Can anyone provide the verbiage for General Land Office adopted statute that made it illegal to establish a section corner that resembles an original GLO monument pits and mound? It was Revised Statues, 1913, Sec. 8717.
Them dang statues are prone to getting things screwed up every time.
I've never heard of the statute, but if it exists or did exist I would be curious to know.
I recently found records from the 1930s in ND where a different federal agency was performing cadastral surveys and did exactly what you describe. In this case, the original GLO corners were marked stones (1890s). In the survey in the 1930s the US Biological Survey set some marked stones closely matching the description of the original, i.e. "a stone X by Y by Z marked 1/4 on W. face."
Hypothetically, this creates a difficult situation. You could have two stones marked in the same fashion out there.
I am under the impression it was unusual for them to do this. Mostly they set concrete posts with bronze caps.
I don't recall ever running across such a statute or regulation, but there SHOULD be one, even if there isn't.
Years ago, there was a County Surveyor out here in the Great Basin, who's Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) when setting a PROPORTIONED PLSS Corner, was to hunt around for a stone of similar (if not virtually identical) size, shape, color and composition as described in the Original GLO Field Notes, and then MARK it as per said Field Notes! If the "notes" said "raised a mound of stone 5 links West," then he also raised a mound of stone 3.3 feet West...
This information rarely (if ever) got into the public records, so you can imagine how much fun it is to work in that county!
You CAN haw TWO “set/marked” (pretty much identical) stones, 'X' feet apart, and the one that “looks right” (mathematically), PROBABLY ISN'T!
Loyal