Had the pleasure of looking for monuments in a Section 20. I was able to recover 7 of the 8. The NW corner sits under a stock tank now, lots of broken stones scattered around it:
Also the NE corner stone was removed and for a while was used as a tie down 🙁
The E1/4 was lying loose so I set a new monument and buried it alongside:
The N1/4 is under an east west fence line, a prairie dog is trying to excavate it so I filled that in, but left it in place as found: 
The W1/4 is in nice shape, with a 4 marked on the west face, I stood it up a bit better and left it alone as it is:
The SE corner is a nice set stone, 4 clear notches on the east face, I couldn't see any on the south face:
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The section is small, looks like his chain might have been short which is what I see in other parts of the township, most half miles are 2620-2630'
MightyMoe, post: 434384, member: 700 wrote: ...The section is small, looks like his chain might have been short which is what I see in other parts of the township, most half miles are 2620-2630'
Common down here also. Most of the Oklahoma Territory was surveyed after 1870 by a plethora of men and crews. Reading the notes and recognizing names can give one insight during retracement. Some townships have section lines that are predictably short. Not by much, but very regular. Other townships by different crews (particularly in the western areas) are predictably long, with half miles in the 2650-2660' range.
So much for 'checking' the chain before you get started....;)
Came here looking for 7 of 9. Severely disappointed.
paden cash, post: 434390, member: 20 wrote: Common down here also. Most of the Oklahoma Territory was surveyed after 1870 by a plethora of men and crews. Reading the notes and recognizing names can give one insight during retracement. Some townships have section lines that are predictably short. Not by much, but very regular. Other townships by different crews (particularly in the western areas) are predictably long, with half miles in the 2650-2660' range.
So much for 'checking' the chain before you get started....;)
He was very consistent, did a nice job for sure, the south line of the township is almost perfect, I have monuments at 2639.5, 2640.2, different surveyor, different chain I suppose 😎
MightyMoe, post: 434393, member: 700 wrote: He was very consistent, did a nice job for sure, the south line of the township is almost perfect, I have monuments at 2639.5, 2640.2, different surveyor, different chain I suppose 😎
One anomaly I still can't explain is what I call the "two chain syndrome". Where in a township, as one follows the notes, the north-south lines as ran are very predictable and indexing can actually provide satisfactory results during a retracement. BUT...within the same township (same crew, same time), as they ran east and west to establish the 1/4 corners, everything goes to hell. I've seen some north-south distances that were within a foot or two of a reported 40 chains from 1874. The distance reported east to the intersection of the previously ran section line might be almost a chain different (usually short?!). It's almost like they had two-chains...one for the north-south crew (armed with a compassman) and possibly a stretch of rope for the "quarter corner crew" that took the mule with some rocks and dropped back to set the e-w lines.
Some of the east-west lines differ so much from the notes it is hard to reconcile. I believe the lines chained between north-south lines were either regularly pencil whipped, or regularly regarded as "incidental". This theory is also evident in the fact that on most quarter corners on n-s lines there appears to have been an effort to keep them on "line". Quarter corners on e-w lines can regularly fall more than a chain (sometimes two) off of a line from section corner to section corner.
paden cash, post: 434400, member: 20 wrote: One anomaly I still can't explain is what I call the "two chain syndrome". Where in a township, as one follows the notes, the north-south lines as ran are very predictable and indexing can actually provide satisfactory results during a retracement. BUT...within the same township (same crew, same time), as they ran east and west to establish the 1/4 corners, everything goes to hell. I've seen some north-south distances that were within a foot or two of a reported 40 chains from 1874. The distance reported east to the intersection of the previously ran section line might be almost a chain different (usually short?!). It's almost like they had two-chains...one for the north-south crew (armed with a compassman) and possibly a stretch of rope for the "quarter corner crew" that took the mule with some rocks and dropped back to set the e-w lines.
Some of the east-west lines differ so much from the notes it is hard to reconcile. I believe the lines chained between north-south lines were either regularly pencil whipped, or regularly regarded as "incidental". This theory is also evident in the fact that on most quarter corners on n-s lines there appears to have been an effort to keep them on "line". Quarter corners on e-w lines can regularly fall more than a chain (sometimes two) off of a line from section corner to section corner.
They typically ran at least two crews here, if there was a river you might see a big kink from one side to the other, as far as east-west lines, I don't imagine they ran the last 1/2 very often like the notes say, and even if they did, there is always the "bad move" where the mid point is shifted the wrong direction.
MightyMoe, post: 434403, member: 700 wrote: They typically ran at least two crews here, if there was a river you might see a big kink from one side to the other, as far as east-west lines, I don't imagine they ran the last 1/2 very often like the notes say, and even if they did, there is always the "bad move" where the mid point is shifted the wrong direction.
Shortcut method happened in nebraska, Harveys instructions include discussion.
The shortcut method is interesting, I think some crews were really creative applying variations of it.;)
The crews here seem to be doing things correctly, or at least they don't seem to be stubbing out 1/4's or running two crews towards each other from different directions. The township did have three different surveys. An original which canceled, it was redone with two separate surveys, one in the easterly portion of the township then later a completion survey for the westerly portion, the easterly guy's chain seems to be longer than the westerly guy's chain. But, it's all good, they set, marked stones and left nice evidence, and there is little to no development
I thought you meant 7 of 9 but was disappointed. 
Rubrew, post: 434552, member: 954 wrote: I thought you meant 7 of 9 but was disappointed.
I think he meant the center 1/4 would make nine;)
maybe not......