pre-1840
Southlake sits in a geographic region thick with blackjack and post oak trees and artesian springs and was acknowledged by 19th century cartographers as the Cross Timbers. This 2004 photo was taken at the Bob Jones Nature Center. Courtesy Bob Koontz
The Cross Timber region of North America runs 350 miles through Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Courtesy of Richard Frankaviglia
"'In his travels to the western frontier in the early 1830s, American writer Washington Irving characterized the Cross Timbers as "forests of cast iron,'" writes Richard Francaviglia in his book, The Cast Iron Forest. Courtesy of Richard Francaviglia
George Catlin painting, "Caddo Indian Chasing Buffalo, Cross Timbers"
Catlin painting, "Comanche Indians Chasing Buffalo"
"A Deer Drive in the Texas 'Cross Timber'" by Frenzeny & Tavernier, 1874. Courtesy Special Collections Division, The University of Texas at Arlington
The Cast Iron Forest, written by Richard V. Francaviglia, provides detail and context to the unique regional Cross Timbers in which present-day Southlake sits