Found a 1950s map of Texas with a lake that shouldn't be there

Picked up an old map at a garage sale in Waco that shows a huge lake near Abilene that's never existed. My granddad confirmed it was probably a cartographer's mistake from a misread survey in the 40s. Has anyone else stumbled on phantom lakes on old maps?

2 comments

2 Comments

marymorgan17d ago

Oh MAN that is wild! I swear people underestimate how often these little mistakes get baked into maps and records and nobody bothers to fix them for decades. It makes me wonder how many other "facts" we just accept because somebody wrote them down once and nobody double-checked.

oliver52317d ago

Man, if I had a dollar for every time I mixed up my survey readings (which I've definitely done, not gonna lie), I'd have enough to move to that phantom lake myself. Guess cartographers and I both have the same talent for confidently being wrong.