Small dams and ponds around Maple Grove, Oklahoma, 1908–1949
348 scanned inventory cards for mill dams, farm ponds, drainage ditches and erosion control structures were read into a register, a shapefile in Oklahoma State Plane North and a map grouped by township. After the duplicate check the cards represent 337 structures, and 38 cards with uncertain readings are in a review queue.
Dam_Pond_Inventory_Cards_1908-1949.pdf, 350 pagesSix civil townships around Maple Grove, Indian MeridianNAD83(2011) Oklahoma North (3501), US survey feetPrepared Nov 5, 2026
Summary
Duplicates
11 structures appear on two cards
The same structure was recorded twice under a different spelling, usually when it was re-inventoried or changed hands. Kessler Pond (card 0320, 1938) and Kesler Pond (card 0339, 1946) share the legal description SW¼ Sec. 35, T22N, R3E. The 348 cards therefore represent 337 structures.
Both cards stay in the register, linked in the DUP_OF field.
Townships
Bluestem Township appears under two names
27 cards from 1908–1924 list Pecan Flat Township, which was consolidated into Bluestem Township in 1925. Grouped by the name on the card, Bluestem has 44 cards instead of 71 and looks sparser than it is.
The register groups by the consolidated township and keeps the name on the card in TWP_CARD.
Locations
9 locations plot outside the township on the card
5 are section-only locations where the section lies in the neighboring township. 4 likely have a misread section number. On card 0139, Rains Farm Pond, Sec. 18 plots in Quail Ridge Township, while Sec. 13 puts it in Maple Grove Township, as the card states.
All 9 are in the review queue along with 29 other uncertain cards.
Map, cards and register
Filter by structure type and township. Click a point or a row to see the card as scanned next to the fields that were read from it. Circled points are in the review queue. Switch the township setting to group the cards by the township name written on each card.
View
Townships
Status
0Cards in selection
0Structures after duplicate check
0Cards in review queue
0Located to ¼¼ or ¼ section
In review queueTownship line before 1925PLSS township lineSH-529RailroadLake and creek
Cards by township in the current selection
Dam_Pond_Inventory_Maple_Grove.shp with .shx, .dbf, .prj and .cpg348 pointsNAD83(2011) / Oklahoma North (ftUS), EPSG:6553Encoding UTF-8
Field names are 10 characters or fewer, as the dBASE format requires. The right-hand column shows the attribute record for the card selected on the map.
Sources and method
Sources
Dam_Pond_Inventory_Cards_1908-1949.pdfScanned inventory cards with no text layer, one card per page, filed by township350 pages
Civil_Township_Boundaries_1930.gpkgCivil township lines digitized from a 1930 county map, before and after the 1925 consolidation7 polygons
PLSS_Sections_T21-23N_R3-5E.gpkgSurvey townships, sections and aliquot parts, Indian Meridian, for plotting legal descriptions180 sections
Hydrography_Maple_Grove.gpkgLakes, reservoirs and creeks for the location check3 water bodies
Method
Each page was run through OCR and the fields were read by the card headings. Legal descriptions were parsed into aliquot part, section, township and range.
Every field was second-read against a crop of the scan. Fields with reading confidence under 75% were marked, and cards with hard-to-read names went to the review queue.
Legal descriptions were plotted at the center of the smallest aliquot part given (¼¼ section 40 ac, ¼ section 160 ac, section 640 ac) and converted to NAD83(2011) Oklahoma North in US survey feet. Cards with only a description were placed by hand at the named feature.
Each point was compared with the civil township lines and with the water bodies.
Duplicates were searched among cards of the same type with the same legal description or within 1,000 ft, comparing names after normalizing spelling (doubled letters, Mc/Mac, Wm./William, possessives).
Pecan Flat was normalized to Bluestem following the 1925 consolidation. The name on the card stays in TWP_CARD.
The register was written to a point shapefile in Oklahoma State Plane North with field names of 10 characters or fewer.
Assumptions and limitations
Legal descriptions are taken to locate the structure itself, not the whole farm.
A quarter-quarter center can be up to about 930 ft from the structure, and a section center up to about 3,700 ft.
Sections are treated as regular one-mile squares. Correction lines and irregular sections along township lines are not modeled.
Civil township government ended in the mid-1930s, but later cards still name the townships. The register uses the 1930 lines.
The duplicate check proposes pairs. No cards were merged or removed. Card backs were not scanned, and the current condition of the structures is not part of the register.