Trans-Pecos

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Trans-Pecos
FouquieriaSplendens 2006 BigBend.jpg
Ocotillo in the Chihuahuan Desert of the Trans-Pecos
TransPecosTexas.svg
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
State Flag of Texas.svg  Texas
Largest city El Paso
Area
  Land81,530 km2 (31,479 sq mi)
Population
 (2020)
919,421

The Trans-Pecos, as originally defined in 1887 by the Texas geologist Robert T. Hill, is the distinct portion of Texas that lies west of the Pecos River. [1] The term is considered synonymous with Far West Texas, a subdivision of West Texas. [2] The Trans-Pecos is part of the Chihuahuan Desert, the largest desert in North America. It is the most mountainous and arid portion of the state, and most of its vast area (outside the city of El Paso) is sparsely populated. Among the nine counties in the region are the five largest counties by area in Texas and eight of the eleven largest in the state. The area is known for the natural environment of the Big Bend and the gorge of the Rio Grande, part of which has been designated a National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. With the notable exceptions of Big Bend Ranch State Park, Big Bend National Park and the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, the vast majority of the Trans-Pecos region consists of privately owned ranchland. However, most of the region's population reside in the El Paso metropolitan area. Besides El Paso and its metropolitan area, the major cities are Pecos (12,916), Fort Stockton (8,466), and Alpine (6,035). All other settlements have under 5,000 people.

Contents

Rio Grande valley in the Big Bend area Big Bend Rio Grande.jpg
Rio Grande valley in the Big Bend area
Big Bend National Park and Chihuahuan Desert Big Bend Chihuahuan Desert.jpg
Big Bend National Park and Chihuahuan Desert

Demographics

The Trans-Pecos region consists of nine counties: Brewster, Culberson, El Paso, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Pecos, Presidio, Reeves, and Terrell. Brewster County, the largest, has a land area of 6,193 sq mi (16,040 km2). The land area of Brewster County is about 10% larger than the state of Connecticut, yet it has a population density of only 1.4 persons per square mile compared to the 723 persons per square mile who reside in Connecticut. Terrell County, which borders both the Pecos River and the Rio Grande, is the least-populated county in the Trans-Pecos region. According to the United States Census of 2000, Terrell County had a total population of 984 residents occupying a land area of 2,358 sq mi (6,107 km2), resulting in a population density less than 0.5 persons per square mile.

The Trans-Pecos is a region of extremes, and at the opposite extreme from sparsely populated Terrell County is El Paso County, which is the smallest but most populated of the nine counties. El Paso County has a land area of only 1,015 sq mi (2,629 km2), yet it has a population of 800,647 individuals, resulting in a population density of 789 persons per square mile, a value that exceeds that of Connecticut. El Paso County makes up 93.5 percent of the region's total population.

Overall, the total population of the Trans-Pecos amounts to 856,187 residents occupying an area of 31,479 sq mi (81,530 km2), resulting in a population density around 27 persons per square mile (10 persons per km2), less than a third of the population density of the state as a whole. If the Trans-Pecos were to become a state, it would rank 45th in population (more than Delaware, less than Montana), 40th in total area (larger than South Carolina, smaller than Maine), and 42nd in population density (higher than Nevada, lower than Kansas).

Politics

El Paso is the most populated city in the Trans-Pecos region. EL PASO TEXAS 2020.jpg
El Paso is the most populated city in the Trans-Pecos region.

The region as a whole has voted for the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in every election since 1988, including Joe Biden, who received 65.7 percent of the vote in 2020. This is in large part because of El Paso County, which also has been solidly Democratic since Ronald Reagan won the county in 1984. However, Presidio is the most consistently Democratic county in the Trans-Pecos, being like South Texas the longest-established Democratic stronghold in the nation. [3]

Jeff Davis is the most Republican county in the region, last being won for the Democratic Party by Jimmy Carter in 1976, [3] although even George W. Bush’s 66.79 percent of the vote in 2000 [4] stands modest compared to the 90 percent or more Republican vote common in Panhandle counties since the turn of the millennium. Hudspeth, Pecos and Terrell Counties, last won for the Democrats by Bill Clinton in 1996, [3] have become comparably Republican to Jeff Davis in the past couple of elections. The remaining three counties, especially Brewster County, have been “swing” counties since the 1970s, although Hillary Clinton consolidated Democratic majorities in Culberson and Reeves counties in 2016.

The city of El Paso and its environs form Texas's 16th congressional district, currently represented by Congressman Veronica Escobar (D-El Paso). The remainder of the region is located entirely within Texas's 23rd congressional district, currently represented by Congressman Tony Gonzales (R-San Antonio).

In the Texas Senate, El Paso County forms a single district, Senate District 29, represented by José R. Rodríguez (D-El Paso), while the remainder of the region is included in Senate District 19, represented by Pete Flores (R-Pleasanton). In the Texas House of Representatives, El Paso County is divided between House Districts 75–79, while the remainder of the region is included in House District 74.

Trans-Pecos Vote
by Party in Presidential Elections
Year GOP DEM Others
2020 33.6% 95,29465.7%186,0530.67% 1,905
2016 27.4% 63,89266.8%155,7295.75% 13,399
2012 27.3% 65,17371.5%170,8161.22% 2,914
2008 34.6% 69,83964.4%129,9071.01% 2,046
2004 44.0% 83,03454.0%102,0861.99% 3,767
2000 40.9% 65,91056.5%91,1312.66% 4,288
1996 32.6%49,17661.5%92,7865.98% 9,025
1992 34.7% 52,94349.9%76,06815.5% 23,593
1988 46.8%63,71652.7%71,8170.52% 703
1984 56.0%76,91343.5% 59,7200.40% 549
1980 53.6%62,36540.8% 47,5095.63% 6,557
1976 47.45% 50,07051.2%54,0361.34% 1,411
1972 60.9%59,00738.4% 37,1840.75% 774
1968 43.4% 35,47647.3%38,6929.32% 7,626
1964 36.8%25,40362.9%43,4440.31% 212
1960 48.1% 30,66451.6%32,8670.32% 202

Road transportation

Interstates 10 and 20 are the largest freeways in the Trans-Pecos region. Major federal highways include US Highway 90 and US Highway 67, which are partially cosigned; Highway 90 continues from Alpine east to Del Rio, while Highway 67 runs south from Marfa to the Mexico–United States border at Presidio/Ojinaga, after which it continues as Mexican Federal Highway 16. State Highway 17 begins in Pecos and traverses Balmorhea State Park before joining Route 67 in Marfa, while State Highway 118 begins shortly after the junction of Interstates 10 and 20 near Kent and continues south to Study Butte at the entrance of Big Bend National Park.

Wine regions

The Trans-Pecos region contains three American Viticultural Areas: the Escondido Valley AVA, the Texas Davis Mountains AVA, and a portion of the Mesilla Valley AVA, most of which is in New Mexico.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrell County, Texas</span> County in Texas, United States

Terrell County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 760, making it the seventh-least populous county in Texas, and the 37th-least populous county in the nation. Its county seat is the census-designated place of Sanderson; no incorporated municipalities are in the county. The county was named for Alexander W. Terrell, a Texas state senator. Terrell County is one of the nine counties in the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. It is the setting for Cormac McCarthy's novel No Country for Old Men, and the Academy Award-winning film adaptation of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reeves County, Texas</span> County in Texas, United States

Reeves County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 14,748. Its county seat and most populous city is Pecos. The county was created in 1883 and organized the next year. It is named for George R. Reeves, a Texas state legislator and colonel in the Confederate Army. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. Reeves County comprises the Pecos micropolitan statistical area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidio County, Texas</span> County in Texas, United States

Presidio County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 6,131. Its county seat is Marfa. The county was created in 1850 and later organized in 1875. Presidio County is in the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas and is named for the border settlement of Presidio del Norte. It is on the Rio Grande, which forms the Mexican border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pecos County, Texas</span> County in Texas, United States

Pecos County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 15,193. The county seat is Fort Stockton. The county was created in 1871 and organized in 1875. It is named for the Pecos River. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Davis County, Texas</span> County in Texas, United States

Jeff Davis County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,996. Its county seat is Fort Davis. The county is named for Jefferson Davis, who served as the 23rd United States Secretary of War in the 1850s, and as Confederate president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hudspeth County, Texas</span> County in Texas, United States

Hudspeth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,202. Its county seat is Sierra Blanca, and the largest community is Fort Hancock. The county is named for Claude Benton Hudspeth, a state senator and United States Representative from El Paso. It is northeast of the Mexico–U.S. border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culberson County, Texas</span> County in Texas, United States

Culberson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,188. The county seat is Van Horn. Culberson County was founded in 1911 and organized the next year. It is named for David B. Culberson, a Confederate soldier and U.S. representative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brewster County, Texas</span> County in Texas, United States

Brewster County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in West Texas and its county seat is Alpine. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region, and borders Mexico. Brewster County is the largest county by area in the state - at 6,192 square miles (16,040 km2) it is over three times the size of the state of Delaware, and more than 500 square miles (1,300 km2) bigger than Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alpine, Texas</span> City in Texas, United States

Alpine is a city in and the county seat of Brewster County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,905 at the 2010 census. The town has an elevation of 4,462 feet (1,360 m), and the surrounding mountain peaks are over 1 mile (1.6 km) above sea level. A university, hospital, library, and retail make Alpine the center of the sprawling 12,000 square miles (3,108,000 ha) but wide open Big Bend area including Brewster, Presidio, and Jeff Davis counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Stockton, Texas</span> City in Texas, United States

Fort Stockton is a city in and the county seat of Pecos County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 10, future Interstate 14, U.S. Highways 67, 285, and 385, and the Santa Fe Railroad, 329 mi (529 km) northwest of San Antonio and 240 mi (390 km) southeast of El Paso. Its population was 8,466 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chihuahuan Desert</span> Largest desert in North America

The Chihuahuan Desert is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lower Pecos Valley in New Mexico, and a portion of southeastern Arizona, as well as the central and northern portions of the Mexican Plateau. It is bordered on the west by the Sonoran Desert, the Colorado Plateau, and the extensive Sierra Madre Occidental range, along with northwestern lowlands of the Sierra Madre Oriental range. Its largest, continual expanse is located in Mexico, covering a large portion of the state of Chihuahua, along with portions of Coahuila, north-eastern Durango, the extreme northern part of Zacatecas, and small western portions of Nuevo León. With an area of about 501,896 km2 (193,783 sq mi), it is the largest desert in North America. The desert is fairly young, existing for only 8000 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Bend (Texas)</span> Geographic region in the western part of the state of Texas in the United States

The Big Bend is part of the Trans-Pecos region in southwestern Texas, United States along the border with Mexico, north of the prominent bend in the Rio Grande for which the region is named. Here the Rio Grande passes between the Chisos Mountains in Texas and the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico as it changes from running east-southeast to north-northeast. The region covers three counties: Presidio County to the west, Brewster County to the east, and Jeff Davis County to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Texas</span> Region in Texas, United States

West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas State Highway 17</span> State highway in Texas

State Highway 17 runs from Marfa to Pecos in west Texas. The road is maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 432</span> Area code in west Texas, United States

Area code 432 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of Texas in the Permian Basin and Trans-Pecos areas, including the cities of Midland, Odessa, and Alpine. It was created, along with area code 325, on April 5, 2003 in a split of numbering plan area (NPA) 915.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solitario</span> Laccolith remnants in the state of Texas

The Solitario is a large geologic formation in Big Bend Ranch State Park in West Texas. When viewed from above, it suggests an impact crater; though it is actually the eroded remains of a laccolith. The approximate center of the Solitario is located 56.8 km (35.3 mi) east southeast of Presidio, Texas, just west of the line dividing Brewster County, Texas and Presidio County, Texas. The formation covers a circular area of approximately 135 km2 (52 sq mi). The geology of the Solitario is complex. In 1988, the state of Texas purchased the property containing the Solitario and created Big Bend Ranch State Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Texas</span> Geographical features of Texas

The geography of Texas is diverse and large. Occupying about 7% of the total water and land area of the U.S., it is the second largest state after Alaska, and is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which end in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. Texas is in the South Central United States of America, and is considered to form part of the U.S. South and also part of the U.S. Southwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas State Highway 118</span>

State Highway 118 is a 155.3-mile (249.9 km) state highway in the U.S. state of Texas that runs from Big Bend National Park north to Kent and passes through the towns of Study Butte, Alpine, and Fort Davis. SH 118 is maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The road lies entirely within the Trans-Pecos region of Texas. SH 118 is a two-lane road along its length except for a section in Alpine where the route follows the path of U.S. Route 67 and U.S. Route 90. All of the route except for the 2.8-mile (4.5 km) section between Big Bend National Park and Farm to Market Road 170 is included in the Texas Historical Commission's Texas Mountain Trail.

Allium coryi, common name yellowflower onion, is a plant species endemic to trans-Pecos Texas, but sometimes cultivated as an ornamental elsewhere. It is reported in the wild from only five counties: Brewster, Presidio, Jeff Davis, Pecos and Terrell. Some of the populations lie inside Big Bend National Park.

The Trans-Pecos Volcanic Field is a volcanic field located in western Texas in the counties of Brewster, Jeff Davis, Presidio, and extends into northern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Coahuila. It is the southernmost volcanic field to be documented and recorded in the continental United States. The field started volcanic activity around 48 million years ago in the middle Eocene epoch, and ended around 17 million years later in the Miocene epoch.

References

  1. Hill, R. T. (1887). "The topography and geology of the Cross Timbers and surrounding regions in Northern Texas". The American Journal of Science. 3rd Series. 33: 291–303. doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-33.196.291. ISSN   1945-452X.
  2. Greene, A. C. (1998). Sketches from the Five States of Texas. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN   0-89096-842-X.
  3. 1 2 3 Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  4. David Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections; Jeff Davis County, 2000