Red River Boundary Survey 2019

The first ever field course based on retracing original boundaries along the Red River in northeast Texas was held during the summer of 2019. The survey and research were performed by a group of students under the direction of Dr. Davey Edwards. The research started with an original boundary corner set by appointed Commissioners under the authority of the 1923 Oklahoma v. Texas Supreme Court Decision. Land surveying education at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is unmatched through applicable experiences directed by experienced instructors.

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2019 Field Camp Course Description

The Geographic Information Systems baccalaureate program in Land Surveying at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi with support of the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science was pleased to announce a new elective course for our students where they received exposure to riparian boundary surveying along the Red River in Red River County, Texas. This course consisted of a week of riparian court cases review. It also exposed our students to field exercises retracing historic avulsion boundaries established by the Commissioners of the Oklahoma v. Texas Supreme Court and application of the gradient boundary method and 2000 Red River Boundary Compact along the Red River.

This course was instructed by Davey Edwards, PhD, who is a Professional Land Surveyor in Texas and Oklahoma, a Texas Licensed State Land Surveyor and a U.S. Certified Federal Land Surveyor. Davey has over 16 years of professional land surveying experience and education. Davey has a Master’s Degree in Geospatial Surveying Engineering with studies in cadastral systems and a Doctorate Degree in Geoscience with studies in riparian boundary morphology. Davey has on-the-ground experience in multiple areas along the Red River from Hall County to Texarkana, Texas. Today, Davey Edwards is now a professional assistant professor in the undergraduate and graduate land surveying programs at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi and the director of the Texas Spatial Reference Center in the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science.

The Chapman Ranch in Red River County, Texas, hosted this year’s course. During this course, we refurbished a 95-year old wooden monument that once represented the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma which was currently in a state of decay. This was conducted as a memorial of the land surveying efforts of Author Stiles and Author Kidder, the appointed commissioners of the 1923 Oklahoma v. Texas Supreme Court and derived the gradient boundary method of determining riparian boundaries along navigable rivers in the State of Texas.