Ok, IMVHO, I think colonial states would be the toughest and my area is probably the easiest...any other opinions?
Downtown anywhere is the toughest. Big original grants in texas are easy.
West Virginia has a lot of unique challenges. Try surveying a tract in the forest with no corners to be found (historically, they loved to use American Chestnuts - all blighted out now), and no use lines to locate. Nowadays I chuckle to myself when I find myself stressing out about two irons a tenth apart when in WV we were comparing survey to deed "This stump hole is only seven feet from deed distance, but this other on 20 feet away is better with the tree line, etc" 😛 Heck, where I live now, most of the time the corners still have old flagging on them.
One of my particular favorites is when you get one of those deeds that describes the bounds as Jones on the east, Smith on the south, etc. Then you know it is an ancient residue tract and you have already lost money due to the research that will be involved.
Not to mention it is the only "colonial" state (since it was part of VA) that was created during the civil war, so this means that a lot of the land records just dead end; some can be found online on VA's website, though.
One of the worst things though, is researching property through the great depression because during this period the land was worth less than the cost of a survey. You can usually pick the trail back up, though, using the land tax books.
I believe the movie was V for Vendetta where the main character says that a goverment's most complete records are always the tax records - interesting thought.
Surveying in Colonial States ....
is not that hard. We just have to know how to do more than measure a mile and turn 90 degrees. Also, we can't take back hoes and dig up the roads like Mr. Penry and others do. 🙂 🙂 🙂
> Ok, IMVHO, I think colonial states would be the toughest and my area is probably the easiest...any other opinions?
Paul,
Are you talking about boundary retracements?
If so, for me it's the outlying rural areas, that consist of small subdivisions that were subdivided circa 1920's. There are a couple of areas in the foothills and mountain areas outside of the Denver area that were originally created for weekend retreats and hunting & fishing cabins.
Today these areas are being built out with very expensive houses.
Attempting to resurvey lines in these areas can very complicated, confusing, time consuming and expensive.
A south Louisiana swamp in July and August.
I know you said United States, but surveying on the moon is very easy; there's just no atmosphere.
I am thankful that I work in a sandy soil state, where ferrous monuments are the norm.
I admire, but do not envy the rock hunters.
surveying on the moon is very easy; there's just no atmosphere.
- No GPS.
- No evidence or monuments to tie into.
- No magnetic pole if I remember correctly, so no compass.
- You might be able to establish your location and azimuth by star shot, but I would guess that you'd have to calc it from first principles.
- Your level bubbles would either freeze solid or boil, so no range poles.
- Bring your own hubs, tacks, stakes etc because there's no local supplier.
surveying on the moon is very easy; there's just no atmosphere.
No survey competition to argue your results!
Boundary Survey:
1. anywhere there are no recording laws or where such laws are ignored
2. anywhere that a mag nail or PK nail is considered "a monument"
3. geodetic metadata is insufficient to retrace the actual controlling monuments and values that were used
> Boundary Survey:
> 1. anywhere there are no recording laws or where such laws are ignored
> 2. anywhere that a mag nail or PK nail is considered "a monument"
> 3. geodetic metadata is insufficient to retrace the actual controlling monuments and values that were used
#2 does that mean it is difficult to sort out between nails that may have been used as traverse as opposed to boundary?
based on these three rules, you wouldn't have much fun surveying maryland
Moe/Eddie: nope, it means that those nails are not durable.
Easiest place is the Central Business District of Houston
Houston CBD has a monumentation system in place since 1868. City ordinance mandates the use of same. All of the system is tied into CORS. Recent drawings and a resurvey are available for free from the COH Survey Section. That's pretty hard to beat.
Surveying in Colonial States ....
In PLSS states you don't just "measure a mile and turn 90º". You must measure a section which rarely are an exact mile. Also, since the earth is not flat, the angles at section corners are not 90º.
Still, I would guess that colonial surveys are more difficult as a whole.
Paul, of course you do have to define what is "hard" or "easy."
Here in MA, or at least out here on the Cape we have to deal with some bounding descriptions that really are kind of ridiculous. Simple deeds that state bounded on the north by nickerson, the east by bangs, the south by brooks, and the west by jones. Then those abutters deeds are bounding descriptions, and the next thing you know you are having to place deeds for everyone within a half mile just to stake a property line!
That's hard! But so is running lines up and down mountains, through swamps, or in the desert!
Easiest and hardest places to survey in the US - Foggy
> Paul, of course you do have to define what is "hard" or "easy."
Boy..That is surely the truth!!!
Yesterday I posted about an RS survey I would do that was one of the easiest kinds since the deed cut out of the original lot of the subdivision could only be placed in one location on the lot.
Long to short...that "easy survey" in my "easy area" (Los Angeles Suburbs) was not as simple as I thought.
1927 C/L ties and shifting curbs since then played havoc with my simple job in 2010. I think this is one of the worst situations I have come across in determining one straight C/L using City of Los Angeles ties and C/L monuments..
I see what you are saying about deeds that are described by abutters names which are described by other abutter names.
Given a choice of the two types of survey problems in this post, I do believe I would rather deal with curb shifts :coffee:
Time for :coffee: ...Have a good un Foggy
Easiest and hardest places to survey in the US - Foggy
No one ever accused him of being a rocket scientist. In fact, most folks were really just apologists for him, which I never understood.
>
> bounded on the north by nickerson, the east by bangs, the south by brooks, and the west by jones.
>
Don, what you didn't mention is that those abuttors were the original proprietors back in 1638 and there's been a lot of ownership changes in the last 370 years.
Easiest and hardest places to survey in the US-Sean
You got that right, and the same description has been carried forward for the past 350 years. Plus, one died without a will, and there are now 900 descendants with varying interests!
