Two possibilities..
1.) If there was a county surveyor, how about his old flat files?
2.) Or maybe the TX land office that compiled the old grants? Would they have had these for base maps?
Two possibilities..
> 1.) If there was a county surveyor, how about his old flat files?
The role of County Surveyor pretty well fell apart in most Texas counties once the public lands were thought to have been completely surveyed off aside from a few scraps here and there. There was one fellow who served as County Surveyor of that county from about 1910 through about 1935, but his files have almost certainly been scattered to the winds. They could still exist, but I think it's a long shot.
> 2.) Or maybe the TX land office that compiled the old grants? Would they have had these for base maps?
You would think that the GLO would have had quite a bit of interest in the topographic mapping that the USGS did, but their map collection doesn't reflect any USGS quad maps at all in pertaining to any part of the county.
Another possibilitie..
Back in the day (late 70s), I made a trip to the USGS Library in Menlo Park California. They had a HUGE collection of OLD USGS Quadrangles covering the Western US.
I would suspect that there is an office "somewhere" in the Mid-West or East that has a similar collection of OLD Quadrangles covering Texas.
Could be Denver (which IS MID-West to us folks).
Rolla Missouri used to have an NCIC office...don't know about maps though.
Loyal
Another possibilitie..
> Back in the day (late 70s), I made a trip to the USGS Library in Menlo Park California. They had a HUGE collection of OLD USGS Quadrangles covering the Western US.
>
> I would suspect that there is an office "somewhere" in the Mid-West or East that has a similar collection of OLD Quadrangles covering Texas.
Yes, that's the next line of inquiry, to try to identify libraries with map collections dating from the earliest edition of the map in 1910. There was an oil boom in the late 1920's when a field was discovered near Charlotte. My guess is that the few remaining maps from the 1910 edition of Jourdanton and Franklin Settlement quads flew off the shelves into the hands of interested parties, leading to the 1930 edition.
Just had another thought
A couple of years ago I was looking for a 15' quad that USGS did not have scanned and on line. So I sent them an email to ask if they had a copy that I could get a copy of. The answer was yes, what kind of resolution did I want and what format. They scanned it and sent it to me for no charge. You might try that the first of the week - providing the gov't isn't shut down by then.
Boy am I tempted to make another comment, but I'd get banned for venturing into P&R.
Just had another thought
> A couple of years ago I was looking for a 15' quad that USGS did not have scanned and on line. So I sent them an email to ask if they had a copy that I could get a copy of. The answer was yes, what kind of resolution did I want and what format. They scanned it and sent it to me for no charge.
That is actually the first thing I'm going to do on Monday. I had unconsciously assumed that the historical maps that have been scanned were the entire map library, but it may well be that isn't the case at all.
This was my contact....
at USGS in 2010.
rakimmel@usgs.gov
Just had another thought
I don't have the phone number handy, but contact the USGS office in Reston, Virginia.
They are surprisingly helpful. Someone will actually answer the phone and follow up on any requests. Top notch public service!
They have access to ALL of the mapping USGS has ever published.
For $20, they will research and scan the historical quad and mail it to you or put it on a CD and mail it out. This is true for historical aerial imagery as well. They have ALOT more than what is available via the web portal.
This is a resource that many surveyors do not know about.
I was told that by the end of the year they will have ALL 250,000 historical USGS maps for California scanned (AND GEOREFERENCED!), which will be available online at no charge.
While on the phone I inquired as to the methods they used to generate the detailed information on the older quad maps. I was directed to a book entitled "Topographical Instructions of the USGS, Edition 1913. Very interesting read if you are using information from older USGS quads (available free on Google Books).
Just had another thought
> I don't have the phone number handy, but contact the USGS office in Reston, Virginia.
>
> They are surprisingly helpful. Someone will actually answer the phone and follow up on any requests. Top notch public service!
>
> They have access to ALL of the mapping USGS has ever published.
I actually did contact the Reston, Virgina office today and would give the person who I dealt with high marks for service.
U.S. Geological Survey
Science Information Services
Office of Communications and Publishing
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 507
Reston, VA 20192
888-ASK-USGS (275-8747)
However, the bottom line at their end was that they just didn't have either the 1910 or 1930 editions in their holdings. What was scanned and available on line was apparently all they have.
Just had another thought
I hate to say it, but did you try National Archives?
