Thomas Walter Jones
Alamo, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(c. 1827 - 1853) The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican War in 1848 and designated the main channel of the Rio Grande as the boundary between the U.S. and Mexico. Major William Emory led the border survey (1849-53). Young Washington D.C. surveyor Thomas W. Jones joined Emory's survey effort at El Paso in 1850. While serving as assistant surveyor of the Lower Rio Grande survey party, Jones drowned nearby on July 23, 1853, and was buried here on Dr. Eli T. Merriman's ranch. Recorded - 1994
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican War in 1848 and set the Rio Grande as the international boundary, Major William Emory led a survey to map that new border. Thomas W. Jones, a young surveyor from Washington, D.C., joined the effort at El Paso in 1850 and worked as an assistant surveyor on the Lower Rio Grande. In July 1853 he drowned nearby and was buried on a local ranch, one of many who gave their lives to the exacting work of charting the frontier.
Why it matters
The lonely grave of a boundary surveyor marks the human cost of fixing the new U.S.–Mexico border after the Mexican War, a line drawn across the map by men in the field.
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Related people
- · Thomas W. Jones
- · William Emory
Related events
- · Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
- · Lower Rio Grande boundary survey
Themes & tags
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