The Office of Coast Survey is the oldest U.S. scientific organization, dating from 1807 when Congress directed that a "survey of the coast" be carried out. By 1836, it was called the U.S. Coast Survey and in 1878, the name was changed to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Today the Office of Coast Survey is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA.

The survey teams, composed of civilians as well as Army and Naval officers, charted the nation's waterways and produced a wide array of reports, survey charts, hydrographic studies of tides and currents, astronomical studies and observations, and coastal pilots. These charts are an important record of the changing nature of the nation's coastlines. In additional to coastal charts, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey produced land sketches, Civil War battle maps, and the early aeronautical charts.

This is attractive chart shows the mouth of the Brazos River with the towns of Quintana and Velasco. Velasco was an important entry point for American settlers into Texas and was the first capital of the Republic of Texas. When this map was published Quintana and Velasco were summer resorts for wealthy plantation families of the region as well as an important warehousing and shipping port.

References:

Condition: B+

Issued folding, now flattened with some minor repairs in the blank margins. Folds reinforced with tissue on verso.