This map reflects the railroad layout as it existed in Texas by the end of the Civil War in 1865. Baylor University has preserved a complete volume of these maps, gives some explanation of the project that produced this map series. From Baylor's site: "When the War Department began to issue its 70 volume set of records generated by both the Union and Confederate Armies, it also created an Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, published in 1895. Its 175 plates contain more than 1,000 maps, illustrations, and diagrams detailing battlefield maps, scenes from the conflict, and military equipment." According to historian George C. Werner, the road was completed only to Columbia, and thus the line shown on this map from Columbia to Wharton represents only that portion that was graded. Werner notes that the company never crossed the Brazos river [Handbook of Texas, 2015].