PAPER CUTS & COUNTY LINES or You Just Bled on Upshur County! (original) (raw)

Where The Maps Are

"We had to draw the line somewhere," is a phrase often heard around the Surveying Division of the Texas General Land Office. (Usually by Doug Howard, Research Assistant.) We decided to get the cheap joke over with so we can get on with the serious business of reporting on this fascinating and under-appreciated bureau of our state government.

We were once hitchhiking through West Texas, when our driver/ host swept his hand parallel to the horizon and said: "You know, there's snakes out there that have never seen civilization." This wise and profound observation comes to mind whenever we think of how many people go to sleep every night, secure in knowing their neighboring county is where it should be.

Operating on the seventh floor of the Stephen F. Austin Building, the Surveying Division is a cartographer's dream. While the staff conducts their duties in tiny cubicles, the map room has filing cabinets the size of Somervell County. They must have built the building around them. These horizontal drawers contain the hand-drawn, penciled, and pen and inked masterworks of generations of draftsmen, cartographers and scribes. The map room is usually a beehive of activity, if only because of the staff wanting a break from the aforementioned cubicles.

Maps and Draftsmen

Filed alphabetically, each county has several versions of its territorial record. Many date to when they were part of a different county, district, or country. Many offer artistic embellishments. Oak and Laurel leaves may frame a cartouche, or flags may drape over the county name, replete with exaggerated serifs. The styles are so distinctive that when the map is shown, the staff member opening the file will usually comment on the artist. "This of course, is a Bettendorf." Of course it is.

Our guide for our last visit was Joan Kilpatrick, Program Specialist, who informed us that many of the draftsmen in the late 19th Century were Germans and Prussians. Not only were they precise (and punctual), but they could correct misspellings of European names. Joan has been interested in maps since childhood, when she would work puzzle maps until their panhandles wore down to nubs.

Some maps were drawn "in the field" by the surveyors, but clearing brush calluses the hands and the fine detail was better left to city-dwelling, lotion-handed draftsmen.

O. Henry; he was more than stories, embezzlement, and candy bars

Besides the maps, there are other artifacts from the 19th Century, including a pencil sharpener that O. Henry might have used when he was employed there (1887-1891). In O. Henry's Texas stories, his knowledge of Texas geography is immediately apparent. It should be remembered it was he who gave us "The Cisco Kid."

Two of O. Henry's stories are set in the land office offices: Georgia's Ruling and Bexar Script 2692. O. Henry was a draftsman and obtained the position through his friendship with the Land Commissioner.

Visit the beautiful General Land Office Building (now the State Capitol Visitor's Center just off the Capitol grounds) and see the room where he worked and where most of these paper treasures were drawn.