Little Known Texas Facts!

Nobody asked for them, but here are some little known Texas facts.
I know ya'll just can't wait to read them!

Beaumont to El Paso: 742 miles
Beaumont to Chicago: 770 miles
World's first rodeo was in Pecos... July 4, 1883.

The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America
built over water.

The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the
first fulltime coach for Rice University, Houston.

Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other area in
North America.

Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America's only
remaining flock of whooping cranes.

Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978.

The worst natural disaster in U.S. history was in 1900 caused by a
hurricane in which over 8000 lives were lost on Galveston Island.

The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was "Houston."

El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas.

Laredo is the world's largest inland port.

Tyler Municipal Rose Garden is the world' s largest rose garden
with over 38,000 bushes with 500 varieties on 22 acres.

King Ranch is larger than Rhode Island.

Tropical Storm Claudette brought a U.S. rainfall record of 43" in
24 hours in and around Alvin in July 1979.

Texas is the only state to enter the U.S. by TREATY, instead of by
annexation. (This allows the Texas flag to fly at the same height
as the US flag.)

A Live Oak tree near Fulton is estimated to be 1500 years old.

Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state.

Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period after
Dr in Dr Pepper.

Texas has had six capital cities ...
1. Washington-on-the-Brazos
2. Harrisburg
3. Galveston
4. Velasco
5. West Columbia
6. Austin

The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the U.S. which is
taller than the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. (by 7 feet).

The name Texas comes from the Hasini Indian word "tejas" meaning
friends. Tejas is not Mexican for Texas.

The State animal is the Armadillo. *

The first domed stadium in the U.S. was the Astrodome in Houston.

*An interesting bit of trivia about the armadillo is they always
have four babies! They have one egg which splits into four and
they either have four males or four females. Well... I thought it
was interesting anyway!

(Source Unknown)

Coupla notes:

Quote:

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ya'll

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You, of course, meant to spell that as "y'all" - right?

And, they are considering tearing down the Astrodome, to the horror of all the native Texans in the area. Hopefully, something will come about to where this will not occur. But, I'm sure those who wish it to stay a Houston landmark would appreciate as much support as possible from around the world!

“Laredo is the world's largest inland port.”

On what basis? This does not seem right to me.

“Tejas is not Mexican for Texas.”

I have a few problems with this 1) Mexican is not a language. 2) Tejas is, according to any number of references an old style Spanish rendition of Texas where the ‘j’ is pronounced as ‘x’.

I'm not sure that I follow you Tielhard but the Latin American Spanish 'x' is pronounced as an 'h'. Have I lost the plot?

For example the city of Oaxaca is pronounced 'Wha-ha-ka' (not as O-ax-a-ka) as my ignorance proved while I was there.

I'm also a little confused. Beaumont and El Paso both lie on Interstate 10. If I followed the highway, they are 837 miles apart; if I travel other roads for shortest distance, they are 810 miles apart.

Likewise, Beaumont and Chicago are 1,096 miles apart by main highway, 1,010 miles by other roads for shortest distance.

Quote:

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Beaumont to El Paso: 742 miles
Beaumont to Chicago: 770 miles

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Maybe these are "air miles".

As it has been explained to me pronunciation changed in the 19th. Century.