Dallas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas within the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area (colloquially referred to as the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex). As of 2010, the county had an official population of 2,368,139 and is now the ninth most populous county in the United States. Dallas county was founded in 1846 and was named for George Mifflin Dallas, the 11th Vice President of the United States.
Its county seat is Dallas, which is also the largest city in the county, the third-largest city in Texas, and the eighth-largest city in the United States. Dallas County is the most populous county within the metropolitan area and contains the largest of its principal cities.
Dallas County, in north central Texas, is bordered by Kaufman and Rockwall counties to the east, Tarrant County to the west, Denton and Collin counties to the north, and Ellis County to the south. Dallas is the county seat and largest city. The county's center point is at 32°46' north latitude and 96°48' west longitude. Dallas County comprises 902 square miles of the primarily flat, heavy Blackland Prairie. Elevations in the county range from 382 to 850 feet above sea level. The Elm Fork and West Fork of the Trinity River meet near downtown Dallas. The county is drained by the Trinity River and its tributaries, including White Rock, Mountain, Fivemile, Tenmile, Muddy, Duck, Turtle, and Mesquite creeks. These streams feed reservoirs for municipal water and recreational use, including Lake Ray Hubbard, Lake North, Joe Pool, Mountain Creek and White Rock Lakes. The terrain is generally undulating. The eastern two-thirds of the county and the land along the western border is surfaced by slightly acidic clayey soils with loamy topsoil. The rest of the county's soil is alkaline and loamy. The county has tall grasses with pecan and oak trees along streams and mesquite on the prairies. Though the rich soil is the main mineral resource of Dallas County, gravel and sand have been mined from the Trinity floodplain, cement has been made from the local soft limestone, and bricks have been manufactured from the county's clay. Temperatures range from an average high of 95° F in July to an average low of 36° in January. The average rainfall is thirty-six inches a year. The growing season lasts 235 days.
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I found my first cache in Dallas county on 12/28/2008.
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