The other Kent.
Kieth Williams?
But he was stuck on one or two topics. Kent was much more fun because he could argue about anything.
Kent was much more fun because he could argue about anything.
Could Not.
Could to!!!!
Yes, Keith Williams. He coined the term Bogus Theory, I believe.
Ok i got this from work today and will this get me the answer to the problem. I had almost forgot i had one of these. Only one i have. Given to me in th 90’s from a PlS. When I worked out in a PLSS state I stayed up on this but i have slept a bunch since then. I reviewed some of it before the FS exam last year. I have not forgotten about the problem. I am just swamped. I am headed out now to meet some crews to get them ready for a project starting tomorrow and next week. We need my surveyors. I am so swamped i can’t study lol.
Yes and no.
That book was not in existence when the surveys were performed that you are attempting to follow. For example, Land beginning less than 10 miles to north of me was surveyed about 1853 per one set of instructions. All land south of that Indian Treaty Boundary was surveyed between 1865-1867 under a different set of instructions. Go 30 miles to the east (which I do not do) and the time frame is prior to 1825. Go 50 miles to the south (which I do not do) and the dates are significantly more recent. When did Burt's Solar Compass first get used by the contractors performing the Government surveys? Were the local people friendly towards the survey crews or not? How frequently did measurement tools go through a standards check, if ever? How many miles between standard parallels? Were the standard parallels run with the same survey equipment as the township boundaries and then the interiors of each township? Were guide meridians used to supplement the Principal Meridian? If so, how were they established?
Yes and no add up to MAYBE.
@holy-cow looks like if I ever get out of this parking lot i have a whole mess of studying to do. I am never going to learn all of this mess. Lol. But I will have fun trying before I kick the bucket. Well i see the crew rolling in finally. Now time to get them supplies and line them out.
Burt's solar compass was starting to be fairly commonly used for township lines by early-mid 1840's. Subdivision into sections was probably less often done by solar compass until later.
For retracing older work, Albert White's book of collected instructions is probably more valuable than the 1973 or later manual, which were mostly aimed at future division of BLM land.
In Iowa, we have a moderately detailed book by Dodds that gives most of the instructions, including any unique instructions for each contract that was preserved in the archives (doesn't get all of them).
I was just working with a 2019 survey earlier today where the offset ROW line was labeled 25.01 feet. I'm like comon' man...
I am sure all of the instructions were followed exactly when they were paid $0.10 per mile.
@olemanriver Stop overthinking things. Sometimes good enough is good enough. Too many people get caught up in theory and extended decimal places that are immeasurable.
We can do the best we can through proper procedures but systematic, compensating and human errors will always be a part of the equation.
Then there are sections like the one yesterday. The Government survey is suspect to say the least. The surveyors who followed them over 150 years ago did the best they could with what they had to work with. The landowners laid out their quarter-sections as best they could. Attempting to apply perfect measurements is a fool's folly. Attempting to CORRECT history is even worse. You take what you are given and move forward.
Yesterday's section had the northeast corner and southeast corner in place. The calculated midpoint of that line fell 60 feet south and 75 feet east of where I decided the corner should be. The theoretical center corner using my east quarter corner would fall 50 feet west and 80 feet south of the ancient corner post with ancient fence wire and very old trees in all four directions indicating possession over the past 150 years. It would be much worse if applying the calculated east quarter corner. The angle between the east line of the southeast quarter and the quarter section line heading to the center corner is over 92 degrees. The existing fence has a 15 foot bend in it near the quarter-quarter corner. No matter your mathematical solution, perfection cannot be achieved.
@chris-bouffard You are not the first person to tell me that. I do analyze everything. If there are 3 ways to solve a problem. I will do that for sure. I was told that today. I am doing a fairly tight static network and level run and rtk. Fairly tight tolerances. I have approached it a couple ways to check myself and the client a PLS said stop you have nailed this down. I am more than happy. I will learn I hope. Lol. But thank you. I need to remember I am not launching a missile 300 miles to hit a target anymore. Lol. Its hard to break habits. I still process and qa/qc all static data daily every night so i know if i need changes the next day. Part of my process It doesn’t take long i grab it through it in ck it and just as a sanity ck.
Just yesterday I said, "We aren't building a watch, here." All we were doing was setting a few lath on line so the client could 'see' where the line was. He's not going to buiild a fence or anything to keep track of where we are putting the lath. Deer heaven with the cut out tract and the remainder tract being owned by absentee brothers who enjoy deer hunting.
