Help! Carolina boy don't speak California

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Strictly Surveying

Last Post by firestix 3 weeks ago

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firestix

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A gentlemen contacts me in NC and says that his parents passed away and left him and is brother a piece of property. The property, however, is in California. His question is what the property would look like if it were equally divided (acreage wise). I promptly told him that NC is vastly different than CA, both in surveying, laws, and a myriad of other things. He said that he understood, and that he was just looking to see what a "basic division line" would look like. He provided a picture of a survey map, and I looked up the property in the local county's GIS. Here's where the fun starts. The county GIS is very anemic (in information) compared to the worst NC county that I've dealt with. Then the kicker. The register of deeds makes you PAY for any information. Any California Surveyors in here familiar with Siskiyou County? I would really like to pass this guy off to someone I know that can help him. If not, any ideas? I've attached a pic from the GIS.

Attachment : map.jpg

Posted : August 26, 2026 7:37 am

john-putnam

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First of all, Siskiyou County is part of California in name only. It is one of those places for people that don't like people (for the most part). It is very rugged terrain and sparsely populated with very little tax base.

I had the pleasure of spending a summer there breaking down 3 townships as part of the dam removals along the Klamath River back in 2018/19. At that point the survey records were scanned but there was GIS for a visual search. I'm sure it has not gotten any better and I'm not sure they even have a surveyor anymore. I was unaware of the pay to play policy on the records but not shocked. That seems to be a normal thing in CA. I just did some research in San Diego County, and they want $4 a page to download a PDF.

As for local surveyors, I know think there are some RPLS members that are from southern Oregon, they may be your best bet.

Posted : August 26, 2026 8:49 am

holy-cow

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Oh, boy. I learned to hate calls to split "the family estate". Even if the heirs are not just friendly but thrilled to be siblings, there will be harsh words before "that damned surveyor" finishes the job.

Arbitrary lines, such as east half and west half, sound great and cheap to survey. Then reality hits them in the face when they see where that line actually runs. Here in checkerboard PLSSia, running that line can be somewhat easy on typical aliquots. The results can be disastrous. A simple example is cropland that has terraces and waterways constructed to control erosion. Those terraces and waterways need to be maintained forever jointly or great damage can occur. Another common example is finding the line running through a large pond with the dam requiring perpetual maintenance. Road access, utilities access and such may be expensive if the split is done poorly. In the case of the OP, putting a single line across mountains and valleys qualifies as insane.

Posted : August 26, 2026 9:43 am

Norman_Oklahoma

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You don't have to be from Cali to see that a survey of a parcel of that shape is going to be a tough job.

Posted : August 26, 2026 10:43 am

holy-cow

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@norman-oklahoma

And, no matter the value of that land, the survey needs to be as cheap as possible. Otherwise, the surveyor is a crook stealing money out of their inheritance. The land came to them for free, right? Why should they have to spend their own money to get it?

Posted : August 26, 2026 11:25 am