When everything goes wrong in the PLSS
Posted By Peter Ehlert on 12/5/2003 at 6:35 PM
Twice, 20 some years ago and now again I have again been asked to survey ……..
Section 5, Township 9 North, Range 11 West, Mount Diablo Meridian. http://www.sdi-baja.com/survey/t9nr11wmdm.htm
Back then I declined, as the survey cost would have
been much more than the land value. Now I am too darn far away but still very
interested.
The NW corner and the S/14 corner of S5 have been found and verified, and are
correctly shown on the quad.
Many other monuments in the general area have been found also and I believe the
correct resolution is reflected on the quad.
Just food for thought… a fun project to tinker with... and I am having fun
going thru my old records too!
Have a good weekend all, Peter
Re: I looked at the Township Plat...
Posted By David Karoly on 12/5/2003 at 7:04 PM
it doesn't look anything like that!
We could make a weekend RPLS survey out of it. Get 5 or 6 CA RPLS LSs out there
and do it.
Re: When everything goes wrong in the PLSS
Posted By Keith Williams on 12/5/2003 at 7:36 PM
Now you are talking about the tough stuff that the BLM crews are facing. Naturally
if there is Public Land in these distorted areas, the Federal land managers
need to know those boundaries.
Keith
Re: Not only THAT......
Posted By RUSTY K on 12/5/2003 at 9:05 PM
but sometimes there is a BIG difference between what the notes say they set vs what they actually set. In my state, some of these
surveys were done during a time when you could get scalped or dry gulched if you didn't keep up with the crew. I am talking
about the work of the mound men and the accessory markings here. The surveyor,
in his notes, states that he set a marked stone and dug pits, marked trees
etc., etc., but in reality that work was left to the aforementioned members of
the crew while the actual surveying went on. I have retraced surveys in Apache
country from the 1880's and while the monuments are there, they sure don't
quite match what are in the notes, probably because the guys left behind wanted
to keep up with the main body of the crew. My first boss had a framed copy of a
survey done in southern AZ that lists Wyatt, Morgan and Virgil Earp as members
of the survey crew. Now why do you suppose those infamous gunmen, pimps and
gamblers were on the crew?
Re: When everything goes wrong in the PLSS
Posted By Peter Ehlert
on 12/6/2003 at 12:12 PM
Not a lot of chatter on this but the page has had over 40 hits since yesterday
afternoon so I guess some of you out there are interested…
David: You have the plat? As I remember it the GLO plat dates from the 1870’s
and I assume that there have been no surveys since. True?
I sure wish I could find the key to the file cabinet that has my records on
this site!
Keith: yes, I do feel for the BLM trying to straighten these out, but I thing
if there is any remaining federal ownership in the area
Rusty: I think what we have here is that the crew never touched the ground! The
mons found
are as described.
---
The original survey was clearly a fraud, Benson as noted, but it was approved,
and patents issued; therefore the original monuments that have been found must
be considered valid.
Redwood tree BT’s in the notes where a Redwood could never have grown is one
clue.
Many topo calls make no sense at all, the line calls
on a simple overlay of the quad shows that.
I doubt that there is even gas money in this project, but it would fun to get
back on the ground and start piecing it together.
Peter
Modified By Peter Ehlert on 12/6/2003 at 12:14
PM
Re: We have the plat...
Posted By David Karoly on
12/6/2003 at 1:05 PM
and a lot of others. In some cases our copies are better than the BLMs
because we have old copies from before a fire that burned up a lot of old
plats.
There are some corrective plats in there too.
I'm happy to scan them and e-mail to anyone who sends me an e-mail but it will
be Monday morning. We may also have field notes but likely only if their is
a Park nearby. I can get copies from State Lands (I need to go over there
Monday for something else).
Modified By David Karoly on 12/6/2003 at 1:07
PM