Pressler’s map of Travis County shows all original land grants as of September 1894. Additionally, the disputed T.J. Chambers survey, stretching from the Colorado River to Williamson County, precedes the later overlaid surveys shown on the map. Creeks, towns, and railroads are detailed, with post offices in southern Travis County being added later in pencil.
According to Land Commissioner William McGaughey’s 1894 Report to the Legislature, Travis County had 26,755 acres of unsold School Land, set aside for the Permanent School Fund.
Measuring 58.5 by 51 inches, it’s a relatively large county map. Most early maps produced at the GLO were typically based on a scale of 4000 varas (1 vara =33 1/3”) to the inch; however, Pressler drafted this map at a size twice the scale at 2000 varas to the inch, a practice that started in the 1880s and made the information easier to read.
Conservation of this map was funded in 2001 with a donation from Frost Bank.