The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-02-21


find that this survey fails to close
by about 800 varas, which | claim is a
very moderate error considering the
size Of the survey and the country
over which it had to he made.
l next returned TO Van Horns
Well and ran line from corner No
of my first line to the south boun-
dairy, and erected two substantial
rock monuments due east and west
of each other 1903 feet apart on said
boundary.
Returning to said corner No. 2.
ran line to Fort Quitman, in the RiC
Grande. In Bass Canon / noticed
that local attraction detected the
needle OF my transit about four de.
miles west Of this pass my line ran in c
Eagle spring, an iGcxhaustable
pool of water in the foot Hills to
Eagle mountains. This spring is
about four miles south southwest
from Torbet station on the Galveston
Houston & san Antonio railway
From Eagle spring my line passed
through the old adobe stage stand
about 2lO0 fe-t north of the spring.
From corn-r No. Z, North of stage
stand, | made a connection with sta
ton No. 90, of Mr.. Kuechler's line, be-
ing the northwest corner Of section 4,
block 68, township Q, or southwest cor
ner Of section 45, block IS, township S,
of his subdivisions.
Thence L continued OH westerly 0i-
rec ion through Quitman canon, or
Calamity pass, to Fort Quitman, an
old abandoned military post. L found
no water between Eagle Springs and
this place. At this place on the
morning of December %, 1883, L made
an observation on Polaus at its
western elougation and determined
the variation of the magnetic needle
to be 1855 east.
From Quitman my line ran north
west to Camp Rice, station on the
Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio
railway. AT this point decided to
follow the track of the railroad, on
account of the advantages it offered
to measurement over the surrounding
country.
From this point measured along
the track of the Galveston, Harris
burg & San Antonio railway, measur-
ing all the reflections in said road
with my tran lit.
At point about four miles east of
Ell Paso city my line left the track,
and running north connected with
monument No. 8, erected by the
United States boundary commission.
This completed my labors in The
field, in accordance with instructions
received from the commissioner of the
general land Office.
The only timber seen in any guam
tity on my trip was on the Guadalupe,
the Apache and the Eagle mountains
and their canions.
In order to more clearly show the
relative positions of prominent OBJ
jects to my line and to themselves,
and to explain whatever discrepancies
may exist between my work and that
of other parties who have surveyed in
that country, have made a map of
my line and said objects as noted by
myself.
On this map have plated il blue
the line as surveyed by Mr.. A. q.
Wingo, per field notes furnished me
by the general land office. 1 have
also drawn in red the south boundary
as claimed by Glenn and Gano on
their map in the general land office.
Before drawing comparison with
the work Of other surveyors deem it
necessary to introduce subject that,
Mr.. Pressler, chief craftsman
in the general land Office, informs me,
has been totally disregarded by the
surveyors in this state, to-wit: The
necessary calculation and allowance
to be made for the convexity of the
earth in making large surveys.
l will state two well known facts,
and then show the amount Of error
attending their disregard.
First. All true east and west
lines parallels of latitude), except
the equator, all curves when
compared with a compass or transit
line, because these lines pass through
the center Of the earth, where the par
allel is the arc of small circle whose
square is parallel to the plane of the
equator, hence does not pass through
the center of the earth.
Second. No two north and south
lines (meridians and longitude) are
parallel. because from the equator
they converge as they approach the
poles.
First. In order to obtain trle
east and west line or curve, it is neces
sary to establish north line. At
right angles to this run straight
line. This will be an east and west
tangent at the point of contact.
Now, to find points on the curve
which lies north of this tangent in
our hemisphere, we have the follow
ing formula: Two-thirds of the dis
lance of point on the tangent from
the point of contact, in miles squared,
multiplied blythe natural tangent of
the latitude, gives the offset in feet
due north to point on the said E and
W. curve.
Now, suppose we start at some
point on the 23d parallel, run out
tangent eastward one hundred miles,
at the end of this tangent the curve
will be 4165 feet to the north, and the
course of our tangent at this point
will be S. SO 06m. f.
This is the principle on which the
boundary of New Mexico was estab-
lisbed by the United States commits
sion and so found on the ground by
.me, within small difference due to
unavoidable errors in measurement.
Second. A degree of longitude on
the thirty-second parallel is 5S7 miles;
on the go degrees, 80 minutes, II sec
onds) south boundary of the Texas
and Pacific railway reserve, it is 5942
miles; hence these two meridians Q04th
and 105th for example) are 72-10O of a
mile, or 1901 feet further apart on the
south boundary than on the north
boundary, and line run through the
interse ton of 10th meridian and
32nd parallel, and made parallel to the
105th meridian, would have course
of north 81 minutes east.
While l hereby admit that this error
would be inappreciable in survey of
a few sections of land, yet it will be
very noticeable in survey of the
of the one under consider
alton.
In my map 1 had plated the boun-
Diary of New Mexico, and the south
boundary of the reservation by this
formula above given; and on the
ground, l have located the south
boundary of the reserve and erected
the monuments, by the same
formula. My map will show the
parallels to quarter degrees, and merid-
lans the same; locating the 105th me-
ridian from the United States commits
sion report which shows it to be five
degrees east of monument No. II, or
1914 varas.
By inspection of my map and the
map of the work done by Mr.. Kuech-
Ter, on file in the general land office, it
will be seen that his location of Ell
Captain agrees with mine;
his location of the stage stand on
Delaware is about one mile west of
mine; his location of monuments on