<P> Paul Knight of the Houston Press in a 2009 article that "some say (natural gas) has surpassed crude as king in East Texas ." </P> <P> Tourism has not been a highly significant source of economic activity in East Texas, although several high - traffic corridors pass through East Texas which have aided economic development along those routes . These include: Interstate 30 (from Dallas through Texarkana), Interstate 20 (through Dallas and on through Shreveport), Interstate 10 (through Houston and Beaumont into Louisiana), Interstate 45 (through Houston up to Dallas) and U.S. Highway 59 (through Houston and up past Texarkana; in process of being upgraded along most of the route to Interstate 69). </P> <P> In recent years, the region has become home to many patent holding companies, due to its legal system being particularly friendly to patent holders and hostile to out of state tech defendants . </P> <P> The region also contains Sam Houston State University in Huntsville and Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, which helps contribute millions of dollars into the Deep East Texas economy . Texas A&M University - Texarkana, University of Texas at Tyler, LeTourneau University and East Texas Baptist University are a few of the smaller universities in East Texas . Texas A&M University - Commerce is right outside east Texas and is formerly known as East Texas State University, while A&M - Texarkana was a branch campus of ETSU . </P>

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