Here's one of today's finds, a stone mound placed in 1888 by then Kendall County Surveyor R.K. Croskey to mark the NW corner of G.C.& S.F. RR. Co. Survey No. 331. The purpose of his survey in 1888 was to prepare corrected field notes for Sur. 331 so that patent could be issued on them. The field notes originally returned to the land office in 1882 by Mr. Croskey's predecessor in office, were rejected for patent after office examination determined that the 1882 location of Survey 331 was in evident conflict with some senior surveys. Mr. Croskey reported that he had carefully run out the lines of all of the senior surveys to make a new location for Survey 331 that was free of conflict.
(I'll bet I know at least one reader whose hands are just itching to flag up that fence corner post about 2 varas away from Mr. Croskey's original monument.)
NW Cor G.C.& S.F. RR. Co. Sur. 331, Kendall County, Texas
Here's a somewhat closer view of the stone mound in which some modern surveyor has used a gasoline-powered hammer drill to drill a 5/8 in. hole in the underlying rock, drive a 5/8 in. rebar into the hole for a very tight fit, and affix an identifiable aluminum cap to the bar.
That same resurveyor even noted that he'd "FD OLD SM" on the aluminum cap just to underscore the point that he found the old Stone Mound, didn't build it.
1893 School House in Sisterdale
The road to that project goes through the community of Sisterdale, founded in 1847 by some German freethinkers who had come to settle in Texas. The particular attraction of the site of Sisterdale was a creek with a flow adequate to run a mill.
In the afternoon, the light was just right on the old school house, so naturally I had to stop and take a photo or two. Note the cast iron pump in the top photo.
1893 School House in Sisterdale, Texas
1893 School House in Sisterdale
> In the afternoon, the light was just right on the old school house, so naturally I had to stop and take a photo or two. Note the cast iron pump in the top photo.
>
I saw that! Wonder if it still works?? Can one go into that school house and see it? Nice pics!
1893 School House in Sisterdale
> I saw that! Wonder if it still works?? Can one go into that school house and see it? Nice pics!
I'm afraid the pump probably needs some serious overhaul. The school house is privately owned at present. I stepped across a rail fence to get those shots. I suspect that eventually the county will buy the structure and turn it into a museum.
Here's a link to a bit of the history of Sisterdale.
thank you Kent, nicely done!
The monuments that we recover keep us pumped and enthused about our profession.
In following yours, and the several other guys' posts of monument recoveries; the value of the ability to add digital photos to the public record corroborates the element of certainty of identity.
dla
> The monuments that we recover keep us pumped and enthused about our profession.
Yes, the thrill of finding an old monument like that never wears out.
19th-century Texas architects
BTW if you like irony, the ranch that I found the 1888 stone mound on was once owned by a prominent San Antonio architect named Alfred Giles. On the way to the ranch, I drove through Blanco, past this building that had been built in 1885 to serve as the Blanco County Courthouse until the county seat was moved. The architect of the building was F.E. Ruffini an architect who lost many major commissions to Giles.
1885 Courthouse in Blanco, Texas
Here's a link to a bit more information about Frederick Ernst Ruffini
If you think that there is a striking similarity between the 1885 courthouse in Blanco and the 1886 courthouse in Paint Rock, you may just be onto something.
1886 Courthouse in Paint Rock, Texas
The architect of the 1886 courthouse was the brother of F.E. Ruffini, Oscar Ruffini.
19th-century Texas architects
Those courthouses look almost identical. They are beautiful! But I am weird; I think the old architecture is just way more gorgeous than most of the new stuff out there.
Wendell enjoys it like I do, except everywhere we go he will point out "look, a corner marker", "look, someones cap, look, *I* surveyed that!". He's found some real old ones!!
Here's our local courthouse in both summer and winter. Built in the 1800s sometime. It's 3 blocks from our house.
19th-century Texas architects
Thanks for sharing,
nice job and interesting history,
19th-century Texas architects
Dang Kent,
While you were stomping around my neck of the woods, you should have called to have lunch. lol
BTW,
That courthouse in Blanco was the original courthouse for Blanco County, but a new courthouse was built in Johnson City because it was a better fit for the center of the County. They just got thru with filming a portion of a re-make of the movie True Grit there.
Plenty of good stories about when the records were moved and how men died that day.
Kendall County can be some pretty rough county to work in.
I think that the term "Hill Country" was derived from that area.
PS,
If you did not stop at the Blanco bowling ally (8 pin - hand set) for lunch, you missed out.
Randy
19th-century Texas architects
> That courthouse in Blanco was the original courthouse for Blanco County, but a new courthouse was built in Johnson City because it was a better fit for the center of the County. They just got thru with filming a portion of a re-make of the movie True Grit there.
> Kendall County can be some pretty rough county to work in.
> I think that the term "Hill Country" was derived from that area.
> If you did not stop at the Blanco bowling ally (8 pin - hand set) for lunch, you missed out.
Yes, Randy, I shot that picture of the 1885 Blanco County Courthouse just after lunch at the Blanco Bowling Club Cafe. The place was busy and aside from the waitresses I was the youngest person there. On the way back, I picked up some barbecue from Riley's in Blanco, but it was unimpressive.
As for Kendall County, you can pretty well tell how rough the country is just by the patent date of the land. The best land was surveyed off by 1860, most of it in the 1840's. If you're dealing with land that wasn't surveyed until the 1880's, you won't lose much money betting that it's rocky and rugged.
Nice find Kent. It looks like there’s not many large surface stones in the vicinity of this corner. Is that how you determined that this is the corner? Or were retraced measurements and/or accessories also used? Or have you “locked in” to how Croskey built his mounds?
>It looks like there’s not many large surface stones in the vicinity of this corner. Is that how you determined that this is the corner? Or were retraced measurements and/or accessories also used? Or have you “locked in” to how Croskey built his mounds?
The mound is typical of two other Croskey mounds I found on the North line of Survey 331, none being what I would call a well-built mound. The first clue to most old mounds is whether they look artificial of not. That particular arrangement of stones of those sizes definitely is artificial. You could wander over the full 640 acres and if you found one similar, chances are you'd have found another of Croskey's mounds.
The nearest of his other mounds is 493.43 varas West from the mound shown in the photo, a distance that Mr. Croskey reported as being 493 varas in 1888, essentially exact agreement for that area and time. The fence is something that was clearly built in general ignorance of where the lines of Survey 331 actually are. As you run southerly, in the direction of the camera from the stone mound shown in the photo, the pasture fence veers more than 100 ft. off line.
> The nearest of his other mounds is 493.43 varas West from the mound shown in the photo ...
Uh, make that 493.43 varas Easterly, okay? The mound in the photo really is the NW corner.
That’s some pretty good chaining (varaing?) to follow. The mounds are within a foot of record +/- in over a quarter mile, if I understand the value of vara. If all his stuff is that tight, he didn’t need to make extravagant mounds.
>If all his stuff is that tight, he didn’t need to make extravagant mounds.
That appears to have been Mr. Croskey's theory. He reported that the entire North line of Survey 331 was 2393 varas in length. I find 2401.10, an excess of 8.10 varas (22.5 ft.). He was also quite relaxed about marking bearing trees and made virtually none, apparently believing that his calls for course and distance would be sufficient to retrace his work.
Kent,
Your posts are always very interesting, thank you.
1893 School House in Sisterdale
Wow..
you finally found some nice Live Oaks or
did you edit some Louisiana Live Oaks into the photo..
😉
