Historical Descriptions of Soils and Landscapes of the Texas Gulf Coast.

For more than 480 years, the Texas Gulf Coast has been crisscrossed by explorers, immigrants, and travelers. Their stories, recorded in their journals, reports, diaries, and letters, provide a fascinating glimpse into what the area was like before European settlement changed it forever. I will draw on the writings of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (1528) and Henri Joutel (La Salle Expedition, 1685), as well as those who came in the 19^th century, such as early botanists and naturalists like Thomas Drummond, Ferdinand Lindheimer, and Gideon Lincecum; the geologist Ferdinand Römer; and travelers and settlers such as Friedrich Schlecht, Gustav Dresel, Carl von Solms-Braunfels, Alwin Sörgel, Frederick Law Olmsted, Noah Smithwick, William Dewees, and others, who traveled or settled the area prior to the Civil War. My focus will be on their descriptions of the soils and landscapes they encountered, as well as the challenges they faced traveling and living under often difficult circumstances.