A couple of weeks ago I posted on the other site my story about finding a section corner. Didn't have a way to do pictures at that time, but I'm going to try it with pictures this time.
At any rate, I was in Indiana visiting my daughter and one morning met up with the Boone County Surveyor and went out to help find a section corner. As with some of Mr. Penry's escapades, these guys don't do it half way. When I arrived with Mr. Swift the crew was already waiting for us with their trailer full of stuff, a back hoe, and a dump truck.
So after cutting a 5' square in the blacktop, the hoe starts digging and the first thing we find was a piece of rebar that had gone to the surface of the road and a piece of railroad track that had been set by the County Surveyor about 50 years ago.
But since that was not the stone that had been set in the 1800's, we keep on digging and the next thing we uncover right at the edge of the hole is a piece of wood that is set vertical.
Since that was unexpected and very curious, we kept on digging and soon found the top of a stone that with a little brushing revealed further evidence.
We keep on digging to expose more of the stone so that we can measure it and compare it to the record dimensions.
Now this isn't the original corner because the original corner was a post set in the early 1800's. But sometime before the War of Northern Aggression the County Surveyor went around replacing the posts with stones.
All-in-all a fun morning. But a couple of observations. If I tore up roads like that in Virginia, VDOT would have my hide. But also, here I am, just an old country M&B surveyor and I go out and find a section corner first try. Y'all PLSS types make it sound like it's such a big deal. Seems awful simple to me. 🙂
Just out of curiosity, how did the rebar and the wood post fit in relation to that stone?
And did you locate this via some type of ties, or just a record measurement from the nearest 1/4 corner?
The rebar had been driven right next to the piece of railroad track to have something at the surface as the track was buried about 6" under the surface of the pavement.
The piece of wood (about a foot long) was right over the top of the stone, but well under the pavement and even under the gravel. My guess is that it was put in place when the road was built up and graveled the first time to help find the stone. Needless to say, the surveyor that set the track missed it.
The track and stone were about 2.5' apart.
As to how we located it, the rebar was to the surface so we just dug a 5' hole around that as it looked like it lined up pretty well with road centerline intersection.
Hey Bryan, good to see you made it back. Folks have been wondering what happened to you.
Bob Manley PLS
I recall an article that I thought was by Jerry Penry about July 2003 in Professional Surveyor magazine about "high accuracy surveying" that had a good illustration and discussion on how the rebar didn't always align with the pipe and with the stone. I think you found a real-world example of that.
I can't find the article now after some Googling. Does anybody have a link?
> Hey Bryan, good to see you made it back. Folks have been wondering what happened to you.
>
> Bob Manley PLS
Thanks Bob. I took a little hiatus for awhile, and check the board every few weeks, and yesterday I saw a bunch of "beerleg.com" posts which got me curious.
I post on the state website, and was connected to Kent M. via Facebook while I was away from the other board.
Nice job. What a luxury to dig.
Nice story,
thanks for the pictures.
chr.
All-in-all a fun morning.
It took you all morning to find one section corner?
You’re never going to make any money that way.
Eeee-haw! Great post. You must have had a blast!
I especially liked the trailer marked "section corner"
My Daddy runs a backhoe on a Survey Crew...
Well...MY Daddy swings a sling blade on a Survey Crew...
DDSM
Why that's Nuttin'
Just the other day I found 2 Section corners 14.2' apart...
🙁
Dang Jogs...
Or was one a meandering closing corner?
DDSM;-)
Holes that small and shallow are usually excavated with a pick, shovel and digging bar, Why the heavy artillery?
😉
DJJ