So I'm comparing the field notes of about twenty surveys that a Texas surveyor named Jacob Kuechler made in late May and early June to the entries in his field book. There is a roughly $500,000 dispute in which two of the twenty surveys figure, so this isn't an academic exercise.
Kuechler's field book is useful because it shows which lines he actually ran and, in the event of discrepancies with the field notes that he filed, may provide the best evidence of what he actually did and found, i.e. his actual footsteps on the ground.
His field notes on file in the Texas GLO omit dates for at least a couple of the surveys that he made, but from his field book, it looks as if they ran about 3.5 miles through the mesquites on May 28, 1874, probably having to do some brush cutting along the line. Then, on May 29, 1874, they continued, running about 6.5 miles. On May 30, 1874 they continued, probably cutting line through brush and sparse mesquites
The next entry is June 1, 1874, showing that they ran about 5.7 miles.
So, what happened on May 31, 1874? Did they have to stop to sharpen their axes?
Was it a Sunday? Lords day of rest or something similar?
Are there previous gaps in the notes?
Maybe they were paid in whiskey.
They actually were here in Ohio in the early 1800's. There is a village plat on file in a county which shows from the notes that a partial payment of several barrels of whiskey was made and that the next day a "terrible storm came up" which prevented work from progressing. After that the survey was completed and drafted.
Read into it what you will. I know what happened.
looks like a Sunday
strange printer's error on the front page...
Kuechler's "North"
Another more relevant detail is that Jacob Kuechler's field notes filed in the Texas GLO from his 1874 work don't state the variation that he had set in his compass in running his lines. The value of 9°45'E was almost universally used in the surveys conducted by the Deputy Surveyors in that vicinity at the time, so it would have been a plausible guess that Kuechler had adjusted his compass for the same.
What shows up from examining Jacob Kuechler's field book, though, is that in booking the bearing of a line he wrote
>"Thence S70W [with the "7" overwritten on a 6] (S60W magnetic)"
In other words, it looks as if he wasn't even using a compass with a declination arc at all, but was running with a plain compass, allowing for declination by adding or subtracting 10 degrees from the compass reading as necessary.
This is an very interesting insight into how Kuechler surveyed because four years later, in October, 1878, when he was engaged in running the hundreds of miles of traverse in Far West Texas from which the field notes for thousands of sections of land were written, he was using a light compass without a vernier. Per a letter written by his assistant from that time:
"I asked him why he did not use the compass sent from the office, it being a better one than he was using, and having a vernier to tun off the variation, he could run a more correct line, not having to guess at the variation from the point of the needle, the compass box is graduated to half degrees and it is very incorrect and difficult to judge the minutes by the point of the needle."
> Was it a Sunday? Lords day of rest or something similar?
Yes, it was a Sunday according to a perpetual calendar. In 19th century Texas there were actually laws against working on Sunday and evidently Jacob Kuechler out on the frontier decided it was best to take the day off.
Maybe he hot-footed it down Corpus Christi way and joined 2999 other Texians to greet the steamship Guissie:
>On May 31, 1874, the steamship Gussie pulled into the new municipal wharf and a crowd of 3,000 turned out to celebrate. Though this new channel did not solve all of Corpus Christi's navigation problems, it did allow shallow-draft vessels to enter the port. Deep water came to Corpus Christi in 1926 when the corps of engineers completed a deepwater channel all the way from the bar at Aransas Pass to Corpus Christi. The Morris and Cummins cut is still used by small boats passing from Aransas and Red Fish bays into Corpus Christi Bay. It is also noted as a good fishing spot.
ref: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rrm12
> So I'm comparing the field notes of about twenty surveys that a Texas surveyor named Jacob Kuechler made in late May and early June to the entries in his field book. There is a roughly $500,000 dispute in which two of the twenty surveys figure, so this isn't an academic exercise.
>
> Kuechler's field book is useful because it shows which lines he actually ran and, in the event of discrepancies with the field notes that he filed, may provide the best evidence of what he actually did and found, i.e. his actual footsteps on the ground.
>
> His field notes on file in the Texas GLO omit dates for at least a couple of the surveys that he made, but from his field book, it looks as if they ran about 3.5 miles through the mesquites on May 28, 1874, probably having to do some brush cutting along the line. Then, on May 29, 1874, they continued, running about 6.5 miles. On May 30, 1874 they continued, probably cutting line through brush and sparse mesquites
>
> The next entry is June 1, 1874, showing that they ran about 5.7 miles.
>
> So, what happened on May 31, 1874? Did they have to stop to sharpen their axes?
I note from here that it was a Sunday. Keep the Sabbath Holy.
Printer's error? What was it?
Sounds like his work running along the Pecos River.
> Printer's error? What was it?
Do you see the block of type turned vertically? I think that was probably what Robert had in mind.
Kuechler's "North"
Did he answer why he didn't use the better compass?
Kuechler's "North"
> Did he answer why he didn't use the better compass?
Yes, per that same letter of October 30, 1878, written in the middle of Texas West of the Pecos after failing earlier to find Salditto Spring at the head of Wild Horse Draw:
He said the compass and 30 vara chain were both too heavy for his boys to carry [Kuechler used a 10 vara chain]: in my experience the heavier the instrument the better in a windy country like this, if you wish to insure correct work and if I were running would prefer a heavy transit, for I always think that if work is worth doing at all, it is worth doing as correct as possible.
His work is just a counterpart of himself: slouchy, careless, and incorrect. His average up to date is five miles per day of line, most of the time is lost by the ponies, it takes at least two hours every morning to catch them up and the men would not think of walking two or three miles to work when they have something to ride on, not only that, but they must have coffee, coffeepot, sugar, frying pan, pack mules, etc. on the line, and stop at noon and cook a dinner instead of taking a lunch for noon and thereby saving time.
