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AUSTIN , the capital ofSee also: Texas, U.S.A., and the county-seat of Travis county, on the N. See also: bank of the See also: Colorado See also: river, near the centre of the See also: state and about 145 M
.
W.N.W. of Houston
.
Pop
.
(1890) 14,575; (1900) 22,258, of whom 5822 were negroes; (1910 census) 29;860
.
Austin is served by the Houston & Texas Central, the See also: International & See also: Great See also: Northern, and the See also: Missouri, Kansas & Texas See also: railways
.
The city is built on high bluffs 40-120 ft. above the river, which is spanned here by a See also: bridge, built in 1874
.
The Texas State Capitol, a handsome See also: building of red Texas granite, with a dome 318 ft. high, cost more than $3,500,000, and stands in a square in the centre of the city
.
It was built (1881–1888) by See also: Chicago capitalists in See also: exchange for a See also: land See also: grant of 3,000,000 acres
.
It is in the
See also: form of a See also: Greek See also: cross, with an extreme length of 556.5 ft. and an extreme width of 288.8 ft
.
Next to the See also: National Capitol at See also: Washington, it is the largest capitol building in the See also: United States, and it is said to be one of the ten largest buildings in the See also: world
.
Austin is the seat of the University of Texas (opened in 1883; co-educational) ; the medical department of the state university is at See also: Galveston, and the departments in Austin are the See also: college of arts, department of See also: education, department of See also: engineering, department of See also: law, school of See also: pharmacy, and school of See also: nursing
.
The See also: government of the university is vested in a See also: board of eight regents nominated by the governor and appointed with the advice and consent of the state senate
.
At Austin are also state institutions and asylums for the insane, the See also: blind, the coloured See also: deaf and blind; the state school for the deaf and dumb; the state Confederate home; the Confederate woman's home (1907 ; for wives and widows of Confederate soldiers and sailors), maintained by the Daughters of the Confederacy; St Mary's See also: Academy (See also: Roman Catholic, under the supervision of the Sisters of the See also: Holy Cross, founded 1875, chartered 1886); St See also: Edward's College (Roman Catholic, chartered 1885); the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary (Presbyterian See also: Church,
See also: South), opened in 1902 by the See also: Synod of Texas, and after 1905 partly controlled by the Synod of See also: Arkansas; See also: Tillotson College (a See also: negro school under Congregational control, founded by the See also: American Missionary Association, chartered in 1877, and opened in 1881) ; and See also: Samuel Huston College (for negroes; Methodist Episcopal; opened in 1900 and named in honour of an Iowan benefactor)
.
The See also: principal See also: newspapers of Austin are the Statesman (Democratic, established in 1871), a See also: morning paper, and the Tribune (Democratic, established in 1891), an evening paper
.
The Quarterly of the Texas State See also: Historical Society is published here
.
Austin is the principal See also: trade and jobbing centre for central and western Texas, is an important market for live-stock, See also: cotton, grain and wool, and has extensive manufactories of See also: flour, cotton-seed oil, See also: leather goods, See also: lumber and wooden See also: ware; the value of the factory product in 1905 was $1,569,353, being 105.2 % more than in 1900
.
The city owns and operates its See also: water-supply See also: system
.
In 1890–1893 one of the largest dams in the world, an immense structure of granite See also: masonry, 1200 ft. long, 6o-7o ft. high, and 18 to 66 ft. thick, was constructed across the Colorado river 2 M. above the city for the pur-
supplying mater and power, creating a See also: reservoir (Lake M`Donald) about 30 M. long
.
Freshets in the spring of 1900, pose
of
however, undermined the See also: wall, and on the 7th of See also: April the See also: dam broke with a resulting loss of several lives and about $1,000,000 worth of See also: property
.
The rebuilding of the dam was projected in 1907
.
Austin was first settled in 1838 and was named See also: Waterloo, but in 1839, when it was chosen as the site of the capital of the Republic of Texas, it was renamed in honour of See also: Stephen F
.
Austin, one of its founders
.
Under the influence of General Sam Houston the capita] was for a See also: time in 1842–1845 removed from Austin to Houston, but in 1845 an See also: ordinance was passed making Austin the capital, and it remained the state capital after Texas entered the Union, although See also: Huntsville and Tehuacana Springs in 185o and Houston in 1872 attempted in popular elections
See also: PHYSICAL" GEOGRAPHY Physiography.—The salient features of the Australian continent are its compact outline, the See also: absence of navigable See also: rivers communicating with the interior, the absence of active volcanoes or snow-capped mountains, itschharacte (ared
r
.
See also: isolation from other lands, and its antiquity
.
Some of the most profound changes that have taken place on this globe occurred in Mesozoic times, and a great portion ofSee also: Australia was already dry land when vast tracts of See also: Europe and See also: Asia were submerged; in this sense, therefore, Australia has been rightly referred to as one of the See also: oldest existing land surfaces
.
It has been described as at once the largest See also: island and the smallest continent on the globe
.
The general contours exemplify the law of geographers in regard to continents, viz. as to their having a high border around a depressed interior, and the highest mountains on the See also: side of the greatest ocean
.
On the N
.
Australia is bounded by the Timor See also: Sea, the Arafura Sea and Torres Strait; on the E. by the Pacific Ocean; on the S. by See also: Bass Strait and the See also: Southern Ocean; and on the W. by the See also: Indian Ocean
.
It stands up from the ocean depths in three fairly well-marked terraces
.
The basal plain of these terraces is the See also: bed of- the ocean, which on the Pacific side has an See also: average See also: depth of 15,000 ft
.
From this profound foundation rise Australia, New See also: Guinea and See also: Melanesia, in varying slopes
.
The
ledge rising from the ocean floor has a depth averaging
8000 ft. below sea-level
.
The See also: outer edge of this ledge is roughly parallel to the See also: coast of Western Australia, and more than 150 m. from the land
.
Round the Australian Bight it continues parallel to the coast, until south of See also: Spencer Gulf (the basal ledge still averaging 8000 ft. in depth) it sweeps southwards to See also: lat
.
55°, and forms a submarine promontory See also: I000 m. long
.
The edge of the abysmal See also: area comes close to the eastern coasts of.See also: Tasmania and New South See also: Wales, approaching to within 6o m. of Cape See also: Howe
.
The terrace.closest to the land, known as the See also: continental shelf, has an average depth of boo ft., and connects Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania in one unbroken sweep
.
Compared with other continents, the Australian continental shelf is extremely narrow, and there are points on the eastern coast where
to be chosen in its place
.
The first Anglo-American See also: settlement in Texas, established on the Brazos river in 1823 by members of the Austin colony, was See also: San Felipe de Austin now San Felipe
.
In 1909 Austin adopted a commission form of government
.
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