The Texas General Land Office has received an exceptionally rare Stephen F. Austin map of Texas, and was donated by Thomas B. and Marsha Brown Taylor of Seabrook.
Austin’s map shows the eastern two thirds of Texas in 1830. The map is from the last known printing in 1848. No other copy of this map is known to exist.
James Harkins is the manager of the Save Texas History program at the GLO. He says this map provided the best view of what Texas looked like at the time because it was the first map made by someone in Texas. Harkins says the discovery of the map changes what is known about the cartography of Austin.
“One of the neatest things on this map is it says ‘herds of buffalo’ and ‘droves of wild horses,’” Harkins says. “Those are some features that are in addition to the different land districts and colonies that were in Texas at the time.”
There are also roads and rivers and coastal features shown on the map. Harkins says the GLO has 45,000 maps, but Austin’s map is one of a kind. It’s valued in the tens of thousands of dollars.
To see a close up or to purchase a copy of Austin’s map go the General Land Office’s Archive Map Store. http://www.glo.texas.gov/history/archives/map-store/index.cfm#item/94027
