How to Research Section Lines

> Where can I find the bearings for the section lines so I can calculate the corners for Lot 24, Block D?
You may have to find them out on the ground. I don't know about Florida, but here in Portland many plats of that age have no bearings noted.

A good place to start, is by looking at the equipment and methods used to set that line out. Get a complete copy of the field notes, and simply read through them. You'll find alot of interesting stuff as you go.

What you are involved in is called "retracement of primitively surveyed ancient lines" This is where surveying skills are needed. Lots of them.

N

Thanks for replying! Are you saying I should find the government notes on my particular section?

Thanks for replying! I was hoping my county had a survey with bearings and distances shown on the section lines. When I was employed in south Florida, my company had a really nice township survey that they had done. It had azimuths and distances on all the section lines.

> Hello,
>
> I'm doing some independent research on a plat surveyed in 1926.
>
> COLLEGE PARK
> THIRD ADDITION TO COUNTRY CLUB SECTION
> BEING A SUBDIVISION OF THE S.W. 1/4 OF THE S.E. 1/4 OF SEC. 15, T.P. 22 S.,
> R. 29 E., EXCEPT THE 60' RIGHT OF WAY OF THE S.A.L. R.R. IN
> THE S.W. COR. OF SAID S.W. 1/4. BEING AN ADDITION TO THE CITY OF
> ORLANDO, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA
>
> Plat Book N, Page 86
>
> Where can I find the bearings for the section lines so I can calculate the corners for Lot 24, Block D?
>
> Regards,
>
> Mark

There is a ton of information about florida section corners/lines on Labins.org

Sometimes you can get lucky and recreate the section lines from the coordiates on certified corner records.

They also have scans of the Original GLO notes and plats -- which may be nearly useless in a city like Orlando where any original section corners and bearing trees are looooong gone.

If you're the field guy, don't you have a supervising PLS to tell you how things work locally?

Thanks for replying! I'm just learning to do research on my own. If I ever become a party chief, I don't want to wait on the office to calculate a lot for me.

Thanks for replying! I found LABINS. There are 276 CCRs for my township and range. I don't know what goes in the field labeled optional. There's also the Orange County Property Appraiser interactive map. There's a target layer called PLSS POLY Info. If you click on the parcel ID you get:

SUBTYPE 3
NAME 15-22-29-SE-SW
LAND_GRANT
RTS_ID 292215
SECTION_NO 15
TOWNSHIP_NO 22
TOWNSHIP_DIR S
RANGE_NO 29
RANGE_DIR E
PLSSID
HIST_TWP_NAME ORLANDO
QTR SE
QTR_QTR SW
OTHER
GOV_LOT
GLO_AC 40
DIVISION_NO 3
DIVISION_TYPE 1

276 used to be tough to narrow down, but they made it easier. If you click on the map on the left on the front page of LABINS, then zoom into your section, you'll see the CCRS locations show up as black dots. Click the (i) icon, drill down identity, and click on the section corner dot you are interested in. You should get a pop-up list with the CCRS files for that particular corner, which can be opened as image files.

mild hijack but pertinent..

When you pull the notes do you find bearings? We're spoiled with young stuff around here..

I believe that you will find that the record plat contains all of the data you need in order to accomplish your stated objective. While the plat does not include bearings, complete geometric definition of all of the lots in the subdivision, as well as the boundaries of the ¼ ¼, is provided by the use of angles. All you need to do is assume a bearing for one of the lines.

I was able to find CCRs, with state plane coordinates, for the south line of section 15. Thanks!

Thanks for replying and taking time to look at the plat! Should I assume that as long as I'm working within the plat, or any plat, I don't need the actual bearings of the lines? I know you basically stated that. I just need clarification.

mild hijack but pertinent..

Thanks for replying! There were no notes. We only had the plat. Our company was hired to survey the lot and the house prior to demolition. A growing number of homes in the College Park area are being demolished and replaced by new, larger homes.

Yep. All you need to do is get oriented to your assumption by recovery of suitable evidence.

The major problem I see is believing anything you can access remotely. Experience will guide you, once you gain that experience. As a practical manner you will need to spend far more time discovering actual survey monuments that have been placed within the subdivision you are researching than assuming some theoretical mathematically perfect solution to a very complex decision making process to arrive at the correct solution to your survey request. Plats, especially those from some definition of antiquity, should be taken with a grain of salt many times. The answer is in the real world, not the theoretical. I'll happily allow others to chip in on this.

I agree with everything you say, but in this case the record plat is available via the link below. As I understand the situation, the task at hand is to cogo Lot 24 in Block D, and this can quite readily be done from the plat.

I have also included a link to the GLO records, which includes the CCR’s. While there are 276 CCR’s for the township only #70546 & #70556 are of any value for the task as they provide the SPC for the SW & SE corners of the SE 1/4 from which the south line of the subdivision can ostensibly be derived, but not quite with McMillimeter precision as the SE corner is an "x" cut on a manhole.

GLO records&CCR’s
record plat

OMG, you actually believe all you have to do is cogo this and you know everything you need to know. That would only work in a fantasy world. I hate to be so blunt, but there is a huge difference between where things "should be" and where they are. The evidence is out there waiting to be found. Two control points are grossly inadequate, especially for a 90 year-old plat.

Mark,

I realize I'm coming into this discussion quite late, but why wouldn't you use the Plat for College Park to establish the Lot?