Texas. General Land Office

The Texas General Land Office, established in 1836, administered land grants and public lands of Texas.

Jack Giberson (1919- 2007) retired from the General Land Office after 41 years of service. Giberson was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and raised on a ranch near Alice, Texas. After earning a degree in Economics from The University of Texas, Giberson served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. He was discharged from the service as a first sergeant in 1946. After military service, Giberson returned to the University of Texas to study law and earned his law degree in 1949. In 1953, he joined the General Land Office as a closing attorney for the Veterans Land Board. After a few years he was promoted to Chief Attorney of the Veterans Land Section. In 1960, he became the Chief Clerk and First Deputy Land Commissioner, a position he held until he retired in 1994. He also served as Executive Secretary of the Veterans Land Board. Giberson served under Land Commissioners Giles, Rudder, Allcorn, Sadler, Armstrong and Mauro. Key legal issues Giberson worked on during his career included the Tidelands controversy/submerged lands issue, and the question of Padre Island ownership.

The General Land Office was established on December 22, 1836, by the First Congress of the Republic of Texas as an agency for disposing of the public lands and maintaining the records of those dispositions. The Land Office was charged with verifying Spanish and Mexican titles to determine which land was in the public domain and which was privately owned. On entering the Union in 1845, Texas' constitution charged the General Land Office with the supervision and management of the state's millions of acres of public lands. Its current responsibilities include housing and supporting the operations of the Veterans Land Board and the School Land Board. The office also established the Texas Natural Heritage Program in cooperation with the Texas Nature Conservancy to inventory rare and endangered plants, animals, and natural habitats in the state. The Resource Management Code System maintained at the Land Office provides a listing of environmental guidelines for developing submerged state tracts in Texas bays and the Gulf of Mexico. The Archives and Records Division of the Land Office remains the repository of all original land grants, patents, and other documents that form the basis of land title in the state of Texas.

The Texas Court of Claims was established on August 1, 1856 to handle claims against the Republic and the state, particularly land claims based upon military service. When the Court of Claims was established, the General Land Office was required to prepare copies of reports it received of headright certificates issued. These were used by the Court of Claims in reviewing the legitimacy of those land claims. After the Court of Claims was abolished in 1861 all of its records were transferred to the General Land Office.

In 1996, Texas and Oklahoma agreed to create the Red River Boundary Commission to solve the border dispute between the two states. The Commission worked to better define the boundary through a compact, known as the Red River Compact. This compact was adopted into law by the State of Texas in 1999 by the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 1355. The purpose of the compact was to establish an identifiable boundary between Texas and Oklahoma along the Red River as of the effective date of the compact without interfering with or otherwise affecting private property rights or title to property. The boundary between Texas and Oklahoma was determined by the United States in 1921 to be the south bank of the Red River, which has remained the boundary through the years. However, the boundary fluctuates as a result of natural action of the river. When the boundary must be clearly defined, expensive, time-consuming survey techniques have been used to define the boundary, which only defines it as it exists at the time of the survey. The compact established a permanent, political boundary, which has been adopted by the U.S. Congress as the official boundary. According to the federal legislation: "(b) The permanent political boundary line between the states of Texas and Oklahoma along the Red River is the vegetation line along the south bank of the Red River except for the Texoma area, where the boundary does not change. For purposes of this compact: (1) the Texoma area extends from the east bank of Shawnee Creek (which flows into the Red River from the south approximately one-half mile below the Denison Dam) at its mouth to the upper end of the normal pool elevation of Lake Texoma (which is 617 feet); and (2) the upper end of the normal pool elevation of Lake Texoma is along the latitude of 33 degrees 54 minutes as it crosses the watercourse at the approximate location of longitude 96 degrees 59 minutes. (c) The party states agree that the existing boundary within the Texoma area begins at the intersection of the vegetation line on the south bank of the Red River with the east bank of Shawnee Creek. From this point, the boundary extends west along the south bank of the Red River as the bank existed immediately before the commencement of the construction of Lake Texoma. From Shawnee Creek to Denison Dam, this boundary line is within the current channel of the Red River. Within Lake Texoma, this boundary line follows the south bank of the Red River as the bank was located and marked by the United States Army Corps of Engineers before the commencement of the construction of Lake Texoma."

The compact drafted an agreement defining the boundary line for a portion of the boundary along Lake Texoma, known as the Texoma Area Boundary Agreement. This agreement was signed by David Dewhurst, the Texas General Land Commissioner and Representative James H. Dunegan, elected designee of the State of Oklahoma Red River Boundary Commission on July 28, 2000. The 106th Congress, through House Joint Resolution 72, granted its consent to the Red River Compact and the new Texas-Oklahoma boundary established by the Compact, effective August 31, 2000.

The General Land Office (GLO) was established on December 22, 1836, by the First Congress of the Republic of Texas. The Office was originally responsible for managing the public domain by collecting and keeping records, providing maps and surveys and issuing land titles. On entering the Union in 1845, Texas' constitution charged the General Land Office with the supervision and management of the state's millions of acres of public lands. Since then GLO duties have evolved, but its core mission remains managing state lands and mineral-right properties totaling 20.3 million acres.

John P. Borden, the first commissioner, opened the office in Houston on October 1, 1837. He was enjoined by law to "superintend, execute, and perform all acts touching or respecting the public lands of Texas." The Constitution of the Republic of Texas honored all grants made by Spain and Mexico that were deemed valid by the republic; later, the state followed suit. The commissioner assembled from the archives of the former governments a record of valid land grants and translated them. Valid Spanish and Mexican grants cover 26,280,000 acres within the present boundaries of Texas. Some of these grants have received special confirmation by the state legislature, but most of them stand on the original titles from the governments of Spain and Mexico.

Borden also began to survey and register the new grants that the republic was issuing. Those from the public domain were made to colonists who had failed to receive their titles from Mexico, to new settlers, and to all soldiers who had rendered service in the Texas army. Headrights, military bounties, homestead preemptions, and veteran donations, issued by Borden and successive commissioners, brought the total number of acres granted to 75,647,668. Sales for the purpose of paying the public debt added 2,990,136 acres. For internal improvements to the Capitol, irrigation, drainage, iron works, and transportation facilities, including railroads, grants totaled 32,153,878 acres. For education (the University of Texas, Texas A&M, county schools, eleemosynary institutions, and the public school fund) grants totaled 49,530,334 acres. The individual grants, patents, and surveys by which the public domain has been disposed of are on file in the General Land Office, and a representation of each, surveyed by metes and bounds, appears on the original grantee map of the county in which the land is located.

Although the financial potential of Texas public land was generally limited to surface properties, over the years mineral resources became financially important. Texas ownership of mineral resources was confirmed by the United States Supreme Court on December 12, 1960, allowing the state to fully utilize mineral deposits of the Gulf area. The mineral revenues were consigned to the Permanent School Fund, which has received $6.8 billion since 1854.

New departments and equipment became necessary to manage the increased volume of business resulting from these trends. Land Office responsibilities cover other areas as well. The GLO's Archives and Records Division houses original Spanish, Mexican, and Republic of Texas land grants and associated documentation. The Recycling, Adopt-A-Beach, Coastal, and Oil Spill Prevention and Response programs work to protect Texas' natural resources. The GLO also encourages economic development through its natural gas marketing initiatives and loan programs offered to veterans through the Texas Veterans Land Board (VLB).

The General Land Office is headed by the elected land commissioner. The commissioner serves as chair of the Veterans Land Board and the School Land Board.