We put most of our jobs on Sunshot. We find that the older stuff, probably run in with a compass, is usually within 15' of True Bng. Tracts run in the 1950's through current can be a couple degrees off. I'm thinking the old timers would sight Polaris and set their declination.
Bruce
Kent
> >In the timber, they only set the junior corner in the marked line and ran their lines out. This is why some junior corners constitute a bend in a senior line.
>
> I assume that this is some local East Texas practice? Everywhere else in Texas I'm aware of, original survey lines run from corner to corner, regardless of where some marks in timber or other intermediate marks such as line mounds, none of which are mentioned in the patent field notes, may be.
As I mentioned (I guess I'm gonna have to dig up that case that talks about it), it doesn't happen often.
However, lines run in the timber also constitute footsteps (Stafford v. King) and they should be held.
The old timers, in the timber, set the corner in the marked line. As you pointed out, they didn't re-run the lines, so how did they set the corners? They set them in the footsteps of the original surveyor.
Now, theoretically, they should all make a line, but we know the lines weren't always run straight, especially in the timber.
There are little if no original marks left of surveys made in the 19th century for around here. The timber companies made sure of that. So replacing them is academic for the most part. Textbook really. However, it is important when considering junior corners to take into account, 1., when it was run, 2. by whom it was run, and 3., where it was run. If you have a junior survey within 10 years of a senior in the timber by the same surveyor (not a big stretch), and the three or four points don't make a line, then it is plausible (unless the contrary can be shown) the old man got in his old marked line and made his corners.
It's not all black and white, especially when there are very little original footsteps to follow. Central Texas and West Texas where rocks were plentiful and growth rates of trees in the tens of decades per inch must be a nice place to actually find original evidence. I doubt highly that your "hit rate" would be as stellar as if you practiced where I practice. However, our land is cheaper, fraught with 100 years of incompetence (except for the occasional good guy) and not generally kept in large blocks like you're used to surveying.
This isn't to say you couldn't hack it over here. Far from it. It is to say that I'm sure your practices and approaches would, over time, begin to change as you got a feel for how things were done locally.
Kent
I hit the "like" button on your post Kris..:-)
Kent
Thanks!!!! 🙂
Kris
Thanks for your thoughtful post.
Keith
Dan
Great way of saying it!