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Description

Description
This is an 1891 facsimile tracing of Richard S. Hunt and Jesse F. Randels 1839 map of Texas. The map shows natural features as well as the Old San Antonio Road, battlegrounds and Indian villages. The original Hunt & Randel map utilized essentially the same view as the earlier Stephen F. Austin Map of Texas produced by H. S. Tanner of Philadelphia that showed only the eastern two-thirds of the Republic. This was the most accurate map of Texas because of Hunt & Randels use of Land Office records during compilation, as testified by John P. Borden, the first Land Commissioner of Texas, in the lower-left corner.

In 1892, Commissioner W.L. McGaughey reported to the Legislature that many of the most historic maps housed at the GLO, including the Hunt & Randel map, were in dilapidated condition. He recommended conservation and duplication work at that time. McGaughey said, The recompilation of many old maps is a work of so much importance that it should be kept up and carried on as fast as possible.