I'm almost certain that the last few pin cushions I've come across have been created by clients but perpetuated by surveyors. The perpetuating surveyors mostly seem to be those that lack local knowledge.
Had a neighbor of a client come out the other day while we were working and admitted to driving reinforcing rods next to the corners so he could find them easily. Unfortunately, the latest recorded plat's measurements matched the rods he set and not the pins just under the surface.
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Came across this one yesterday. The flagged re-rod is the original corner. It was set by my predecessor and mentor in 1971 when he divided the property.?ÿ Local surveyors will know what he set and also to look for the telltale red paint on the pin.?ÿ It amazes me how that paint lasts and the forethought he had to use it in the first place.
We use caps now, but still dip our pins in red paint.
Just pulled 4 "monuments" during a recent survey. I figure two were goat stakes (fence tie downs), one came from who knows where and one was a stenciled cap that the surveyor was kind enough to allow it to be pulled. It was a blunder stake, so it got fixed.
I suppose working in the same area you get to know what all the locals set for monuments and can tell when something is fishy.?ÿ
There was a local surveyor that painted his monuments yellow, that old lead paint lasts a long time.
Frankly I'd consider the capped one to be a memorial or accessory to the corner. Like the GLO did when they accept local monuments during a resurvey and set one next to it.?ÿ
I had the misfortune to stumble onto a plat that was upsetting.?ÿ Many years ago I had performed a survey for a fellow to cut out a two or three acre tract.?ÿ He then sold the remainder of the land.?ÿ Years later whomever was the owner of the remainder parcel had a different survey firm cut out another piece that went around the tract I had surveyed on all but the side along the county road.?ÿ They found all of the bars I had set but did not call me to ask why I did such an incredibly sloppy survey.?ÿ Every bar they found was from one to two feet away from where it should have been to match the description.?ÿ They failed to notice that the fence around the tract was of very recent construction.?ÿ They failed to realize what had really happened.?ÿ The fence builder had found every bar, dug the hole for the corner posts precisely there and then pushed the bars back into the ground by hand somewhere about a foot from the post, leaving them up about 10 inches.?ÿ Most of the caps were still readable plus the survey was on file at the courthouse.?ÿ The found bars were identified on their plat as having been set by me.?ÿ This will make me appear to be a terrible surveyor to anyone resurveying either tract in the future.
Correct on the capped one. Timber company placed it to witness the corner. Next surveyor called it the corner.
Seems like a surveyor should use a different cap label when it isn't the corner.?ÿ
Here's a picture of a corner of family land with a rebar set for by adjoiner's surveyor.?ÿ Where is the corner? The plat doesn't say explicitly.?ÿ I measured some of his corners with base-rover GPS and find the side of the marked 1/4 stone against the post matched the plat values best, indicating the rebar was a witness.?ÿ A surveyor for a different parcel seems to have used the capped rebar.
@bill93?ÿ
Last company set yellow at corners, and orange stamped "Line" on p-lines.
Does anyone ever get to collect the fines for disturbing the set monuments, or is that just one of those easily forgotten things that no one cares about anymore?
I would find it particularly rewarding if you were able to be hired to survey the adjacent lines and find the fence encroaching into the said area to allow it to be taken down.
Its Tuesday, I'm in an ornery mood..... ???ª?ÿ
Everyone wants to put something in so "I know where it is." I tell them I'm showing you where it is. You don't need another (whatever you have in your garage) pounded in some random distance and direction from your actual corner.
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I've found pipes, tall mine bolts, small gauge railroad rails, window weights (from the old double hung windows), t-posts, you name it pounded in along side the pin.
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Why can't they just take care of the real one?
I am unaware of the fine for removal of government monuments every being collected.
I also am unaware of any prosecution based on C.R.S. 18-4-508, Defacing, destroying, or removing landmarks, monuments, or accessories.
I frequently advise people of this statute as I get reports consistently about neighbors removing surveyed boundary markers. The most recent yesterday when a caller claimed his neighbor was removing the recently set pins along their common boundary which he believed were incorrect as he, the neighbor, navigated the boundaries of his 40 acre parcel with a phone app!
@mattharnett In subdivisions and places where the pins are driven flush or slightly below grade I tell folks to get a small thin paver or stepping stone to place over the pin.?ÿ This serves as a visual reminder of where the pin is located and they can easily flip it out of the way and expose the pin if they're building a fence or other structure where a more exact location is required.?ÿ Added bonus, it's low to the ground so their mower shouldn't hit it.?ÿ In woods or fields I advise them to set a t-post or sun resistant pvc 6-8" back from the pin so that the pin isn't disturbed and can be more easily found in the future.
One client carefully dug around each rebar at the corners, set a coffee can around it and poured concrete. He didn't need anything else.
And, we always set white witness posts...
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