Grimes County is a county located in the U.S. state of
Texas. In 2000, its population was 23,552. The 2006 Census estimate
placed the county's population at 25,552. Grimes is named for Jesse
Grimes, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and early
settler of the county. The seat of the county is Anderson.
Grimes County, in southeastern Texas, lies forty miles northwest of
Houston and is bordered on the north by Madison County, on the east
by Walker and Montgomery counties, on the south by Waller County,
and on the west by Washington and Brazos counties. Anderson, the
county seat, is the third-largest town in Grimes County. The
county's geographical center lies at about 30°34' north latitude
and 95°59' west longitude. State Highway 90 is the major
north-south thoroughfare, while State highways 30 and 105 run east
and west. The county is also served by five major railways: the
Southern Pacific; the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe; the Union
Pacific; the Burlington Northern; and the Chicago, Rock Island and
Pacific. Grimes County covers 799 square miles at the boundary
between the Post Oak Belt and the Coastal Plain. Most of the area,
especially the eastern sections, consists of gently rolling to
sloping terrain, while the bottomland along the rivers and streams
is nearly level to gently sloping. The elevation ranges from 193
feet above sea level in the southeast to 415 feet in the northwest.
The western part of the county is drained by the Navasota and
Brazos rivers, which form its western boundary; much of the eastern
portion of the county drains into the West Fork of the San Jacinto
River, while the Trinity River drains the northernmost areas of the
county. Upland soils, which cover much of the area, are gray sandy
loams overlying clayey subsoils. Bottomland soils, found in the
floodplains of the rivers and principal creeks, are dark, loamy to
clayey alluvial soils. A series of prairies featuring Wilson clay
blackland soils runs through the southern part of the county.
Grimes County lies in a transitional vegetation zone between the
post oak savannah, which covers the northern and western sections
of the county, and, to the south and east, a region of intermixed
forest and prairie, which supports dense stands of oak, elm, pecan,
and mesquiteqv, as well as several species of grass. Hardwoods,
found in stream valleys and lowlands throughout the county, include
post oak, blackjack oak, white oak, hickory, and maple. Fingers of
the East Texasqv Piney Woods extend into the southeastern corner of
the county, and upland areas everywhere are mantled by forests of
loblolly, shortleaf, and longleaf pine. Between 1 and 10 percent of
the land in the county is classified as prime farmland. Modest
reserves of petroleum, natural gas, and lignite coal are the most
significant of the limited mineral resources in Grimes County. The
first tektites found in North America were discovered in Grimes
County in 1936. Though the buffalo, bear, and wild hogs which once
roamed the area disappeared in the 1800s, in the 1990s the county
still included many wild animal species, including white-tailed
deer, rabbit, raccoon, and opossum, and wild birds such as the
mourning dove and bobwhite quail. Temperatures in the county range
from an average high of 96° F in July to an average low of 40° in
January. Rainfall averages 40.5 inches a year, and the growing
season averages 278 days a year.
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