[Kent McMillan]

>Seeing as all this work was done by chain and compass I was very impressed.

As I recall, didn’t Sylvan Sanders work for W.D. Twitchell? My guess is that the methods you’re seeing in Sanders’ work are those he learned working with Twitchell, including Polaris observations for azimuth.

As for Sanders himself, probably the single most interesting thing I know about him is that he married a woman 21 years younger than he was and she didn’t outlive him by much. Her maiden name was Tubbs and I’d have to wonder whether she was related to another surveyor by that name, Cobby Tubbs.

[cyril-turner]

Kent,

You are correct, Sylvan did work directly under W.D. Both amazing surveyors and I am glad I have the opportunity to follow their footsteps in this area.

[Kent McMillan]

> You are correct, Sylvan did work directly under W.D. Both amazing surveyors and I am glad I have the opportunity to follow their footsteps in this area.

Up in the office survey blocks of the Panhandle, where very few corners were orignally marked, I can see how Twitchell earned his reputation for actually accurately filling in the thousands of corners that were orignally just protracted.

My view of Twitchell is colored by some work he did out in Terrell County in 1937 (at about age 73) where he began at some identifiable corner and ran a zillion miles cross country on record course and distance, basically following none of the original surveyor’s footsteps and dressing the whole effort up as a “survey” that purported to determine the situation of something in relation to the underlying original surveys.

Surveying is a tough racket where I’d say you’re only as good as your last survey.

[cyril-turner]

Beats the surveyor I followed the other day that created a line between two pipe, extended it 5280 and completely ignored the original pipe buried 3 feet deep in the middle of the road that I found 6′ south of his set corner.

[docearly]

I am not a surveyor.  My interest in Mr. Sanders concerns a report that he wrote for TxGLO in connection with E.A. Carter’s vacant land Mineral Application No. 42315 filed 28 Apr 1950.  That M.A. file, among many others, has gone missing; TxGLO cannot find it.

The case is interesting because what is presently recognized as Sec. 26, Block 1, J.P. Smith, Scurry Co., TX, was patented 29 Aug 1883 pursuant to field notes prepared by H.M. Henderson.  Said notes called for adjoinder on the N with H&TC Blk. 97 AND on the S by H&GN Blk. 3.

Sanders examined Henderson’s field notes and rejected adjoinder on BOTH N and S.  He also rejected adjoinder on NEITHER N nor S.  Sanders came down firmly on the side of “dunno”.  Either adjoinder on the N is correct, or adjoinder on the S, but not both.

I would love to have copies of both the Henderson field notes and the Sanders analysis.

No doubt Mr. Sanders retained copies in his files.  I wonder if his files survive; if so, are they accessible; if so, where?

cheers

grady early

san marcos, tx

[Andy Nold]

Sylvan Sanders’ materials went to the Texas General Land Office with the Twichell Collection. The maps have been scanned and are available on their map store on their website. There are lots of other materials that have not been scanned and you would need to contact the office to find out what is available. It’s not likely that you will be able to access the records at the GLO until they reopen the office from the COVID-19 shutdown. 

Henderson’s work is shown (and map) in file number 41746 

https://s3.glo.texas.gov/ncu/SCANDOCS/archives_webfiles/arcmaps/webfiles/landgrants/PDFs/1/7/5/175899.pdf

And you can pull individual notes from the GIS Map: https://gisweb.glo.texas.gov/glomapjs/index.html

or the Land Grant Database: https://s3.glo.texas.gov/glo/history/archives/land-grants/index.cfm

Keep in mind that even-numbered sections are part of the Public School Land files which have not been scanned yet. Sometimes you can find the original field notes for the even-numbered PSL section in the paired odd numbered section, but I already checked Section 25 and they are not there: https://s3.glo.texas.gov/ncu/SCANDOCS/archives_webfiles/arcmaps/webfiles/landgrants/PDFs/1/7/5/175923.pdf

Henderson was trying to fill the gap between the H&TC Railroad Company’s Block 97 survey and H&GN Railroad Company’s Survey. He might have been working from a map to calculate his area or the other senior surveys may not have been marked adequately on the ground at the time of his field work. The senior surveys would still get their land even if the boundaries were not adequately marked for Henderson to do his job correctly.

Happy hunting.

[Andy Nold]

It looks like they determined there was a vacancy between the Smith Survey and the H&TC Survey. The corrective work was done by M.R. Estes and there are 6 scrap files that take up the vacancy. There is a surveyor’s report from Estes and he discusses Sanders’ work as well as the MA file. There are also maps and correspondence with the Land Commissioner and attorneys that would be of interest.

Check out SF-15375 thru SF-15320.

[docearly]

I am indebted to you!  Come what may, you’ve provided way more than I had before.  At least, I don’t have to contemplate a trip to Lubbock to look at the Sanders/Twichell collection.  San Marcos to Austin is considerably closer.

Being a novice to rplstoday, I was necessarily brief in my post.  I already knew about the SFs.  I have a copy of 15375 which was filed by my grandmother.

You’re quite right that TxGLO accepted adjoinder on the S, rejected adjoinder on the N.  My grandmother and 5 other groups of claimants purchased bits and pieces of the vacant land — 115.75 acres.  My grandmother’s bit was 11.05 acres at $50/acre.  Adjoinder on the N would’ve left 292.66 acres vacant on the S.

When the dust settled, the groups represented by SF-15377 thru’ SF-15380 had to cough up oil money that they had already received.  1/8 to TX; 1/16 to E.A. Carter, the M.A. claimant.  That amounted to $55k+ for TX, $27k+ for Carter.  Mostly from the oil companies.  Today, that’d be about $530k/$265k.  A nice payday for both.

You well know that, through sales and inheritances, individual mineral interests can get vanishingly small.  The smallest in this case was James F. Gray who got hit for $0.67 to Texas; $0.33 to Carter.

On Sun 9 Mar 1952, the Austin American ran a nice piece “Land Vacancy Hunting Sometimes Profitable” which mentioned Carter’s find.

My grandparents were involved in another gap problem in Eastland Co., TX.  H&TC Blk 3, Sec 76 has a curious northward tilt that left a gap between it and the Mary Ann Clark survey below.  No oil involved, so it wasn’t a big deal.  The curious thing there was the metes/bounds description on the 1908 deed when my grandparents purchased the land, and on the 1912 deed when they sold it.  It appears that at least 2 courses were omitted; no ‘to the place of beginning’!  That got worked out in 1921 when Mrs. G.A. McCall received Patent No. 275 via SF 6269.

Again, thank you so much for the pointers and your contribution to my family history project.

cheers grady

[Andy Nold]

To quote Farmer’s… I know a thing or two because I’ve seen a thing or two.

As the age of internet progresses, the stuff you can find online grows exponentially larger. There’s a lot more I could look into, but since I’m not on your payroll, I’ll leave it to you. Most people don’t do enough research.

 

Wait… was your Grandmother Mrs. P.A. Early? That’d be cool.

[docearly]

You’re batting almost 1000!  Mrs. P.A. Early was indeed my grandmother.  She was a very nice and gentle lady who didn’t deserve the stress and expense of her vacant land problem.  But I’d quibble just a bit with “most people don’t do enough research.”  NO one does enough research.  There ain’t enough time, even if you’re aware of all relevant areas of research.

One area I’d like to research, but for lack of time probably won’t, involves a farm we had in Runnels Co.  One m/b description in the Abstract of Title referred to a “pile of buffalo bones.”  A corner, I think, or maybe a bearing.  It’d be interesting to have a copy of the deed just as an historical curiosity.  Sadly, sites like texasfile only go back to 1997, and even countyrecords, which claims coverage back to 1943, probably won’t include the “buffalo bones” reference.

“Vacant land” wasn’t even on my radar until I discovered my grandmother’s involvement.  I now have 600+ pages of court and TxGLO documents.  Numerous newspaper articles about the history of vacant land legislation.  And then there’s good, ol’ James Thomas Robison, TxGLO commissioner 1909-1929.  He became obsessed with vacant land and wanted it repatriated.  https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fro41 says, in part, “Robison actively sought to recover excess land alienated as a result of inaccurate surveys. Excess land would once again become part of the public domain.”

Robison’s early legislation resulted in a public uproar, especially during the 1930s.  Political campaigns included positions on “vacancy hunters” or, as I think of them, “courthouse cowboys” who didn’t ride the range looking for stray dogies, but haunted county clerks’ offices looking for stray land.  County committees were formed.  Positions were staked out.  Lawsuits were filed.  The legislature was petitioned.  It was a mess.

Eventually, it was all sorted out, with priority given to “good faith” claimants rather than “highest bidders”, but TX never backed off its position that vacant land reverted to the State.  It couldn’t.  Too much oil money involved.  Is that fair?  Sure.  Take care of it or lose it.  Repatriating excess land doesn’t, to me, seem a lot different than eminent domain.  The land is yours until the State says it isn’t.

Again, thank you very much for your help and interest.

cheers grady

[docearly]

I finally got around to searching for those “buffalo bone” references.  If you’re interested in such surveying curioddities, I found 2 sets of field notes that use buffalo bones as corners.

They’re in TX GLO files 4806 and 6905.

In 4806, the field notes are on p. 6 of the .pdf file; there are 2 references:  a pile of buffalo bones for one corner, 2 buffalo skulls for another.

in 6905, p. 4.

enjoy

grady