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The early beginning - the Alamo -
24 February 1836
William Barret Travis  and
almost two hundred other defenders found themselves surrounded at the
Alamo Mission in San Antonio in late February of 1836. Refusing to
surrender, they held off the invading armies of Mexican Dictator Antonio
Lopez de Santa Anna for almost two weeks.
On March 6, the courageous Texans were overrun and slaughtered by well
over 2000 Mexicans. The resulting delay of Santa Anna's eastward
movement gave other Texans more time to organize, both politically and
militarily, and to ultimately defeat and capture Santa Anna at the
Battle of San Jacinto, fought April 21, 1836.
The name Texas is derived from tejas or teyas, the rendering by the
Spanish in the mid-16th century of the Caddo people's word for friends
or allies. It gradually became used to denote the region north of the Río
Grande and east of New Mexico, and was officially applied as Texas when
the area was organized as a republic in 1836. Texas was an independent
republic until it joined the Union on December 29, 1845, as the 28th
state. Its single-star flag dates from its independent period and has
given Texas the nickname the Lone Star State.
Texas is so vast and diverse we offer a few of the best
resources for Internet information.
Texas Highways - published monthly by the Travel and Information
Division of the Texas Department of Transportation.
http://www.texashighways.com/
Population trends are detailed,
followed by what may be the most complete list ever compiled of Texas
towns, cities, communities and villages. This list of more than 14,000
Texas town names, includes not only the 5,800 existing towns, but also
the names of towns that no longer exist and early names of existing
towns. Since the list includes the counties in which these towns were
located, it is a treasure for genealogists researching family history in
Texas.
Texas Nature, generally, from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/
Weather Forecasts for Texas from weather.com
http://www.weather.com/weather/us/states/Texas.htm
U.S. Geological Survey's mapping information (find the latitude and
longitude of any place in Texas) http://www-nmd.usgs.gov/www/gnis/
Weather Forecasts for Texas from weather.com
http://www.weather.com/weather/us/states/Texas.htm
U.S. Naval Observatory (calculating times of moonrise/set and
sunrise/set for a particular location) http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/data/
Texas Department of Transportation (Texas travel information)
http://www.traveltex.com
Visitor information for individual cities
http://www.tded.state.tx.us/tx-city/tx-city.htm
Texas Events, Fairs and Festivals List
http://www.traveltex.com/EventCalendar.htm
Road Mileage Calculator (distances between Texas cities) http://www.cpa.state.tx.us/comptrol/texastra.html
National Parks and Historic Sites in Texas
http://www.nps.gov/parks/search.htm
Recreational facilities on National Forests and Grasslands in Texas
http://www.southernregion.fs.fed.us/texas/
Texas Hunting License Information and Regulations http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/hunt/hunt.htm
Texas Fishing License Information and Regulations http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fish/fish.htm
The Texas State Historical Association
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/
Texas Historical Commission
http://www.thc.state.tx.us/
Texas State Library and Archives - for government records and historic
documents
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/general/index.html
General Land Office - for Texas land archives and records
http://www.glo.state.tx.us/central/arc/index.htm
Texas Historic Sites Atlas
http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us
Lone Star Junction, an interesting and well-researched Texas history
site.
http://www.lsjunction.com/
Web Cams
Austin Cam (from 6th St. and Trinity) http://www.earthcam.com/usa/texas/austin/
Austin Skyline http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/1814/austin.htm
Capitol Cam from KVUE http://www.KVUE.com/webcam/capitol.html
University Tower from University Coop http://www.coop-bookstore.com/ePOS?form=texas/tower.html
Bayou Vista Highlands Bayou http://www.gccs.net/cam.htm
Corpus Christi Caller-Times - BeachCam, SkyCam, GhostCam
http://www.caller.com/specials/cams/
Surf Corpus http://www.surfcorpus.com/
EarthCam Dallas - from Dallas Museum of Natural History
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/texas/dallas/
WFAA Downtown Dallas http://www.wfaa.com/bigcam.html
El Paso -Ozone Map Cam http://www.ozonemap.org/aircams/
Galveston Surf Cam http://www.galvestonsurfcam.com/index.html
Garland - http://www.ci.garland.tx.us/cogwbcam.htm
Houston - EarthCam Houston - from Houston Museum of Natural Science
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/texas/houston/museum/
KHOU Web Cams (11 cameras at different spots around Houston)
http://www.khou.com/webcams/index.html
Laredo - Eye in the Sky http://www.bravo.net/eye.asp
Lubbock Texas Tech Park Place Cam at Talkington Plaza
http://www.hs.ttu.edu/web-cam/
Matagorda Beach Matagorda Beach Surf cam
http://www.matagordabay.com
Round Rock Round Rock traffic http://www.round-rock.net
San Antonio EarthCam San Antonio River Walk
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/texas/sanantonio/boudros/
Heart of San Antonio (corner of Navarro and Houston streets)
http://HeartofSanAntonio.com/salive/smallview.asp
SkyCam - KENS 5 Eye in the Sky
http://www.mysa.com/mysanantonio/skycam/
Stephenville Weather Cam
http://www.stephenville.com/weather.asp
Surfside Surf Cam
http://netsurfing.com/surfcam/
Texas City Anita's Bait & Tackle Cam
http://www.fishtexas.cc/texascity/anitas/index.htm
Contact us: texas-almanac@dallasnews.com
On - line Magazine
http://www.texashighways.com/currentissue/index.php
Search the Texas Highways Online Index for the Road Trips we have
featured on our Web site since 1998. Every month, our Road Trips take
you to select destinations in the Lone Star State.
Texas Cooking - recipes, features, humor, etc.
http://www.texascooking.com/
Guide To Texas Outside - information on hiking, camping, boating,
fishing, hunting, parks, hotels, golf, retirement, scuba diving, and
anything else you can do outdoors.
http://www.texasoutside.com
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