I am pretty proud to have found these and had to share! Both monuments are about 4 feet below ground. Never give up!
:good: :good:
One of the biggest kicks I've ever got (surveying) was finding an original corner ...
to a lot occupied by one of my old employers (M.L.A.) in E.R.. The guys saw me working outside and came down to ask what I was up to and when I told them I was looking for one of their lot corners, they all pointed to an Al. cap 20' away set back in the 70's by DOWL. I said 'I don't think so', I got it about right here and proceeded to dig down a couple feet to find the original I.P. set in the 60's in perfect condition. The DOWL Cap was off by 20'. There'd been a big bust in their survey giving M.L.A. an extra 20'. I suspect the M.L.A. guys knew all along. 😉
That was a good day.
Isn't that ground still frozen?
We had a warmer winter than usual this year. Only the first 1-2 feet were somewhat frozen in April. I had a hunch the fence corner was placed on top of the monument, so I instructed the field crew to dig under the concrete footing, and with a little luck they uncovered the bastard. We found a few other originals that I didn't include, which were also 4 feet down. Needless to say, we're over budget on this project, but that's how it goes.
> Never give up!
:good: :good:
What winter. Has to have been the mildest in my 20+ years here.
Kudos to you for going the extra yard.
How did you get a shot on them?
10,000 attaboys are duly awarded.
That's what separates the men from the boys.......:-P
The Municipality of Anchorage used to have an active survey department. During those times they had a corner maintenance program, if you will, and would frequently visit important corners and take bearing objects and such. I learned this awhile back and use it often. I asked the current Assistant Municipal Surveyor how many surveyors are taking advantage of these field note records, and she replied "not many." I'm surprised by that!
Anyway, these pictures are for a job where there were apparently two positions for the Center-South 1/16th, monuments were nearly 5 feet apart. This job has proven tricky. I have to re-establish both positions in order to come to a solution. Basically, the East-West centerline of the SE 1/4 is the title boundary between the two patents. Subdivider created an overlap on property he never owned. Thankfully the Municipality now owns both sides of the line, but they have partial takes which must be established from the original Subdivision line, because that's how the deeds were written. A very good and diligent surveyor documented the gap on the section line to the south, also the subdivision boundary some 30 years ago. I am the first to tackle the boundary to the North, and it all started with a "simple" Design Survey for one of our local utility companies.
....I love surveying!
Gosh, who in their right mind would set mons four feet down? 😉
How did you find the one next to the fence? I've been trying to hone my Schonstedt skills, but those chain link fences are a pain.
I knew there was some fill there due to the construction of the nearby bike path. I felt I was "on top" of the survey I was retracing so I was going to dig under the fence post (which is where my stakeout put me and also where the ties to a nearby power pole from the Municipality field notes put me), no matter the depth. This particular monument was almost too deep to reliably use the magnetic locator.
Also, have any of you guys seen rebar lose some of its magnetism? At least maybe the end near the ground? I swear I saw that once in the field, so I don't rely 100% on magnetic locators alone. If you bang them enough maybe that effects it? To be safe, dig a few feet first, depending on the date of the survey you're retracing. I like to be able to say what probably destroyed the monument before I consider it "lost" and give up.
I've seen rebar with no magnetism at all. We've order bundles from the steel company and installed about half of the 500 on large subdivisions, only to find out that they don't ring on a locator. Nothing at all, like they were made out of plastic. Just ordinary steel like all the others we've ordered 1000's of times before, just not ferrous. I don't know how that happens.
