TSPS MAR APR 2024 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 27
THE HIGH PLAINS EXPERIENCE
PRESENTED BY TSPS CHAPTERS
1, 10, 16, AND 18
THURSDAY, MAY 16th through SATURDAY, MAY 18th, 2024
16 CEU’s, (3 hours Ethics and/or Board Rules)
INSTRUCTORS:
Robby Christopher- LSLS, Lubbock, TX
Michel Newton- RPLS, LSLS, Lubbock, TX Stan Piper- RPLS, LSLS, Midland, TX
Maxey Sheppard- RPLS, LSLS, Abilene TX
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High Plains Experience 2024
Stan Piper’s Research and Recovery: The participants in this class will benefit from many years of
experience as Stan explains his methods of preparing for a survey, setting up his research and field sketches, and
then Stan has an in the field portion on learning how to recover and identify original monuments.
Maxey Sheppard and Michel Newton’s West Texas Retracement: The whole group of instructors and
their assistants will take part in leading this course, where participants will take up a compass and chain, and
using a set of handwritten field notes, strike out across the prairie in search of old boundary corners. Antique
survey equipment will be supplied, and we are hoping this will be a good way for both young and old surveyors to
share ideas and methods of working without modern technology.
Robby Christopher’s Gradient Boundary: The participants in this class will learn the history of surveying
navigable rivers in Texas, then, it’s off to the Canadian River to get hands-on experience at identifying a qualifying
bank and taking the measurements necessary to establish the boundary between the State-owned riverbed and
upland, private lands.
The Craig Alderman/J.D. Davis Memorial Scholarship will be awarded to a deserving candidate. Contact
Robby Christopher (see below) for information and application. Other scholarships may be available.
PLEASE CHECK THE WEATHER BEFORE ARRIVING, PANHANDLE WEATHER CAN VARY
DRAMATICALLY THIS TIME OF YEAR!
Friday Night’s meal will be a STEAK DINNER provided to you by one of our sponsors, along with a guest speaker to
accompany this dinner. We’ll eat breakfast Friday chuckwagon-style courtesy of Sam Howell. Friday lunch will be a
complementary BBQ meal, courtesy of our sponsors, and Saturday lunch will be served in the field as we go through our field
exercises.
We are hoping to see everyone Thursday night at Talon Point, a private retreat outside of Channing, TX, where our formal
dining and lodging has been arranged, and where all classroom activities will take place. Upon arrival Thursday night, we will
have a dinner get together after the optional skeet shoot, where we can start discussing the courses and showing how the
antique equipment works. All fieldwork will take place on the historic LIT Ranch, with our gracious thanks to ranch owner
Bill O’Brien.
The LIT is a 60,000-acre ranch comprised of River Surveys, Live Water Surveys, and Railroad Surveys, with many original
corners having been recovered in good condition. The historic town of “Old Tascosa”, once a cow-town and part of many famous
cattle trails, and home to many infamous people of the western history of America, is located on grounds once owned by the
ranch. The site of “Old Tascosa” is now occupied by Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch, a highly recognized home for children needing
direction in their life. Boot Hill Cemetery and the Old Courthouse still stand, with the Old Courthouse now being a historical
museum, showing both frontier life and the history of the Boy’s Ranch.
For more information contact: Robby Christopher (806) 548-0921 or rchristopher@hugoreed.com.