Angelina County

Angelina County (G-22) is on U.S. Highways 59 and 69 northeast of Houston in the East Texas Timberlands region of northeast Texas. Lufkin, the county seat and largest town, is ninety-six miles northwest of Beaumont and 120 miles northeast of Houston, at 31°20' north latitude and 94°43' west longitude. The county is bounded on the north by the Angelina River and on the south by the Neches River. It comprises 807 square miles of gently rolling terrain and is densely forested with pine and a great variety of hardwoods. Altitudes range from 200 to 380 feet above sea level. The Angelina River drains the northern and eastern parts of the county, and the Neches drains the southern and western parts. The largest body of water in the county is Sam Rayburn Reservoir, on the Angelina River; the lake, which extends into Jasper, Sabine, Nacogdoches, and San Augustine counties, covers 114,500 acres and affords county residents good boating, fishing, and swimming, as well as water storage for municipal, agricultural, and industrial needs and for flood control and electric power. Most of the county is surfaced by sand and mud containing lignite and bentonite. This soil underlies rangeland and cropland and is exploited for mineral production. The northernmost edge of the county (generally, the area north of Lufkin) is covered by thin to moderately thick clayey sands over steep slopes and rolling hills. In the piney woods area, longleaf, shortleaf, loblolly, and slash pines provide excellent timber. Hardwoods in Angelina County include several types of gum, magnolia, elm, hickory, and oak. Between 21 and 30 percent of the land is considered good for farming. Mineral resources include natural gas and oil. Temperatures range from an average high of 94° F in June to an average low of 39° in January. Rainfall averages 42.99 inches per year. The growing season extends for 244 days.

The area that is now Angelina County was originally occupied by agricultural Indians of Caddoan and Atakapan-related stock. The county was named for a Hainai Indian girl who, according to Spanish legend, helped early Spanish missionaries of the area around 1690. Settlers who came to the county in the early nineteenth century found Indians of the Hasinai branch of the Caddo confederacies. The Hasinai, to which the Indian girl's group belonged, had an abundant food supply, a relatively dense population, and a complex social organization.