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Physical Features: Located in three soil areas; level to rolling; bisected by Colorado River; Eagle Lake; oaks.

Economy: Agribusiness, oil and gas services, gravel mining.

History: Karankawa and other tribes. Anglo settlers among Stephen F. Austin’s Old Three Hundred families. First German settlers arrived around 1840. Antebellum slaveholding area. County created 1836, organized 1837; named for river.

Race/Ethnicity: (In percent) Anglo, 56.8; Black, 13.3; Hispanic, 28.9; Asian, 0.9; Other, 1.2; Two or more races, 1.4.

Vital Statistics, annual: Births, 268; deaths, 256; marriages, 117; divorces, 45.

Recreation: Hunting of duck, geese, deer, exotics; canoeing, bicycling; historic sites; prairie chicken refuge; opera house in Columbus.

Minerals: Gas, oil, gravel.

Agriculture: Rice (third in state in acres), cattle, corn, cotton, soybeans, sesame, hay, pecans, nurseries; significant irrigation for rice. Market value $68 million.

COLUMBUS (3,804) county seat; mining, agribusiness center, tourism, oil-field servicing, timber-treating center; hospital; historical sites, homes, walking tour; Live Oak festival in May.

Eagle Lake (3,809) rice drying center; hospital; goose hunting; Prairie Edge museum.

Weimar (2,317) agriculture, light industry, meat processing, retail; hospital, library; “Gedenke” (remember) celebration on Mother’s Day weekend.

Other towns include: Altair (30), Garwood (600), Glidden (730), Nada (165), Oakland (80), Rock Island (160), Sheridan (300).

The Colorado County Courthouse in Columbus. Photo by Larry D. Moore (CC).