A little about surveying in texas

Texas is unique in the method of surveying that exists in the state. The original surveys are based on land grants by the Spanish governors to settlers in the Northern Province of Mexico, land north of the Rio Bravo. These grants were granted to those who served the Church, the Crown, or who bought property. This system started with large block grants to individuals that were then broken down into smaller blocks either through sales, inheritance, or outright theft.

Often these grants would have geographical boundaries, “bounded on the east by the Sabine River, to the North by the Angelina river, to the West by The Trinity river, and to the south by the Camino Real.” Rock cairns, Indian villages, river junctions or just a stake could be used as a prime corner. When the grants were finally surveyed they were done so with a measurement system based on the vara, roughly 2.78 feet to the vara. The second system is that which most of the United States use. This system in Texas is used where great tracts were surveyed out during various claims and counterclaims as to ownership. The third system is used now in south east Texas, that is the old Spanish Land Grant system modernized with up-to-date equipment, Anglo measurement that have existed for 200 years. As Texas came into the United States after the War for Independence in the 1830s there was a demand to have more accurate measurement of land, and better quality deeds. Towards the end of the 1890s and early 1900s logging interests began to take an interest in east Texas and large tracts were bought, traded or stolen for timber production. Often the tracts were bought for the timber and abandoned, vast areas of stumps and grass left to the settlers, cattle, and game animals. Serious surveying began in the 1900s when areas were becoming more and more competitive for space, towns and ranches. Twenty years later oil was to become a new focus for accurate land measurement. Consequently, most survey in south east Texas is less than 100 years old.

• Speak about the history of surveying in Texas.

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