Every Lake
Texas
Two hundred fifty-four counties, and a border where the Rio Grande does whatever it wants.
Texas in relief
The land itself, cut in six steps of birch from the lowlands to the high ground — the cities starred, the summit and rise on the title block. No counties, no roads: just the shape of Texas.
About Texas
Texas is big enough to hold four landscapes. The Rio Grande draws the entire southwestern border for over 1,200 miles, doubling back on itself at the Big Bend; the Red River rules the north; the Panhandle is a surveyed rectangle set on top. Behind the Gulf coast the piney woods of the east give way at the Balcones Escarpment to the Hill Country, then the Edwards Plateau, the Llano Estacado and finally the Guadalupe Mountains at 8,751 feet. Two hundred fifty-four counties, more than any other state, most of them square.
Texas won independence from Mexico in 1836 and was its own republic for nearly a decade before joining on December 29, 1845 as the 28th state. Austin was laid out in 1839 on the Colorado River at the edge of the Hill Country and named for Stephen F. Austin. What makes the board hang is the sheer reach of it: I-10 crosses more than 870 miles of Texas alone, I-35 runs the spine from Laredo to Dallas, and the ranch roads fill in the rest.
- Six layers of birch — the land in elevation steps
- The summit and total rise on the title block
- The major cities, starred and named
- Title block with the admission date and capital
- A double rule engraved around the edge
- Every county line and the state border
- The interstates with their shields — 15 on this board
- The major cities, starred and named
- Title block with the admission date and capital
- A mile ruler engraved around the frame
