Angelina, Natchitoches, Trinity, Brazos, Colorado...the range of timber is of an irregular width, say 5 to 35 miles wide...abounding with small prairies, skirted with timber of various kinds — oak, of every description, ash, elm, hickory, walnut and mulberry...the purest atmosphere I ever breathed was that of these regions." Josiah Gregg described the Cross Timbers in 1845 as varying in width from five to thirty miles and attributed their denseness to the continual burning of the prairies. Robert Neighbors and Rip Ford reached the "Cross Timbers, two parallel strips of timber region that ran down the middle of Texas", in 1849 while blazing an emigrant trail from Austin to El Paso. See also Dry line History of Texas forests Bibliography Anderson, Roger C., James S Fralish, Jerry M. Baskin (eds.). Savannas, Barrens, and Rock Outcrop Plant Communities of North America. Cambridge University Press, 1999. Francaviglia, Richard V. The Cast Iron Forest: A Natural and Cultural History of the North American Cross Timbers. University of Texas Press, 2000. Gregg, Josiah. "The Cross Timbers". Commerce of the Prairies. 1845. V. II, Ch. 10, pp. 199–201. (accessed June 19, 2007: hosted by The Kansas Collection) Irving, Washington. A Tour on the Prairies, Chapter XXI. 1835. Johnson, Neil R. (ed. C. Neil Kingsley). The Chickasaw Rancher. University Press of Colorado, 2001. McLeran, Vic. The Cooper's Hawk: A Cross Timbers Chronicle. Philadelphia: Xlibris Corporation, 2000. and Further reading Dale, Edward Everett. The Cross Timbers: Memories of a North Texas Boyhood. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1966. Roach, Joyce. Wild Rose: A Folk History of a Cross Timbers Settlement, Keller, Texas. Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press, 1996. References External links The Ancient Cross Timbers Consortium Map of Cross Timbers Texas counties map showing the ecoregion Texas counties map showing the ecoregion; similar to the above map This collection by wildflower.org lists native plants local to the Texas part of 29. https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/ecoregion-download-files-state-region-6#pane-41 Under "Texas." 4 maps contain additional information on Cross Timbers, such as which plants grow in the level IV ecoregions. The maps have county borders but no names; however, they detail rivers, lakes, and major cities, and contain photographs. There is also a Texas ecoregion report PDF which describes Cross Timbers vegetation and other features in much more detail than the maps. Under "Oklahoma," there is no ecoregion report PDF yet but more details are contained in the 4 PDF maps. https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/ecoregion-download-files-state-region-7#pane-14