Faded Footsteps

Browsing the post Radar made about following the footsteps got me to thinking about
posting a survey where the footsteps were there, but faded. If a surveyor really wants
to find the old footsteps, the first thing they have to do is dismiss the budget. If you
have the dollar amount as your first concern, chances are high that your vision will be
clouded and you will miss the tell tale signs of those who preceded you.

This post involves two different surveys.

The first survey came together quite well. I was able to retrace, through previous old records
the location of Effie Street that was created in June of 1887 by a Frank Lanterman.

Effie Street was first created being 82.5' wide. Prior to June of 1910, Effie Street was partially
vacated to a width of 60 feet. To compound matters Effie was also re aligned. There were also no
original monuments for Effie or any of the lots in the June 1887 block.

The assessors map also showed a shift in some of the original lot lines, starting mid block and going
north. This shift was probably due to Lantermans poor work and Effie's vacation and re alignment.

http://freepdfhosting.com/fe90f88ac3.pdf

http://freepdfhosting.com/6561e5c74b.pdf

To my surprise, the found monuments along the east side of Sanborn Avenue fit the shifted original lot
lines quite well. The worst case amounted to a tenth of a foot. I show on the RS the relationship from
the original lot lines to the found tags which matches the shifts shown on the assessors map. If I had
of showed the found tags to the shifted assessors lines thee county would demand that I supply copies
of each and every deed that described those lines, something that I felt was unnecessary and an added expense
I just did not want to pay.

http://freepdfhosting.com/0bcef31954.pdf

About a week after I had completed this survey, I'll call it the Sanborn RS, I get a call from the owner
of the lot that lies just east of the east line of the Sanborn RS. Since I had done the block survey already and had the common rear line established, I figure this will be nothing more than setting a few
monuments and collecting a check, fours hours work at the most.

I think Murphy was the original owner of this lot.

It amazes me how a survey can go from easy mode to Sherlock Holmes mode in such a short distance. I thought
I knew about all the pig areas in Los Angeles, but this one stayed hidden from me.

This second survey, Hyperion RS, had all the nightmare problems a surveyor lives for. No original monuments. Block closure 16 feet different than the Lanterman June 1887 survey, this block was done by Lanterman
in Sept 1887. New city improvements had wiped out every single private monument along Hyperion from Sunset Blvd
to Effie Street. Effie's partial vacation and re alignment.

Long to short, there were no standard survey monuments to start from. There were city survey mouments out the kazoo, but those were useless. There were however,lines of occupation.

http://freepdfhosting.com/3cc29ee985.pdf

http://freepdfhosting.com/9b824e4de6.pdf

Footsteps do exist. They exist for every single survey. It's just perseverance and common sense being applied
to be able to recognize them.

The footsteps for the Hyperion Survey were not visible at first. When we located all the improvements along the
south side of the parcel we missed an angle point of a wall where a second wall had joined. It was not until I had
dropped everything into Cadd that prompted a search for this missed angle point.

The concerns I had for the south line was the old 1920 building that was hard against the line as well as the old
wooden garage that was situated on top of the 21.64' length of wall shown on the RS.

I don't know what a retracing surveyor will do with my work. Maybe they will use it. maybe they wont..hard to tell
now a days. I did however do my very best in the retracement and discovery of what other long since past surveyors had done.