Walker County

Walker County is in southeast Texas. The center of the county is at 30°47' north latitude and 95°33' west longitude. Huntsville, the county seat, is near the center of the county sixty miles north of Houston. The area was originally named for Robert J. Walker of Mississippi, who introduced into the United States Congress the resolution for the annexation of Texas; because he was a Unionist during the Civil War, however, in 1863 the state legislature changed the honoree to Samuel H. Walker. Walker County encompasses 801 square miles of rolling hills and open prairies in the Piney Woods vegetation area; around 70 percent of the county is blanketed by forests of loblolly, short-leaf and long-leaf pine, and hardwoods. The area rests at the extreme western end of the Coastal Plain region. Elevations in the county range from 140 to 404 feet above sea level. The land is well watered, receiving forty-six inches of rain each year, and is drained by two major rivers, the Trinity River in the north and the San Jacinto River in the south. Numerous creeks also cross the county. Bedias Creek forms part of the northwestern boundary and empties into the Trinity River, as do Harmon, Carolina, and Nelson creeks. Mill, East and West Sandy, and Robinson creeks drain into the San Jacinto River in the south. Forest soils are typically sands and clays, but alluvial loams are found in creek beds and at lower elevations. Temperatures range from an average low of 38° F in January to an average high of 95° F in July; the growing season lasts 265 days. Clay deposits-ceramic and brick clays and Fuller's earth-have been mined commercially, as have other minerals, including sand, gravel, lignite, volcanic ash, and petroleum. Walker County is crossed by the Union Pacific Railroad and Interstate Highway 45. Transportation in the area is also facilitated by a series of farm-to-market roads radiating outward from Huntsville.

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.