BLM Original Survey in Texas Records Location

I personally have no experience that far south, but the best bet might be to call the "public room" at the BLM headquarters for that region. That's how we track ours down in Montana. If not, they can point you in the right direction.

I resisted a very snarky response and Iƒ??m proud of myself...?ÿ

Contact GLO records at [email protected]

It will probably be replied to by Dan Flemming, and he is really good at helping with these types of requests.?ÿ?ÿ

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The field notes may not have been scanned yet (or if scanned, remain to be hosted on GLO Records).?ÿ

I suggest that you call the New Mexico BLM public room in Santa Fe. That BLM office should have BLM survey records for Texas. I don't have a definitive contact, but Charlie Doman may still be the Cadastral chief.

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ETA: there is a companion plat (one sheet) with DM ID number 77146 surveyed by the same BLM surveyor.

@gene-kooper I'm not sure if Charlie is still New Mexico/Kansas/Oklahoma/Texas Cadastral Chief.?ÿ ?ÿHere is a link to the contact list that CFeDS hosts, which I know is more recent than the contact list on the National website, as I just looked at both.

http://cfeds.org/docs/sml/2018_Cadastral_Chiefs_contact_V2.pdf

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Also, Andy in regards to the Special Instructions, they will be in the administrative file for the Survey Group, which should be kept at the BLM Cadastral Survey State Office.?ÿ ?ÿSo contacting the Chief is probably the best bet to get access to the file.?ÿ Since you are in Texas, I would suspect that they could make copy and email.?ÿ ?ÿNormally the administrative group files are not transmitted in whole, but are made available for viewing at the State Office.?ÿ Usually, accommodations for getting you what you need are made if you are not located locally.?ÿ Who knows though what current timelines are under the COVID health mandate constraints.?ÿ ?ÿEmail and phones should be forwarded to staff.?ÿ

Someone should do a cooking show using the cookbook including the scene where we go to put the survey in the refrigerator for 24 hours but not to worry we have another put in there 24 hours ago to continue the demonstration of the recipe featured on this episode.

Maybe we can get a hot tempered cockney surveyor to yell obscenities at the blithering idiot doing this week's show.

@rankin_file

Thanks. I assume you realized I was quoting the extreme precision surveyor from the most difficult and challenging state to survey in who (as I recall) coined the phrase cookbook for the PLSS Manual. Please understand that my tongue was planted firmly in cheek and I am now registered in more PLSS states than otherwise.

Again, anyone who was been here or on the old RPLS.com knows what I meant by cookbook and a certain poster who coined the term. Based on the early responses I received, I found the contact info for the New Mexico office and sent this email:

"I'm doing research for a project in Culberson County, Texas and the adjoiner is the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Online, I found the plat for a survey of "Public School Lands Blocks 120 and 121 and Texas and Pacific Railway Blocks 67, Townships 1 and 2, Texasƒ?

The GLO Records website has DM ID 77148. I pulled the plat off the online records site and it says that a history of surveys is in the field notes. Not seeing the field notes online. Where can I get a copy of field notes and supplmental instructions?

The survey was executed by Douglas A. Cody beginning?ÿ 3-14-1974 and completed 6-20-1974 pursuant to Special Instructions dated March 1, 1974 for Group No. 1, Texas. It looks like supplemental instructions were also issued August 27, 1993.

Thank you."

Thanks again for the informative and humorous replies. The proposal is for +/-4480 acres. I'm thinking I'll Earl Scheib it and quote it at $899.99. ???œ?ÿ

I'm the round man with the square deal. If I tell you tomorrow's Easter, you'd better dye your eggs tonight!" Any survey for $688! Gotto gotto get to Supermart Surveyors tonight. Shop around just so you know how much you'll save! If you don't hire me, I can't save you any money!

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@andy-nold I sensed you channeling him.... lol

QUESTIONS:

How does the US acquire a National Park in Texas?

Do any BLM rules apply at all?

Is this area not a part of the Republic of Texas?

I checked myself. I did not know that the Republic of Texas annexed eastern New Mexico and central Colorado.

Paul in non PLSS PA

@paul-in-pa

the US can acquire land by Deed anywhere in the US.

We have a State Forest that is partly portions of 2 townships that were patented out by the US in the 19th century then reacquired by multiple Deeds in the 1930s (the Mendocino Woodlands project) then Q/C'd to the State of California in 1946.

@andy-nold

I don't care if you call it a cookbook, in fact I take it as a compliment. It shows that most of the west was subdivided by a regular and rational plan whereas Texas was subdivided in a chaotic and irrational pattern that it takes some kind of super surveyor to unravel today. It's great that it pumps up an Austin resident's ego but sucks for the public we are supposed to serve.

The only land that belongs to the BLM in Texas that I am aware of is the Helium Storage Facility near Amarillo.

There are National Forest in Texas. They bought land that was clearcut in the early 1900's by timber companies and restored the forest. A lot of this restoration was done by CCC. One National Forest is within 10 miles of my house. One thing that confuses outsiders is that there is still lots of private land within the National Forest and they co-exist just like many other neighbors. I have never heard of the BLM being involved in any way with the Forest.

There are National Grasslands in Texas but none near me. I think they operate much like the National Forest.

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@dave-karoly

OK, so BLM did the survey but it was never BLM land?

I take it that the BLM survey was a reflection of the Texas Land Grants?

Paul in PA

@northernsurveyor Thanks for the follow-up regarding the group file and special instructions. That is why I mentioned contacting the Cadastral chief to access the group file. I've looked at several group files over time. The older ones are housed at the Denver National Archives and the more recent ones remain at the Colorado BLM office.

Andy, since you are from out of state and unlikely to visit Santa Fe in person you may need to file a FOIA request to get the special instructions and miscellaneous ephemera from the group file. There may be names of interested parties and those who have filed protests to the survey that need to be redacted from the printed copy. In addition to the special instructions there may be sketches, maps, etc. in the group file. They can be helpful in understanding how the BLM dependent resurvey was conducted.

Strike one from the New Mexico BLM office. I suppose I will follow up with some of the suggestions posted here.

...the BLM, New Mexico State Office, only manages fluid minerals in Texas that have been acquired by the United States.?ÿ We identify the U.S. mineral estate by utilizing the Texas Railroad Commission plats. We only have a small amount of information for the counties of Jeff Davis and Wheeler, and nothing for the rest of the state as far as surveys or field notes. When our Public Contact Representatives receive this type of request we refer them to the:

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Texas Land Commission

1700 N. Congress Ave.

Steven F Austin Bldg. Room 642

Austin, TX 78701

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(512) 463-4630

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I hope you will find this information useful and that you will able to obtain the field notes from them.?ÿ

@paul-in-pa

The rules of the survey would be addressed in the special instructions and I'm guessing they were told to follow the original construction. This is a mountainous area where the original monuments were set on a running traverse. Most field notes were protracted.

@paul-in-pa

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Paul,?ÿ

BLM has the federal survey authority for all federal interest land. Most of their modern survey work has nothing to do with BLM managed land.?ÿ

That is why you will even find at least one official BLM survey in Pennsylvania.