A surveyor friend on mine told me about finding two pins with caps about .5' apart, set by the same surveyor. The next day, while doing a survey, I found these two pins, about 1' apart, set by the same surveyor. We usually think of pin cushions being created by different surveyors, but this it the first one I have found created by the same surveyor.
Doesn't trust his own measurements? Forgot he already did the job next door? My guess is the party chief didn't do a thorough search (if at all) before setting the corner.
A few thoughts come to mind:
1)Ha!
2)That's a sizable discrepancy if both are indeed intended to be the corner. I shouldn't assume, but this is the internet so allow me...not knowing any other details, I'd give more weight to the one in the barbed wire fence line. Cap is clearly older, and, it seems to be in the FL.
It must be one of those crews that aren't paid to think when they set corners. I've seen the same thing when a crew does a resection off of some rods set on the road bounds (of course, whacked to hell), and the error is carried to the rear of the lot.
Nice looking shoe. I have one just like it and one that is the mirror image of it.;-)
It's obvious to me that the boundary has a one-foot call in it. I'm sure it is for some excellent reason.
His map may have been released before the corners were set.
Assuming this is a pin-cushion.......... :'(
It is interesting that some are mentioning the crew chief. Bull!!! It is ONLY the fault of the license holder. He SHOULD know from HIS research that there are multiple monuments. He SHOULD know from HIS visit to the site that there is a physical manifestation of the shameful willful ignorance that has permeated our profession.
Is the party chief to blame because the license holder isn't doing the job he is licensed to do? Not hardly. Is that a valid excuse to the landowners affected by such non-sense? Nope!
We need to quit making excuses for this incompetence. This ties directly into the ongoing discussions about the licensing issues. Lets rid these embarrassing non-professionals from our profession. Yep, now the question is how to get rid of these quacks, especially when some of the worst examples are all too often, the PTB in our state societies and licensing boards. :excruciating:
At least he actually tried to set the corner twice, and got close enough for you to find both. Or is there a third attempt that we have missed altogether?
I have watched this my entire career, hoping to see a fact pattern emerge leading to a solution. My observation is that there is no one source.
I wholeheartedly agree that lack of direct supervision is a major contributor. It is also the most damaging to our profession. On the flip side I contend there are times I should be able to send someone out with instructions and expect them to be followed. I spent years holding both ends of the tape and it just doesn't work. A better course is developing standards and relationships with crew members, followed by direct involvement throughout the project. We're probably not far apart in the end..
"Is the party chief to blame because the license holder isn't doing the job he is licensed to do? Not hardly. Is that a valid excuse to the landowners affected by such non-sense? Nope!"
Ultimately, I agree there is no question: The LS is absolutely certainly responsible for this pin cushion (if it is one). Yes indeed.
However, I'd also say that there could be a chain of events that cause this situation to present itself.
There are many times (maybe this is one perhaps) that all the research in the world wouldn't help. All it takes is a one nervous nelly lawyer to NOT use the description that their client paid you to prepare for the sole purpose of property transfer.
Years go by, company principals change, records flood/burn, crews change, and 15-20 years later a title company requests a quote. You pull the deed, do the research at the county building, and you cringe a little because it appears no one has surveyed it in 50+ years. And, the neighbors deeds are just as lousy as yours. Great. Little do you know that your company has been here before...
You send the crew out and...they aren't bright enough to find a capped iron rod with a 6" reveal in a fence line with a pin flag beside it? There really is no excuse. I assume they were at the corner once for recon, once for location, and then again (unnecessarly so) for stakeout. That's three opportunities for your guys to say "Hey wait a minute, something doesn't look right. That's our cap". I'd be shopping for a new crew that wasn't a professional liability to me.
I'm not making excuses for the LS, I'm just playing devils advocate as to why this may have happened.
Probably just my eyes playing tricks on me, but I could swear that there's an uncapped rebar painted yellow where I drew the rectangle.
I Agree, It Appears To Be A Third Pin.
Generally a thorough analysis with offsite ties can find the source of that mistaken survey opinion. However both locations may in fact be correct per other evidence and there is in fact a conflict to be resolved in the future.
Paul in PA
I could possibly see a scenario where the corner actually fall in the small tree. The two pins witness the lines as they converge on the corner.
The reason I thought of this is one employee of mine in particular that is a Witness Corner king. Although a really good employee, his decision making process when it comes to such thing is poor.
I've tried to explain that unless we can provide 100% assurance that the WC won't be mistaken as a corner, it's best to not set. He's a work in progress.
And laziness can be a factor. Once I found one of his "Witness Corners" on the "easy" side of a wooden fence, less than a foot from the real corner. Once I hopped over the fence, the real corner was plainly visible with a little aged and brittle flagging. He had missed it by not wanting to get over the fence.
We had a talk. His "Witnessing" has diminished since...:snarky:
Wish I could kick around in those leaves and see how many more there are:-/
Amen, brother.
One of our peers offered me the excuse that he didn't check the drawing because he had no obligation to check the drawing. He was sure the underlying work was correct and the drawing was somebody else's problem.
ps The drawing has his seal and signature, which indeed means it his problem, and I'd hate to be him in the conference room when the state board asks him some pointed questions.
I cannot make any opinion without seeing the plats or description that the pins are based upon.
I will state that my firm has a few corners out there that look similar to this one. The one that comes to mind, has two adjacent properties that are described beginning from different section corners. The intent was likely that they were originally intended to be have the corner coincident, but in searching through the records this cannot be determined, therefore two points to reference two different corners.
This is still better than a local surveyor who set a section corner in the early 80's, and then returned in the early 90's, called it as destroyed, and set a replacement. Six year (and two plats) later, another surveyor found them both 42 feet apart.
