“Notice the two large tanks to the north as well as some dams along Miller Creek.....”
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Not sure what you are referring to as ‘tanks’ (ponds that are north of the ranch house?)...As for the dams, I believe I’ve seen in other places where the water behind the dams is referred to as ‘ponds’.
“The road that runs along the creek is identified by 215, yet has remotely opened gates at either end....”
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Yes...... I saw that. What is not known (but could be found out with some investigation) is exactly how big this property is. The fact that there are gates at each end would seem to indicate that all the land in between the two gates is likely all part of one ranch, no? And as such was owned by Chao (or perhaps more specifically, by her husband Breyer)?
At one of the links that was provided on an FR thread posted some time ago, I think it was indicated (perhaps on an old real estate posting link) that it was a ‘sprawling property that had its own airstrip’. The only ‘airstrip’ I see close by is almost exactly straight north of what I think you have called the ‘east utilitarian’ gate which I might point out is just off a road called 202... just a bit north of 290 and you can see it at this link. https://www.google.ca/maps/@30.2093771,-98.3016813,3a,75y,311.31h,89.16t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sY0rQdQPLvRb0-sr5X-QUtQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DY0rQdQPLvRb0-sr5X-QUtQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D46.822273%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
The airstrip is just a bit north of this east gate and in fact, it runs almost parallel to 202 on the west side (can be see on a streetview from 202 at some locations).
In my post 62 I said that the ‘pond’ could have been any of the five ‘bodies of water’ that can be seen around the main buildings on the property that include the ranch house. However, because of how big the property may be if it extends to 202 and includes the airstrip, there are also some additional dams there that are on Miller Creek. In fact, the largest one appears to be directly west of the airstrip at this location (both the airstrip and the ‘pond’ created by another dam can be seen in this aerial view...
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/30%C2%B012‘54.5%22N+98%C2%B018’43.9%22W/@30.2156986,-98.3090874,996m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d30.215127!4d-98.312184?entry=ttu
With this in mind and because of how big the property may be, there may be as many as 8 or 10 locations that the drowning could have happened, of course depending on how deep some of these ‘ponds’ may be. While the north of hill country has apparently had a lot of rain, Blanco County has been extremely dry according to this drought map... if you go to the map at this link and zoom in, the location of the ranch can be approximated as being near the top end of what is shown in ‘red’.... https://www.drought.gov/states/texas/county/blanco
“Notice a strange, ratty sheet metal roofed building that straddles the road here:”
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Yes... that is strange and since there appears to be some type of excavation in the land immediate northeast of that, it seems that this might have been part of something going on there. Just for the record, that ratty building can be seen on a streetview from 290.....there is a chained gate on to this road. road.https://www.google.ca/maps/@30.2033399,-98.312844,3a,66.5y,356.86h,81.78t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sfcMiCONeP11R2YjoRU7YUg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu