So what is the most unusual thing you have ever had to put on a plat. For me i am going have to say it is the Appalachian Trail. I just finished up a property that the trail runs through, admittedly it was all in the state right of way but I put it on the plat for the heck of it.
A walrus haul out.
"Underground Bunker" found on a town owned parcel that I was doing a topo on for the Town. It was to be an affordable housing project. I found a small network of trenches about chest deep with a plywood and earth covered bunker, but nobody was home. When a member of the Housing committee asked me to remove it from the plan I said that I would as soon as they removed it from the property................
"Einstein's Grave"
Client's dog "Einstein" was hit by a car and buried while the crew was running a topo survey of a brown field clean up/development. Client asked them to locate the grave and we showed it on the topo plan.
Today I prepared a plan with a "Cow Pass" on it as described in 1948 deeds. Turns out it was on underground tunnel under the road about 4 feet wide by 6 feet tall they used to herd cows through. No longer used, but still exists, and was the starting point of one of the outlots to the property I was surveying.
i've hidden choice words (diatribes, even) to city reviewers in plats before. sized the text so small that nobody could possibly read it... unless they had a copy of the CAD file and happened to wonder why that line didn't look quite like any of the other lines in the file.
otherwise it wasn't put on paper, but once- in an effort to return some juju to a particularly tempestuous boss- i took a bunch (10 or so) of... unnecessary... shots in the course of doing a 4-day as-built of an interchange. laughed my arse off when i got the angry phone call "how come there's an outline of a dead f***ing cat in this linework?!?!?!?!".
Birdie Bone's tombstone used as a benchmark along a six-mile county road improvement project.
A short distance to the north, I noted the location of a hog wallow.
Several graves per Health Department Regs.
Speaking of historic trails, we did a plat once at an engineering firm I was with that sat high on a ridge west of here known to be part of the historic "Chisholm Trail". I thought it appropriate to state such on the plat. Even though the name of the subdivision was "Trail's Head" (or something like that) the developer nixed the note due to previous run-ins with the Oklahoma Historical Survey folks that can shut down a job in a heartbeat with little more evidence than an arrowhead.
PS - Jesse Chisholm's grave was just a few miles north in Kingfisher County. It use to be well marked on quad sheets but kids and their graffiti have changed all that.
The city once required a note on a subdivision plat that went something like this:
"The owners of lots 3-7 shall be required to deliver their trash cans to a centralized point near the intersection of xxx street and yyy avenue for collection by city crews"
Really, a note about @#$%^ garbage cans on a subdivision plat?!?! That was the day I started listing notes on the plat as "Surveyors Notes" or "City Required Notes".
Hollandbriscoe, post: 453655, member: 9155 wrote: So what is the most unusual thing you have ever had to put on a plat. For me i am going have to say it is the Appalachian Trail. I just finished up a property that the trail runs through, admittedly it was all in the state right of way but I put it on the plat for the heck of it.
A slave built wall (called for in deed and still exists) and a telegraph line easement.
"Corner not set due to a large bumble bee nest.". Maybe I should have put "Large Bumble Bee Nest Found -(3' Dia - ? Deep)". There would be no mistake about finding the corner.
How about "turkey burger".....(oh wait I thought you said most unusual thing you put on plate. I guess I was mixing this one up with another thread)
7 iron cannons lying on the ground at "The Battery" in Fortsberg, Coral Bay. I was actually subdividing the land surrounding "The Battery" but thought there should be some record of where and how many cannons there were in case something happens to them. The Battery is still in private ownership by the family that has owned Fortsberg for many generations.
On a drawing along an old wagon road had to show the location of and name the dead livestock, dogs, cats, coons, possums and other critters that a land owner had placed along the roadway to keep vehicles from passing.
The note on the worksketch "maggot filled and stinkin' to high heaven" did not make to final.
'Grey Matter' == Human Brain Splatters
On a forensic plot for an assault trial
"Found Rocket Hull". Had I not been retracing a survey that called for it I probably wouldn't have known what it was.
Decommissioned Nike Missile Silo in the rear yard of a million dollar plus home. The silos were not removed but rather filled in and covered over. The municipality wanted to have a record of the location in case of any subsidence.
I've also shown the Appalachian Trail.
jim.cox, post: 453715, member: 93 wrote: 'Grey Matter' == Human Brain Splatters
On a forensic plot for an assault trial
murder trial presumably?
"corner not marked due to fierce dogs in yard"
A job up the scrub in virgin bush, World Heritage location.
A new corner was described as "Iron Rod in stones and 2 very crabby large spiders"
We disturbed the blighters scrounging for stones amongst the scrub.
Not a property survey but one of an underside of an old concrete bridge.
The bridge engineers wanted to construct an offset walkway bolted to the main nearside beam and wanted precise measurements as everything was to be prefabricated and bolted in place.
For a start it was under the bridge, over a wide river.
The bridge formwork was 4" flooring, and beside the sea with spalting in places.
It also bulged in and out as you'd expect.
I had a set of calipers that were designed for the task and did my job faithfully.
They required accurate beam measurements.
The beams had fillets which varied along its length.
I gave all the measurments as measured but then the ?%@ hit the fan when I added ?ñ after them along with an explanation.
I suggested if they gave exact locations it could be done with more certainty but still in the knowledge nothing was even etc.
Head Office wanted answers as I hadn't fulfilled their requirements.
I wrote 2 answers and sent off to my Chief Surveyor leaving him the option which to send on.
Never heard any more about it and the precast bits arrived and were bolted in place and we all lived happily ever after.
jim.cox, post: 453715, member: 93 wrote: 'Grey Matter' == Human Brain Splatters
On a forensic plot for an assault trial
We did an FAA/ NTSB "debris field" survey....once. A v-tailed Bonanza got in a fist fight with an Okie afternoon thunderstorm at 15K. The results were all too predictable.
Most of the "notes" had to do with aircraft nomenclature. We had an A&P specialist with us to identify pieces of the plane and take pics. The gruesome parts were the craters in the fresh plowed field made by the occupants hurdling toward earth at terminal velocity. Adult Passenger 1 (M), Adult Passenger 2 (F), Adult Passenger/ Pilot 3 (M), Adolescent Passenger 4 (M).
Not much chatter in the field that day.
I noticed the drafting department was pretty somber also when they were putting the data all together.
