Between 41 and 50 percent of the county is considered prime farmland. Natural resources include caliche, industrial sand, oil, and gas. The climate is subtropical-humid. Heavy rains from weakening tropical storms are common from June through October. Temperatures range from 44° F to 68° in January and 74° to 96° in July. The average annual temperature is 72°. Rainfall averages twenty-eight inches a year. Snow almost never occurs. The growing season lasts for 304 days of the year, with the last freeze in mid-February and the first freeze in early December.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.