The stream runs through flat to rolling terrain with some local escarpments.
Local vegetation consists mainly of mesquite shrubs and grasses in deep fine sandy loam.
The creek was named for Capt. James Harrison Gageby of the Third Infantry, who campaigned against Indians in the area. In the latter half of the twentieth century, a series of dams and small lakes was constructed on the stream's upper waters in Wheeler County. The Texas State Historical Association, 1997,1998,1999.