Texas Tidbits

[howdy]

I like the last one:

Here are some little known, but very interesting, Texas tidbits.

1. Port Arthur to El Paso: 889 miles. Port Arthur to Chicago: 770 miles

2. Brownsville to Texline (north of Amarillo ): 956 miles. Texline to Canada : 960 miles

3. El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas

4. World's first rodeo was in Pecos , TX July 4, 1883.

5. The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America built over water. Destroyed by Hurricane Ike - 2008!

6. The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full-time coach at Rice University in Houston, TX

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

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

9. Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978.

10. The worst natural disaster in US history was in 1900, caused by a hurricane in which over 8,000 lives were lost on Galveston Island.

11. The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was " Houston " but the Space Center was actually in Clear Lake City at the time.

12. The King Ranch in South Texas is larger than Rhode Island ..

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

14. Texas is the only state to enter the US by TREATY, (known as the Constitution of 1845 by the Republic of Texas to enter the Union)instead of by annexation. This allows the Texas Flag to fly at the same height as the US Flag, and Texas may choose to divide into 5 states.

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

16. Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state.

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

18. Texas has had six capital cities: Washington-on-the Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco, West Columbia and Austin. I think Harrisburg is actually Houston. The Capital Building is the old Rice Hotel in the downtown district.

19. The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the US which is taller than the Capitol Building in Washington, DC (by 7 feet).

20. The San Jacinto Monument is the tallest free standing monument in the world and it is taller than the Washington Monument.

21. The name 'Texas' comes from the Hasini Indian word 'tejas' meaning "friends". Tejas is NOT Spanish for Texas

22. The State Mascot is the Armadillo. 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.

23. The first domed stadium in the US was the Astrodome in Houston

24. The Beck family ranch land grant is one days ride by horse (25 miles) in each direction from the headquarters.

25. The name of the XIT ranch in Dalhart Texas stands for "ten in texas". That means 10 counties in Texas !


Cowboy Ten Commandments posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Farlie, Texas :

(1) Just one God.

(2) Honor yer Ma & Pa.

(3) No telling tales or gossipin'.

(4) Git yourself to church meeting.

(5) Put nothin' before God.

(6) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal.

(7) No killin'.

(8) Watch yer mouth.

(9) Don't take what ain't yers.

(10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff.

Did y'all git all that?


Our Liberty is insured by 4 Boxes!
The Ballot Box.
The Jury Box.
The Soap Box.
The Cartridge Box.

[SQLGeek]

Lots of fun tidbits here.

14. Texas is the only state to enter the US by TREATY, (known as the Constitution of 1845 by the Republic of Texas to enter the Union)instead of by annexation. This allows the Texas Flag to fly at the same height as the US Flag

This one at least is not true. All state flags may be flown at the same height as the US flag but the order of the flags is important.

[oohrah]

Lots of fun tidbits here.

14. Texas is the only state to enter the US by TREATY, (known as the Constitution of 1845 by the Republic of Texas to enter the Union)instead of by annexation. This allows the Texas Flag to fly at the same height as the US Flag

This one at least is not true. All state flags may be flown at the same height as the US flag but the order of the flags is important.

references please!

[williamkevin]

U.S.C. Title 4, chapter 1, Section 7 is where I found it...

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-201 ... -chap1.htm

[LAYGO]

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/texasflag.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/texas.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ELB]

Lots of fun tidbits here.

14. Texas is the only state to enter the US by TREATY, (known as the Constitution of 1845 by the Republic of Texas to enter the Union)instead of by annexation. This allows the Texas Flag to fly at the same height as the US Flag

This one at least is not true. All state flags may be flown at the same height as the US flag but the order of the flags is important.

Aside from the flag issue, it is also untrue about entering the Union via treaty. Sam Houston negotiated a treaty with the US, which was signed, but it was rejected by the US Senate in 1844 (apparently at least partly concerned it would add a slave state to the Union). However, the Brits were sniffing around Texas looking for a way to block US expansion, so President Tyler convinced Congress to pass a Joint Resolution in 1845 offering to annex Texas as a state under certain conditions, to prevent the Brits conjuring up some kind of alliance or takeover of Texas. Texas accepted this joint resolution and agreed to be annexed.

The business about the 5 states also is often worded or implied to mean that this is some special power available only to Texas, but it was actually a limitation. As the US Constitution stood then (and now), any existing state can propose dividing into as many new states as it wishes -- as long as its legislature votes for it, AND the US Congress votes for it. One of the conditions of the Texas Annexation was that a MAXIMUM of four new states could be carved out of Texas (so five total, four new ones and an existing Texas); slavery would not be allowed in any new state north of the Missouri Compromise line; any new state south of that line could choose to be a slave or free state. This was pretty obviously to prevent the south from adding several new slave states and changing the balance of power in the US Congress.