As the traveler proceeded westward across the Blackland Prairie in the nineteenth century he encountered a dense forest of ancient stunted trees. Here is how Washington Irving described what he found in 1832 in A Tour of the Prairies:

I will not easily forget the mortal toil and vexation of flesh and spirit, that we underwent occasionally, in our wanderings through the Cross Timber. It was like struggling through forests of cast iron.

A finger of this forest extends between Dallas and Fort Worth on a sandy soil much different than the black clay I live on a few miles away. Though a modern traveller might not even recognize that he is in a forest so much of it has been cleared and developed, there are fortunately remnants, such as the one in the backyard of Richard Francaviglia, a Professor of History at UTA, and the author of a book I have just finished reading called The Cast Iron Forest.

The trees of the Crosstimbers are a mixture of blackjack and post oak. Although small they are apparently hundreds of years old. There was never a solid forest but a mosaic of forested areas and open prairie. At the same time it was once dense enough to represent a barrier to westward migration.

Growing up in Texas I frequently saw maps with the region marked. I always thought the term defined a geologic formation or a soil type, which it also does, but it never occurred to me that there was a real forest there. Partly that is because the trees are small and partly because so much of it no longer remains. After reading this book I recognize it now along the eastern edge of Fort Worth, where it adds immensely to the beauty of many suburban yards.

The book describes the natural environment of the region and also the role that people have played in transforming it. What amazes me is that a natural feature of the environment that was so important 150 years ago can be virtually unknown to most inhabitants of the region today.