Map of the Early Texas Land Grants

This highly desirable map, published on the eve of the Texas Revolution, is one of the most colorful maps of Texas ever published. The influx of colonist to Texas in the 1830’s fueled a demand for maps of the region. Fervent interest in events west of the Sabine prompted publisher S. Augustus Mitchell to publish eight versions of this map between 1835 and 1845. Following Stephen F. Austin’s landmark map of 1830, New York and Philadelphia publishers began to issue similar maps to meet the public demand. One of the earliest and most important of these was the Mitchell-Young map.

In this version, Texas is shown divided into the various empresario grants under the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas and is smaller than the area claimed by Texas after independence. The southern boundary of Texas is the Nueces River. The territory north of the Red River is attached to Santa Fe formerly New Mexico.

The detailed inset texts give contemporary information concerning Texas including how to buy land, a reference to the growing population, the political movement for a Texas government separate from Coahuila, and a glowing report on the resources of Texas including the following: “Texas is one of the finest stock countries in the world. Cattle are raised in great abundance and with but little trouble.” Guarantees are made such as: “New settlers are exempt from the payment of the usual taxes for the term of 10 years.” Other texts discuss the probability of navigating the Texas waterways by steam and bragging that the Brazos River is considered equal in fertility to any river in the world. The desire to encourage prospective settlers to Texas is present throughout the map, especially in the following phrase: “advantages which doubtless will at no distant period render (Texas) an opulent and powerful State.”