California to Carolina - What a HUGE difference in surveying

Ain't life grand.  We all must keep learning something new all the time.

When my youngest daughter was on a 4-H trip to the Washington, D. C. area it was set up that three different States of 4-H kids would do everything together.  One day my daughter turned to a girl from Wisconsin that she had come to know fairly well and asked, "Have you seen a water fountain anywhere?"  The girl looked at her as if she was speaking Klingon or something.  My daughter explained she was terribly thirsty and would like to get a drink of water.  Her new friend replied, "Oh, you mean a bubbler."  My daughter goes, "A what???  You know, a water fountain."

I moved from LA (Tarzana) to North Carolina near Charlotte a couple of decades ago in my mobile youth.  I picked up a job right off because the crews were warming themselves up over a small campfire while doing a wooded topo, then went to lunch and accidentally burned the woods down.  One of the crewmembers was unable to keep his trap shut while the boss was chewing everyone's backside and was immediately canned. It did make shooting the rest of the topo much easier.  There is a huge cultural difference between Southern California and The South.  If I remember looking at more recent maps, there are more control points and CORS stations in North Carolina than most places in the US.

I remember going to North Carolina the first time and the first thought I had was, "I wouldn't want to survey out here, there's trees everywhere!" I mean, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a tree.

I was in the area of Morganton, right along the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I remember going to North Carolina the first time and the first thought I had was, "I wouldn't want to survey out here, there's trees everywhere!" I mean, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a tree.

I was in the area of Morganton, right along the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Took the family to Blowing Rock, just north of that town.  One of the most beautiful drives ever.  No freaking way would I ever survey out there!  Pretty much a flat lander along the Mighty Mississippi.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is near the top of my list for most scenic drives.

Surveying in the NC mountains is another day in Paradise. It sure beats Charlotte.

@squirl Morganton is in the Piedmont. If you are driving along I40, it's about 32 miles from the bottom of Old Fort Mountain which is where you come down off the Blue Ridge.

@fairbanksls Indeed! But compared to Charlotte, it's a pretty low bar.

For a real challenge, find the NC-SC state line near Carowinds. Then identify all of the Catawba Indian land in the area.

Just the change from PLSS to Colonial must be a bit overwhelming.  I have no experience in the PLSS, but from what little I've learned on this forum you might find the absence of corner records unsettling.  Just finding a boundary monument warrants high fives.  There's generally little to no expectation of a unambiguous  pedigree. 

I was surprised that SC doesn't have a standard size for plat recording.  I called a few registries and they simply told me it couldn't be smaller than Legal.  I like their requirement to show the distance to the nearest road intersection on plats.

The SC Bar Association has a great resource for land surveyors.  For $35, get yourself a copy of the South Carolina Boundary Law Compendium.

We have plenty of old survey corner refernce ties that are to "a hedge".  That must sound funny to those people with carefully trimmed hedges along their urban borders.  In this case, it could be a hedge or a pecan or a catalpa or a cottonwood, all referring to a single tree of that local name.

I remember going to North Carolina the first time and the first thought I had was, "I wouldn't want to survey out here, there's trees everywhere!" I mean, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a tree.

I was in the area of Morganton, right along the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I'm still processing that statement.  I mean....trees everywhere....that's everyday surveying here and a lot of places

In 1986, I went from west to New England and in 1989, I left NE and went to CA.  It was definitely a learning process and one which helped me tremendously in my career.  I learned more about pure boundary retracement in those 3 years in NE then I ever have anywhere else.  It was definitely easier going back west than going east since we use both metes and bounds and PLSS out west.

Looking out my North office window, I can see clearly a half mile away.  Could see further but that is at the top of a ridege about 10 feet higher than where I am seated. Turning to look out the South window, I can see a half mile, as well.  Not everywhere, but a lot.

At night, if I go to a specific spot near the east end of my house, I can see well over 100 blinking lights atop industrial turbines (windmills) in three different groupings.  There are maybe 60 visible to the NNW at a distance of 20 to 25 miles.  There are another 40 or so visible to the ENE at a distance of 5 to 18 miles.  There are another 30 or more visible to the SW and WSW at a distance of 12 to 25 miles.  Each group has many more in it but I am only counting the ones I can see from that single spot. 

Squirl spent his youth between the ones to the NNW and the ones to the ENE.

I remember going to North Carolina the first time and the first thought I had was, "I wouldn't want to survey out here, there's trees everywhere!" I mean, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a tree.

I was in the area of Morganton, right along the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I'm still processing that statement.  I mean....trees everywhere....that's everyday surveying here and a lot of places

 

My biggest impression of North Carolina the first time I drove through, after getting off the Interstate was "there must be a lot of money to be made in running a church down here." Every half mile there was another sign for a church in somebody's garage, with a big cross out front.