• Name: From "tejas" or "friendly"

• Motto: Friendship

• Nickname: Lone Star State

• Bird: Mockingbird

• Tree: Pecan

• Flower: Bluebonnet

• Gem: Texas Blue Topaz

Geographic Facts: 

• Area: Texas encompasses 275,416 square miles. It is large enough to hold fifteen small American states with 1,000 square miles left over. At its extremes, Texas spans 801 north-south miles and 773 east-west miles. Of the states 254 counties, Brewster, which surrounds Big Bend National Park, is largest; at 5,935 square miles, it is nearly 20 percent larger than Connecticut. Rockwall County, just east of Dallas, is smallest at 154 square miles.
  
• Boundary: The circumference of Texas runs 3,816 miles. Along its southeastern border is 624 miles of coastline where the land gives way to the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana and Arkansas comprise the state's eastern border, while Oklahoma contains it on the north. New Mexico lies to the west of Texas, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas border Texas along its southwestern curves.
  
• Weather: Texas summers average 78 degrees Fahrenheit in the panhandle and 84 in the lower Rio Grande Valley. Winter temperatures average 40 degrees in the panhandle and 61 along the lower Rio Grande. Nearly sixty inches of rain fall annually where the Sabine River separates the Texas from Louisiana, while parts of Far West Texas average less than eight.
  
• Mountains: Texas has ninety-one mountains over a mile in elevation, all in the trans-Peco (Far West) region. Guadalupe Peak is the state's highest at 8,749 feet.
  
• Forests: Woodlands cover more than 23 million Texas Acres in forty-three counties. There are four national forests -Angelina, Davy Crockett, Savine, and Sam Houston - in the eastern part of the state, north of Houston and Beaumont but south of Nacogdoches. Of the trees harvested, 83 percent are pine.
  
• Rivers: All Texas rivers empty into the gulf of Mexico (although the Canadian and the Red flow into the Mississippi River first). The Rio Grande separates Texas from Mexico for 1,270 miles. the Red River flows 726 miles between Texas and Oklahoma. The brazos is wholly within Texas, beginning near Lubbock and meandering diagonally across the state until it reaches the gulf south of Houston. Other major streams include the Colorado, Trinity, Sabine, Nueces, Neches, Pecos, and Guadalupe.
  
• Lakes: Texas has 5,175 square miles of lakes and streams and is second only to Alaska in volume of inland water. Toledo Bend Reservoir, between Texas and Louisiana, is the largest lake in or bordering Texas; its surface covers 185,000 acres. Lake Sam Rayburn, a reservoir on the Angelina river, is the largest body of water within the state. Other large reservoirs include Lake Livingston on the Trinity River, Lake Texoma on the Red river, and Falcon and Amistad international reservoirs on the Rio Grande. There are many other natural and man-made lakes as well.
  
• Indian Reservations: The Tigua Indians have the smallest of the three Indian reservations in Texas; their 66 acres are in Ysleta, a suburb of El Paso. The 4,600-acre Alabama-Coushatta Reservation is in the Big Thicket country of East Texas between Livingston and Woodville. The Kickapoos occupy a 125-acre reservation near Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande.

  Texas Highway System

• Highways: Texas has 77,552 miles of designated highways, of which 41,787 miles are paved.
  
• Shortest Highway: Loop 168 in downtown Tenaha in Shelby County is .074 miles long, or 391 feet.
  
• Longest Highway: I10 runs east-west across 878.7 miles of Texas countryside.
  
• Number of Bridges: The Queen Isabella Causeway, connecting Port Isabel and South Padre Island, is 2.37 miles long.
  
• Only Tunnel in the Highway System: At the lower end of the Houston Ship Channel, along Highway 146, is a 4,110-foot tunnel connecting Baytown and La Porte. The Washburn Tunnel, which runs between Pasadena and Galena Park near the upper end of the Houston Ship Channel, is not part of the state highway system.
  

  Fun and Interesting Facts

• 1845 - The word "maverick" came into common use as a reference for unbranded cattle owned by Samuel Maverick. On December 29th Texas joined the Union as the 28th state.
• 1883 - The cowboys went on strike in the Texas panhandle.
• 1905 - Texas theaters started showing motion pictures.