Real County

Real County is in southwest Texas, bounded on the north and west by Edwards County, on the east by Kerr and Bandera counties, and on the south by Uvalde County. The center of the county lies at 29°50' north latitude and 99°50' west longitude, 100 miles northwest of San Antonio. The area was named for Julius Real, the only Republican in the Texas Senate when the county was formed in 1913. Real County encompasses 622 square miles of the Balcones Escarpment on the southern edge of the Edwards Plateau; its terrain is characterized by sharply dissected canyonlands crossed by numerous streams, which flow from perennial springs in the water-bearing strata of the Edwards and Glen Rose limestone formations and descend the escarpment over beds of limestone, gravel, and calcareous soils. Headwaters of both the Frio and the Nueces rivers lie within Real County; the Nueces forms the county's western boundary with Edwards County. Elevations range from 1,500 feet in the valleys to 2,400 feet in the northern part of the county at the edge of the plateau; the mountains and ridges in the western half of the county, the eastern edge of the Nueces Canyon, are steeper and more rugged than those along the Frio Canyon to the east. Rainfall averages 23.88 inches annually. Temperatures range from an average low of 35° F in January to an average high of 96° F in July; the growing season lasts about 235 days. Although agriculture has been of limited significance to the area since the earliest periods of human occupation, arable land is found in the valleys, where pecan trees are plentiful. It is believed that until the middle of the nineteenth century forestation in the area was confined to the bottoms, while the uplands were covered with rich grasslands, which, coupled with the abundance of water, ensured a constant supply of game animals, birds, and fish as well as berries, nuts, and roots. Today the area is heavily forested with live oak, Ashe juniper, and mesquite on the ridges and uplands as well as on the hills and escarpment. In the early 1980s much of Real County's economy revolved around ranching. In 1982, 83 percent of the county's land was in farms and ranches; about 2 percent of the land was irrigated, and 97 percent of the county's agricultural receipts derived from livestock, especially cattle, sheep, and angora goats. Only about 3 percent of the county's workforce was engaged in manufactures; tourism supported 117 workers, more than any other industry in the area.

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.