Original old and antique maps of Texas for sale. Our rare Texas map inventory features authentic maps of Texas as a Republic and the Texas Revolution, early Texas oil maps, antique and vintage city views and plans of Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and elsewhere. Vintage pictorial maps of Texas are also for sale.
Preliminary Survey of the Entrance to the Rio...
United States Coast Survey
Preliminary Survey of the Entrance to the Rio Grande Texas . . . 1854
Washington / 1854
An early Sea Chart of the Mouth of the Rio Grande River
One of the earliest obtainable charts of the region around the mouth of the Rio Grande River.
Shows Bagdad, the observatory and a number of geographical details, soundings, etc.
Includes tidal and other information.
United States Coast Survey Biography
The United States Office of the Coast Survey began in 1807, when Thomas Jefferson founded the Survey of the Coast. However, the fledgling office was plagued by the War of 1812 and disagreements over whether it should be civilian or military controlled. The entity was re-founded in 1832 with Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler as its superintendent. Although a civilian agency, many military officers served the office; army officers tended to perform the topographic surveys, while naval officers conducted the hydrographic work.
The Survey's history was greatly affected by larger events in American history. During the Civil War, while the agency was led by Alexander Dallas Bache (Benjamin Franklin's grandson), the Survey provided the Union army with charts. Survey personnel accompanied blockading squadrons in the field, making new charts in the process.
After the Civil War, as the country was settled, the Coast Survey sent parties to make new maps, employing scientists and naturalists like John Muir and Louis Agassiz in the process. By 1926, the Survey expanded their purview further to include aeronautical charts. During the Great Depression, the Coast Survey employed over 10,000 people and in the Second World War the office oversaw the production of 100 million maps for the Allies. Since 1970, the Coastal and Geodetic Survey has formed part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and it is still producing navigational products and services today.
Antique Maps / United States / Texas