McLennan County Sits Where Two Prairies Meet

The Grand Prairie reaches across western McLennan County. The Blackland Prairie comes in from the east. Its dark, heavy clay drew early farmers, and cotton led the county's farm economy from the 1880s into the mid-1900s.

Much of the old tallgrass country is now farms, pasture, or growing towns. Cotton, corn, milo, wheat, and livestock still shape the Blackland landscape. Native prairie patches are rare. Soil can change within a short distance, so draw the exact tract in USDA's Web Soil Survey before relying on a broad prairie name.