Surveying in Early Texas

By ALLISON HARRELL
Texian Time Machine & Outreach Coordinator

When Anglo settlers first came to Texas, one of their first orders of business was to obtain a land grant. A land grant is a legal document that details who owns the land, where the land is located and who gave or sold the land. The first land grants were not issued in our part of Texas until 1824, which meant that settlers had been living in Texas for a few years before Stephen F. Austin managed to successfully negotiate the details of land grants.

People will always fight over land -- and Austin learned this truth very quickly. Everyone wants the best land with the most resources, and they also want to be very sure that they are getting the exact amount of land they were promised.

Surveying the Land

In 1821, measuring land was a tricky situation. Obviously, there were no lasers to ensure straight and accurate lines -- so how did they do it? The Texas ten-vara length chain.

The Texas vara was adopted by surveyor James Kerr and was 33 1/3 inches long.

Metal chains were crafted and then linked together to measure land. Each chain link was the same length, so if one link became damaged or broken, it could easily be replaced and the chain would keep a consistent size.

The Surveying Team

A surveying team included at least two men to work with the chain, but also often involved other people, too:

• Compass and Flag Men: First, these two men would set up a giant compass on a tripod. Then, using the compass, the flag man would stand far away, forming a line from the compass to the flag. This line is what the chain would measure, and it helped ensure that the lines were straight.
• The Axe Man: The axe man would clear branches and brush for the survey team and also notch trees to indicate border lines.
• Other supporting roles included a cook, a mule and a mule minder.​

At the very least, the whole operation could be done with three people -- two to clear brush/work the chain and one to perform duties of both the compass and flag men.

Detailed & Dangerous

​Every detail of every survey had to be recorded: the location where they started, the trees that they encountered along the way, the number of chain lengths that they went, the direction that they were going, etc. The journal of the all the details was signed by the surveyor, so if anyone had an issue with how their land was surveyed or if they found a mistake – they knew who to go to with their issues. This put a lot of pressure on the surveyors to get everything right.
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Since the survey teams were going out into the unexplored and undefined wild, it was also dangerous work. Sometimes they encountered Native people groups like the Karankawa and the Tonkawa, who were not pleased to have these foreigners trespassing on their traditional hunting grounds. Other times, the dangers were more standard: wolves, poison ivy, mosquitoes and bears, to name a few.

Now It's Your Turn!

Materials:

• A large rigid household item (such as a yard stick, milk jug or laundry basket). Don't use items like yarn or string -- those tend to stretch.
• 10 markers/stakes
• A journal/paper and a writing utensil to write down all the details
• ​A compass (most smart phones have a compass app you can download)

Directions:

1. You are going to measure the land that you have on hand – your backyard! Start in the left hand corner if you have a fence; otherwise, pick a spot that will be easy to find again (against a tree, or item in the yard). Be sure to detail in your journal where you are starting.
2. Place your rigid item on the ground, flush with your starting point if at all possible.  Place one marker down on the opposite side of the object from your starting point. Now move the item to the other side of your marker and place a new marker. Repeat this process until all ten markers are on the ground.
3. Pick up all the markers and start the whole process over until all the sides of your yard have been measured. (Make sure you are keeping track of how many times your item has been placed on the ground before you get to a corner, what marks each corner, etc.)
4. Once you have measured the whole yard, it is time to find the area:

• If your yard is a square or rectangle, multiply the number of objects wide times the number of objects tall.
• If your yard/area is not a square, do the following:
  • ​Divide your back yard into different sections for easy calculations. To the best of your ability, try to make sure that the sections are square or rectangular. Then multiply each section's width by length.
  • If you have a circular section of your back yard, you'll need to find the radius. To do that, measure the distance across the center of the circle and divide by two. Then you'll multiply that number by pi (3.14) to determine the area.
  • After you've figured out the different areas for each section, add the totals together to determine the entire area of your yard!

Did you find the area of your yard? Take a photo and tag us on Instagram @fortbendmuseum!