Photos from yesterday

#1 · July 9, 2010, 7:32 pm

Figured I would make my first post here a good one. These are pictures (from my Iphone) from Pecos County, Texas. Big thanks to Andy Nold for his help on the project.

Map of area I am working in.

This is the SWC of a scrap file Survey 34 1/2 Block 194.

The SEC of same scrap file

The NWC of Section 61 Block 1 I & GN R.R. Co. Survey. This one was in a ravine that made for a nice little climb into and out of.

Nearly put my hand down on this little guy (I named him Fred) climbing out of the ravine. Think this is a mottled rock rattlesnake.

I ran into his buddy on top of the ravine headed back to the truck. Spotted this one a little quicker than I did the previous one.

NWC of Section 103 Block 194 Texas Central Railway Survey
SWC of same Section

Pincushion anyone?

View from pincushion.

"X" chisled in the face of a rock ledge.
and finally
The SWC of Section 63 Block 1 I & GN R.R. Co. Survey. This one was my favorite find because I actually did a field calculation to find this. My calc was only 24 feet off the actual posistion. I also found a 5/8 IR at a calc'd position for an interior corner of this survey but didn't take a picture.

#2 · July 9, 2010, 7:43 pm

Very cool! The have better material for "old" corners in West Texas than East Texas.

🙂

#3 · July 9, 2010, 7:50 pm

Much easier to find original corners and perpetuated corners there than a lot of places I have surveyed. Brings back some nice memories. Left West Texas in '99. Wouldn't mind going back.

SJ

#4 · July 9, 2010, 7:55 pm

Cool pix.

#5 · July 9, 2010, 7:55 pm

Nice pics! Unfortunately, my 9 y/o daughter just declared, "I will never, NEVER be a surveyor." She apparently does not like snakes.

#6 · July 9, 2010, 8:06 pm

Of course, Cy doesn't mention that he is working in the Yates Oil Field:

The Yates Oil Field is a giant oil field in the Permian Basin of west Texas. Primarily in extreme southeastern Pecos County, it also stretches under the Pecos River and partially into Crockett County. Iraan, on the Pecos River and directly adjacent to the field, is the nearest town. The field has produced more than one billion barrels of oil, making it one of the largest in the United States, and in 2009 it remains productive, though at a diminished rate. Estimated recoverable reserves are still approximately one billion barrels, which represents approximately 50% of the original oil in place.

This is in the area where landmark Texas surveying case law was made thanks to Fred Turner. Miller v. Yates and Turner v. Smith are two of the cases that came out of the vacancy in this area. J.J. Bowden wrote a book "Uncertain Riches" about the whole development of that field. The money fights and fortunes built and lost would make a movie that would blow Dallas & JR Ewing out of the water.

It's rugged territory to say the least and a cool place to survey in my opinion.

Attached files

#7 · July 9, 2010, 8:10 pm

Andy

I had to leave something for you to talk about.

#8 · July 9, 2010, 8:16 pm

The mottled rock rattlesnake

Good thing I didn't try to catch one of those babies. Just found out they are protected from capture by state law.

From tshaonline.org
Mottled rock rattlesnakes (C. lepidus lepidus) are often common in broken desert, canyon, and evergreen mountain terrain. The species has evolved dorsal coloring that substantially matches the prevailing hues of its background terrain-pinkish on the russet igneous boulders of the Davis Mountains, pale gray on the chalky limestone of the central Hill Country and southwestern deserts. The banded rock rattlesnake (C. l. klauberi), named for a noted authority on rattlesnakes, Lawrence M. Klauber, is a distinctly black-crossbanded subspecies found primarily in the two westernmost counties of Texas, but it has been reported in Val Verde County as well. Because of their unusual pigmentation both races of rock rattlers are attractive to reptile fanciers and are therefore protected from capture by state law.