An 1895 Railroad Map Kept Mill Creek's Palmetto Name

A Texas General Land Office sketch dated April 26, 1895, was drawn around the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe railroad from Sealy to the Washington County line. Beside Bellville, Kenney, and the tracks, it labels the East and West Forks as 'Palmetto or Mill Creek.'

That double name carries an older plant story. Spanish travelers called Mill Creek's broad wooded valley palmetto for a dwarf palm that once grew along its lower course. The creek runs southeast through Austin County's timber belt toward the Brazos. Water oak, pecan, and cottonwood grow in the county's creek bottoms.

The railroad gave the surveyor a reason to make the map. The creek names kept something older in the ink: a patch of Austin County remembered for palms as well as prairie and post oak.