Jeff Davis County is a county in the U.S. state of
Texas. It is named for Jefferson Davis, the president of the
Confederate States of America. It is one of the nine counties that
comprise the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. In 2000, its
population was 2,207, and 2,258 by 2009. Its seat is Fort
Davis.
The county contains the 270,000-acre (1,100 km2) Texas Davis
Mountains American Viticultural Area, though only about 50 acres
(0.2 km2) is currently under vine. The McDonald Observatory is
located near Fort Davis, and is owned by the University of Texas at
Austin.
Jeff Davis County, in the Trans-Pecos region of west Texas, is
bordered by Culberson County to the northwest, Reeves and Pecos
counties to the northeast, Brewster County to the southeast, and
Presidio County to the southwest; the westernmost point of Jeff
Davis County touches the Rio Grande. Fort Davis, the county seat
and largest town, is 175 miles southeast of El Paso in southeastern
Jeff Davis County. The county's center is about twenty miles
northwest of Fort Davis at approximately 30°45' north latitude and
104°10' west longitude. Interstate Highway 10, U.S. Highway 80, and
the Union Pacific Railroad cross the northern tip of Jeff Davis
County, and U.S. Highway 90 and the Southern Pacific Railroad cross
the western part of the county. State Highway 17 runs from north to
south through eastern Jeff Davis County, and State Highway 118 runs
from northwest to southeast across the central part of the county.
Jeff Davis County comprises 2,258 square miles, varying from
mountainous to nearly level, with elevations ranging from 3,800 to
8,378 feet above sea level; the latter, at the top of Mount
Livermore, is the fifth highest elevation in the state. Jeff Davis
County is in the Rio Grande basin. Soils in this predominantly
mountainous county are generally thin and stony; in the valleys
dark loams overlie clayey subsoils. Vegetation in the county
includes scrub brush, cacti, grasses, live oak, piñon, and juniper,
with Douglas fir, aspen, maple, ponderosa pine, and madrone at the
higher elevations. Among the animals found (and hunted) in the
county are mule deer, white-tailed deer, pronghorn antelope,
mountain lion, javelina, elk, coyote, bobcat, ringtailed cat,
badger, fox, weasel, civet cat, raccoon, skunk, sandhill crane,
jacksnipe, mourning dove, white-winged dove, and teal. Several
animals considered rare or endangered in Texas are found in Jeff
Davis County, including the silver-haired bat, shorthorn lizard,
Steller's jay, Clark's nutcracker, and band-tailed pigeon. Mineral
resources include barite, kaolin clay, lead, limestone, manganese,
rhyolite, silver, fluorspar, and zeolite. The climate is
subtropical-arid. The average minimum temperature in January is 32°
F, and the average maximum temperature in July is 90°. The growing
season averages 225 days a year, and the average annual
precipitation is eighteen inches. Less than 1 percent of the land
in the county is considered prime farmland.
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