West Texas

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The dry plains of West Texas, have often been divided up into tracts of land divided by barbed wire fences. The restriction of the "Wide Open Spaces," in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, led to a sense of loss expressed by songs such as Don't Fence Me In

El Paso is the largest city in West Texas

West Texas is a region in Texas that has more in common geographically with the Southwestern United States than it does with the rest of the state. Known for its natural beauty there are many small mountain ranges. This part of Texas is in the Northern Chihuahua Desert, and the high mountain areas have an ideal climate, cold nights but warm afternoons in winter, and hot days but cool nights in the summer.

West Texas has a much lower population density than the rest of the state. It was once mostly inhabited by nomadic Native American tribes such as the Apache, Comanche, and Kiowa until after the Civil War. It does not have as many ties to the Southern United States as does East Texas, although many of the people who currently populate West Texas are also migrants from other parts of Texas and other Southern states or their descendants. There is a very large Hispanic population, especially near the Rio Grande. Many Mexicans fled Ojinaga and walked to Marfa during the Mexican revolution in the early days of the 20th century. Most Mexican-Americans still have close family ties in Mexico.

The Chihuahuan desert covers much of southern West Texas, west of the Pecos River

West Texas receives much less rainfall than the rest of Texas and has an arid or semi-arid climate, requiring most of its scant agriculture to be heavily dependent on irrigation. This irrigation, and water taken out farther North for the needs of El Paso and Juarez, Mexico, has reduced both the Pecos River and the once mighty Rio Grande to a stream in some places, even dry at times. Much of West Texas has rugged terrain including many small mountain ranges while there are none in other parts of the state. West Texas contains part of the Chihuahuan Desert and also the Southern Great Plains, known as the Llano Estacado.

Due to their smaller numbers, many West Texans feel politically isolated from the rest of the state. There is a diverse mix in policial philosophies found in West Texas. The area is known for its conservative politics — some of the most heavily Republican counties in the United States are located in the region, where United States President George W. Bush spent his early youth. At the same time there a large number of Texas Democrats. But as noted, the area's right-wing tendency also show that many of these Democrats also vote for Republicans and support conservative issues such as Proposition Two, the anti-gay marriage initiative that Texas voters overwhelmingly supported.

Major industries include livestock, petroleum and natural gas production, textiles such as cotton, grain farming and because of its proximity to the Mexican border, the maquiladora industry.

West Texas, with its sparsely populated and relatively unpolluted land and its wide vast openness has also become a destination for people looking to get away from urban life, and although it appears only lightly populated, there are many people who own vacation homes there. However, the population is not expected to mushroom in the near future, as it is such a remote area. The main towns of Pecos, Marfa, Alpine, Marathon, Fort Davis, Valentine, and Van Horn are all approximately 2-3 hours from the nearest commercial airports in El Paso and Midland-Odessa.

[edit] Map showing differences in population density from West to East Texas

[edit] Major cities and metropolitan areas

• Abilene

Downtown Abilene, on the eastern edge of West Texas.

• Amarillo
• El Paso
• Lubbock
• Midland
• Odessa
• San Angelo

[edit] See also

• Delaware Basin
• Llano Estacado
• Permian Basin
• South Plains

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