The county is bounded on the north by Falls and Limestone Counties, on the east by Leon County, on the south by Brazos County, and on the west by Milam and Burleson Counties.  The Navasota River forms the natural boundary on the east and the Brazos River winds its way along the western edge.  The old San Antonio Road, the most famous route of the pioneer and frontier travel, which is older than Texas, and which was the longitude and latitude to the pioneers, forms almost the entire southern boundary.

Located approximately one hundred fifty miles west of the Louisiana state line, Robertson County is only one hundred forty miles from the Gulf of Mexico.[3]

Surface and Area

The county lies wholly within the Gulf Coastal Plain and is on the edge of the East Texas timbered region.  About 852 square miles, or 545,000 acres[4] made up one of the oldest settled parts of the state.[5]

A level to rolling terrain, with sand and sandy loam in the uplands, give way to deep alluvial soils in the river bottoms.[6]  About 15 percent of the area was originally prairie, the balance being timbered with hardwoods, principally post oak, black jack oak, and hickory in the uplands, and pin oak, post oak, elm, hackberry, cottonwood, ash, and pecan in the bottom lands.

The county is divided into highlands and prairies, and the area included between the Navasota and Brazos rivers has a southeasterly slope in the direction of the rivers.  [original page #3 missing here]  A to the main water course.  This divide crosses the county near the center and passes through Petteway, Grant Prairie, Franklin and Henry Prairie.  The gently rolling and sometimes quite broken country, in the neighborhood of stream courses, is closely related to the valley walls of a number of streams, like Mud, Mineral, and Clear creeks, which are quite steep rising suddenly to the general upland level.  Along the principal creeks are bottoms of rich alluvial soil ranging in width from very narrow strips to strips three fourths of a mile in width.  The broad bottom and gentle slope of Steele Creek, which rises in Limestone County, provides hundreds of acres of rich farm land as it flows across the northeast corner of Robertson County.  Deep gullies, known as “dugouts,” are formed by the upper courses of the streams and carry water only a part of each year, while some streams, like Cedar Creek, are fed by springs and have running water always.  Where channels have been obstructed by material washed from the upland, especially in their lower courses, the one-time notable productive bottoms have become subject to regular overflows.  This problem has caused Mud and Walnut Creeks to bring about a depreciation in value within the last few years.  The general drainage of the upland is very good and there is but a small amount of erosion other than a gradual advance of the “dugouts,” which, in many instances, benefit, especially, the flat stretches by broadening to the drainage system.[9]  Water, like air, is always in motion.  Much that fell as rain in early days ran off into rivers, doing a vast amount of work.  The three rivers of the county, for many, many years, were cutting across the hard rock faster than the land rose, were making flood plains in the bottom lands, and were taking to the sea materials for the sandbars along the coast.

Draining the county are three rivers, the Navasota, the Brazos, and the Little Brazos, which parallels the Brazos at distances never exceeding 3 miles.  These streams, flowing through deep ravines in the uplands and issuing upon almost prairie country, are given to sudden rises.  Flood waters have again and again dropped rich deposits of black soil in the valleys, until the fertility of  the bottom lands as become proverbial.  Since flood control methods have been adopted and malarial conditions eliminated, the lowlands between the Brazos and Little Brazos have naturally increased in value.[10]

The Navasota bottom is uniformly flat, interrupted by crossing streams and occasional sloughs, and is subject to frequent overflows.  The Brazos bottom proper embraces all the territory between the Big and Little Brazos rivers in addition to an irregular strip east of Little Brazos.  Near the southern county line the bottom averages about five miles in width, but is considerably narrower toward the northern line.

The width of this rich land in Robertson County is very irregular and changes with the meandering course of the Brazos River as it forms the western boundary.

Its width is about one-half mile at one place just west of Hammond, while in the bend where Hardin’s Slough meets the Big Brazos the bank has given way and the river reaches within a quarter of a mile of the Little Brazos.[11]

With exception of occasional, very small, rounded hills and sloughs, the bottoms are almost flat.  About midway between the two streams there is a slight and almost imperceptible ridge; which has been formed, as the land gently sloped away from the river.[12]

Just west of Calvert and Wooten Wells the flat country slopes gradually away from the Brazos bottom bluff line to blend in smoothly with the general uplands.

Evidently these flat stretches were influenced by the waters of the Brazos in the early stages of the river’s development.[13]

Climate

Climate was one of the important factors in influencing the early settlers to make their homes in Robertson County.  They were able to fit their activities to the pattern of climate, which in many ways determined their modes of living.

The winters are generally mild.  Light showers sometimes fall, but zero weather is rather uncommon.  The long summers are not so warm as the latitude would indicate by reason of the moderating breeze from the Gulf.  The hot season, comprised of June, July and August; has average monthly temperatures of eighty-two degrees, and eighty-four degrees Fahrenheit, respectively.  During the winter and spring, “northers” may be expected at any time.  Winds from the north accompany these sudden drops in temperature and continue from two to five days, normally.

Many times the “cold snaps” coming with the northers damage the tender vegetables and fruit; particularly the peach crop.[14]

The unusually mild winter of 1906-07 caused the peach trees to bud and even bloom as early as January, with the result that subsequent freezes did great damage both to the crop and to the trees.  The crop was practically cut off; while the vitality of the trees was so impaired that many died later.  Those on the high-lying and well-drained soils withstood the unfavorable conditions best.

The early spring caused the old cotton stalks to sprout, affording sustenance to early boll weevils.  The early planted crop was so injured and retarded by the cold weather of April and May that much replanting had to be done.  Corn was not seriously injured. Such unseasonable weather, however, is very rare.[15]

Around February 21 is the average date of the last killing frost in the early spring and about November 17 is the first in the early fall.  Crops in general are really not damaged severely by the unexpected frost, but vegetation has been killed as late as the middle of April.  Crops are planted a bit earlier in the bottoms than in the uplands, in the sandy uplands in particular.  Most of the Irish potato crop is planted in February, and corn may be planted any time from the middle of February to the first of April.  Cotton planting is usually done as early as possible in the effort to make a crop before boll weevil becomes most active.  This early planting has become more pronounced since the advent of this pest.  Any time from the tenth of April to the middle of May is considered cotton planting time.  The normal climatic conditions are well suited to cotton and it very seldom happens that less than a fair crop is made on account of unfavorable weather conditions.

By the timely breaking up of the crusts formed by the rains; by keeping the top soil continuously well mulched, and with frequent cultivations, most crop injury can be lessened considerably.[16]

Robertson County has no distinct “wet” and “dry” seasons as a whole.

The average tendency is toward heaviest precipitation in the spring with a slight upward turn in the autumn, and with dips in the summer and winter.

The annual rainfall of about thirty-four inches, when distributed uniformly, is adequate to meet the needs of all crops.  April and May are considered the months of heaviest precipitation while June and July, although with a fair average rainfall, are counted as a season of uncertain weather and subject to droughts.  Corn crops are apt to be cut short when dry weather comes during these months.  Irish potatoes, planted in the fall, cannot be grown successfully on account of the unevenly distributed rainfall during the season.  Gulf clouds are not indicative of good summer rains as the best rains generally come from the northeast.[17]