Williamson County

Williamson County, in Central Texas, is on the Balcones Escarpment just north of Austin. Georgetown, the county's largest town, serves as the county seat and is twenty-five miles north of Austin. The county's center is at 30°40' north latitude, 97°35' west longitude. U.S. Highway 183, Interstate Highway 35, and State Highway 95 are the major north-south roads, and U.S. Highway 79 and State Highway 29 cross the county east and west. Williamson County is also crossed by three railroads, the Union Pacific, the Austin Area Terminal Railroad, and the Georgetown line. The county occupies 1,137 square miles and is divided into two regions by the Balcones Escarpment, which runs through the center from north to south along a line from Jarrell to Georgetown to Round Rock. The western half of the county is an extension of the Western Plains and is undulating hilly brushland with an average elevation of 850 feet, while the eastern region is part of the Coastal Plains and is flat to gently rolling with an average elevation of 600 feet. Williamson County is drained in the center and south by the San Gabriel River, which is the only river in the county, and in the north by creeks that run into the Lampasas and Little rivers north of the county line. Soils in the eastern part of the county are mostly dark loamy to clayey "blackland" soils, while those west of the Balcones fault are light to dark and loamy with limey subsoils. The southeast corner of the county has light colored soils with sandy surfaces and clayey subsoils. Vegetation west of the fault is characterized by tall and mid grasses, post and live oak, mesquite, and junipers. The eastern part of the county, which has been extensively utilized for agricultural purposes, is still wooded along its streams with mesquite, oak, pecan, and elm trees. About 30 percent of the land is prime farmland. Mineral resources include dolomite, limestone, sand, gravel, oil, and gas. Among other minerals that play a part in the county economy, limestone is produced as crushed limestone, dimension limestone, fieldstone limestone, and pulverant limestone; sand and gravel are also marketed. In the mid-nineteenth century early settlers found a rich wildlife population of buffalo, deer, bears, mountain lions, alligators, and various kinds of small wild game including wild turkeys, but all of these except deer and small game were hunted to extinction by 1900. Temperatures in the area range from an average high of 96° F in July to an average low of 36° in January. Rainfall averages thirty-four inches a year, and the growing season averages 258 days annually.

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.