Brazos River, river rising in eastern New Mexico and western Texas, U.S., on the Llano Estacado (“Staked Plain”) near Lubbock, Texas. The Brazos is the longest river in Texas. Its three main upper forks are the Double Mountain, Salt, and Clear forks. Formed from the confluence of the Double Mountain and Salt forks near the Caprock Escarpment, the Brazos proper flows generally southeast to Waco, one of the largest cities on the river. From Waco it crosses the Texas coastal plain to enter the Gulf of Mexico at Freeport after a course of about 1,280 miles (2,060 km). Navigable for much of its length, the Brazos also connects near its mouth with the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The river’s chief tributaries are the Paluxy, Little, and Navasota rivers. It drains an area of about 45,600 square miles (118,103 square km). The Possum Kingdom Dam (1940) and the Whitney Dam (1953) on the upper Brazos provide hydroelectric power, flood control, and irrigation for the cotton grown in the Brazos River valley. The lower river valley was a major site of early Anglo-American settlement in Texas, one of the first English-speaking colonies along the Brazos that was founded by Stephen F. Austin at San Felipe de Austin in 1822. Texans declared their independence from Mexico in 1836 at the settlement of Washington-on-the-Brazos. The original Spanish name for the river was Brazos de Dios (“Arms of God”); it is likely the river that the French explorer La Salle called the Maligne, and it was near the Brazos that La Salle was murdered.
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New Mexico, constituent state of the United States of America. It became the 47th state of the union in 1912. New Mexico ranks fifth among the 50 U.S. states in terms of total area and is bounded by Colorado to the north, Oklahoma and Texas to the east, Texas and…
Texas, constituent state of the United States of America. It became the 28th state of the union in 1845. Texas occupies the south-central segment of the country and is the largest state in area except for Alaska. The state extends nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from north to south and…
Llano Estacado, portion of the High Plains of the United States, along the Texas–New Mexico border. It covers an area of about 30,000 square miles (78,000 square km) and is bounded by the Canadian River valley (north), the “break of the plains” (east), the Edwards Plateau…
Lubbock, city, seat (1891) of Lubbock county, northwestern Texas, U.S., lying some 120 miles (190 km) south of Amarillo. It is the commercial hub of the South Plains. Formed in 1890 from Old Lubbock and Monterey and named for Colonel Tom S. Lubbock, a signer of the Texas Declaration of…
Waco, city, seat (1850) of McLennan county, north-central Texas, U.S. Waco lies along the Brazos River, some 100 miles (160 km) south of Dallas. It was founded in 1849 on the site of a Waco (Hueco) Indian village near a Texas Ranger fort (1837) in a farming and plantation area.…