Maybe it could have been a form of rolling adjustment to get the variance of "north". I've never heard of that one but surveyors are a creative bunch when it comes to short cuts. I suppose the standard way to get the variance would be to shoot Polaris but maybe the cloud cover was holding things up. What's your variance on the East and West side of the township. Maybe the guy did the math and sort of averaged it out. Have you looked at the special instructions?
I don't recall seeing a plat where the variance is changing across it like the ones you've posted. One plat I'm looking at right now from 1872 shows 16 20'E on East, 16 35'E on West, 16 25'E on North, and 16 20'E and 16 25'E on the South from parts done from two different surveys. All of the interior lines are 16 25'E. The East and West lines are from different surveys about 20 years apart so there may be more than just convergence going on there. The Deputy did subdivide the whole township at the same time and using the same variance.
Surveys in my area after about 1890 don't list the variance just the bearings. By this time they were trying to make more sections "square" and correcting for convergence to do so. The one I'm looking at the tiers are: North (east side), N 0 01'W, N 0 01'W, N 0 02'W, N 0 03'W, N 0 03'W, and then back to North on the West side.
Note the italics near the bottom of page 30. Seems they could make a rolling variance tuneup from the falling at the north end of the subdivision lines. Interesting!
The more I see of original GLO surveys the less I'm willing to accuse these old deputies of fraud. Most of them tried to do the work as best they could under the conditions they worked under (lowest bid to get the work). I think many were true professionals and probably had pride in their work and didn't net as much money as they could have by cutting corners. As always there may be a few bad apples in every bushel.
A generous point of view, Mr. Day, but probably closer to the truth than not.
Don
"Raise if to the Right".
"Lower if to the Left".
Probably something taught in the School of GLO Surveying.
Hey Don,
The one time that he is right, it has to be pointed out.
As an aside, there was a prior thread that discussed the Wiltse family.
And he returned what he actually did! So the variances would be great info if you were doing retracement work and having trouble finding some corners with our modern equipment. Following the needle might take you to different location to search than GPS or a total station. Your luck might go up.
> As an aside, there was a prior thread that discussed the Wiltse family.
I can't get the link to work, but when I saw "Wiltse" as the surname of the surveyor, the first thing I thought of was whether he was the son or grandson of Samuel C. Wiltse, who in 1840 subdivided the so-called "Government Tract" surrounding the original City of Austin. One of his sons, Henry A. Wiltse (who also assisted in the subdivision of the government tract in Austin) was later appointed Surveyor General of Iowa and Wisconsin. I guess a bit of time on ancestry.com would answer this.
If I paste this into Firefox, it works for me. It's too late for me to search for the message from Wendell that told me what I did wrong a few months ago.
https://surveyorconnect.com/index.php?mode=thread&id=3091
> If I paste this into Firefox, it works for me. It's too late for me to search for the message from Wendell that told me what I did wrong a few months ago.
>> https://surveyorconnect.com/index.php?mode=thread&id=3091br >
That link works fine, Bill. Thanks for the reminder. There probably is at least a monograph to be written about the surveying family of Wiltses.
Where'd you get that?
I can't find it on line.
wfwenzel
I don't know if it's online, but there are many copies available (~15 bucks and up).
A little history on the author:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shobal_Vail_Clevenger,_Jr.
GLO Instructions on variance
Loyal,
Do the manuals say from 1850 to 1890 have instructions concerning adjusting the variance while doing a township subdivision? Is what has been described here a GLO policy for the time or is it more of a practical solution that the deputies developed or specific to certain states. Maybe I've just missed it but I don't really recall seeing a township subdivision plat where the variance was being constantly adjusted through out the township.
It looks like for $9.99 you can download a pdf of the book (and many others) here:
Leon
For all practical purposes, there were only two manuals in play during that period in Utah (the 1855 and 1883). I don't recall off the top of my head exactly what instructions were provided relating to magnetic variation. There were also several Circulars issued during those years, and I'm pretty sure that Al White's book has all of this stuff in it.
Loyal