TEXAS-CONTRACT FOR DEED/OWNER FINANCE

> I am currently working on a survey near Terlingua and have 2 deeds encompassing the same area.

Given the facts you mention, I'd think that the doctrine of after-acquired title applies. That is, if you execute a deed purporting to convey land with warranty, then the deed is effective against your interests even if you only later acquired full legal title to the land when the terms of the contract of sale were met and the vendor executed a deed. I'd show both instruments and write a brief report if necessary explaining the matter in case it is later material in any way.

I don't have anything to add to Kent's comments but I'm certainly interested in your work near Terlingua. I have been doing research on Section 29, Block G-12 of the GC&SF Ry Co Survey for the past couple of months in preparation to try to go iron out a screwball internet land deal. I heard Walker was doing some work in one of the G Blocks perhaps a little east of me. With the extreme terrain and Dod's resurvey being mostly stadia distances, I am very curious how far off the field measurements are from the field notes.

I AM IN BLOCK 217 TSTL. This block was resurveyed in the 50's by a private firm with angle irons set at corners and 1/4 corners as well as center of section. Everyone out there seems agree with the angle irons. So far I have only found 2 scattered Stone Md's that could have been original and they were next to an iron.

Many of the deeds that were sold/for sale by Terlingua Ranch refer to a tract # as a description. There is a un-signed/un-stamped map at their office that will help with that. They only divided 200,000 acres which I guess would make it the largest subdivision in the world?

There was an internet scam where someone was selling 60'x40' tracts near me. I have also seen more affidavit's for adverse possession on this one project than I have in the last 5 years. I guess that should be expected when 40 acres of prime desert real estate brings $5000

> I have been doing research on Section 29, Block G-12 of the GC&SF Ry Co Survey for the past couple of months in preparation to try to go iron out a screwball internet land deal. I heard Walker was doing some work in one of the G Blocks perhaps a little east of me. With the extreme terrain and Dod's resurvey being mostly stadia distances, I am very curious how far off the field measurements are from the field notes.

I would expect errors of 15 varas per mile in R.S. Dod's stadia measurements in the flats to be unremarkable. On steeper lines, because he didn't make any slope corrections to the stadia measurements on a vertical rod, larger errors would be what I'd expect.

The thing to have in hand when retracing either R.S. Dod or J.P. Dod is a copy of their field book. Steve Walker should still have the original field books, although it will take some time to locate the proper entry as there is no comprehensive index. Each book is separately indexed.

The Terlingua Ranch survey maps are on their website. Done in the 1970s by Urban Engineering out of San Antonio IIRC. They call for recovering some original mounds in my Block and there seem to be some significant angle variations from the field notes if they did in fact recover the original mounds.

I had just started pulling correspondence files for Dod at the GLO the other day when I ran out of time. Will probably try to get down there one more time before I go west. Good to know Walker has field books.

> The Terlingua Ranch survey maps are on their website. Done in the 1970s by Urban Engineering out of San Antonio IIRC. They call for recovering some original mounds in my Block and there seem to be some significant angle variations from the field notes if they did in fact recover the original mounds.

I trust you've read the various District Court cases, too? As I recall, there are two distinct patterns in some of those South Brewster County subdivisions, i.e. where the original land grants were really located and where the subdividers imagined them to be.

The Texas & St. Louis R.R. blocks were located by S.A. Thompson as I recall, based upon a traverse that he ran through the blocks, marking just a handful of identifiable corners. Later resurveyors such as John Stovell and Byron Simpson went off on some wild tangents in attempting to locate many of the protracted surveys. South Brewster County is a classic example of how competing theories of construction can introduce even more confusion in an area than previously existed.

An aside, I notice that the Agua Fria Ranch (site of Agua Fria Spring, natural monument and POB for many of these surveys) is for sale, a veritable bargain at $15,263,300 for +/- 23,482 acres.

I haven't looked at any of the court cases yet. Are you referring to the boundary dispute relating to the mercury mining in G-12? I noticed that in Dod's report of resurvey of Block 15 and he mentions court appointed surveyors included A. Cottingham, S.A. Thompson and O.W. Williams. He held the resurvey work by Gano and Reavis, theorizing that Gano followed and was in agreement with Reavis and Reavis was the first man in after Miner had done the original work and thereby was best able to follow the original footsteps. I think Dod largely threw out the later mining claim resurveys. He states,

I found several traces of the various surveyors who have been at work in this block and am sorry to say that these various rock piles, etc. have led to considerable misunderstanding and some probable mistakes as to the position of Block 15 and adjacent lands.

As I recall, this is also in the vicinity of the Dod's work where he put a Hebrew inscription on his worksheet that translates to "Upon the earth there was chaos."

Kent, do you have any suggestions for finding relevant court cases? I would not have found it if not for mention in Dod's report. Wondering how one would know to look or if there is an index of land cases or something?

> Kent, do you have any suggestions for finding relevant court cases? I would not have found it if not for mention in Dod's report. Wondering how one would know to look or if there is an index of land cases or something?

Sometimes the GLO County Map will note the court cases that have come to the attention of the land office. I just looked at Block G-12 and didn't see any, though.

The abstract company should have the District Court cases indexed semi-geographically, which would be handy.

Another approach is the most exhaustive one, namely: to abstract the chain of title and run the index to the Civil Minutes using the names of former owners as either of the parties. My expectation is that any litigation was driven by mineral activity, so knowing when leasing or any development occurred would narrow the date range considerably.

2 years and a couple months later and I am still messing with this survey. You know it's getting crusty when doing internet research leads you back to your own posts. I'll say I know a lot more about it now than I did in 2015.

Andy Nold, post: 317735, member: 7 wrote:
As I recall, this is also in the vicinity of the Dod's work where he put a Hebrew inscription on his worksheet that translates to "Upon the earth there was chaos."

absolutely classic....

The Doctrine of After-acquired Title applies to Grant Deeds but not Quitclaim Deeds, so just make sure the Deed is not a Quitclaim Deed.

Rankin_File, post: 443296, member: 101 wrote: absolutely classic....

Here's the link in case anyone wants to see it.

http://www.glo.texas.gov/history/archives/map-store/index.cfm#item/5209