Really weird situation

[Sarcasm]Make sure you're in the right section, all those squares tend to look the same in fly-over county...[/SARCASM]

A while back I did a survey for a lady who was planning to put up a fence. A few months went by before I got around to do the plat. I went to her house to do a field check and noticed she had already put up the fence. I decided to show the fence on the final plat but when I took a closer look I noticed the fence was about 4 feet too far north. Not only was the fence too far north but the lady had moved the pins to her fence. After a little verification to prove to myself that I had not set the pins there, I pulled the pins a filed the plat with the date I had set the pins and left out the fence. When I first met with her she mentioned that the original fence was on the ditch bank so I guess she was determined to set it there.

billvhill, post: 418595, member: 8398 wrote: A while back I did a survey for a lady who was planning to put up a fence. A few months went by before I got around to do the plat. I went to her house to do a field check and noticed she had already put up the fence. I decided to show the fence on the final plat but when I took a closer look I noticed the fence was about 4 feet too far north. Not only was the fence too far north but the lady had moved the pins to her fence. After a little verification to prove to myself that I had not set the pins there, I pulled the pins a filed the plat with the date I had set the pins and left out the fence. When I first met with her she mentioned that the original fence was on the ditch bank so I guess she was determined to set it there.

Maybe Christ Lambrecht could repost about some special monuments he used that actually lock into the turf. I don't remember the name or the company that produced them but they looked pretty cool. They had a barb or something that came out if it was ever pulled on as I recall.

billvhill, post: 418595, member: 8398 wrote: .... Not only was the fence too far north but the lady had moved the pins to her fence. ....

We must always remember stories like this one when we find a nice looking pin right next to a fence post.

wailing on a rebar can cause it to lose it's magnetic properties,,,,just saying:cool:

I'm an expert at digging holes. No bars present at a depth far deeper than they would have been set.

Maybe the Hamburglar did it.

Could be he's out for ya Holy Cow. Better watch your back.

There were quite a number of Red Angus involved plus one Shorthorn/Red Angus-cross bull. They could feel the draft every time we opened the gate. When cattle feel a draft, they head straight to it.

Did you set the pins or did a crew do it for you? Sorry, I'm thinking the worse.

I was on the scene, both in 2004 and now. We aren't in the habit of setting invisible, non-magnetic monuments.

I know exactly what you are suggesting. It could happen, but not in this case.

Many years ago I did a small job for a fellow who was going to give a small tract to his son for a new house. A month or two later they called me back to lay off a different tract in a different section as the first site was deemed unsuitable. Shortly after that, while parked on Main Street one day, the father came strolling up with four bars and dumped them in the back of my pickup. He had pulled the ones from the first tract that were no longer of any value.

Mapman, post: 418622, member: 6096 wrote: Maybe Christ Lambrecht could repost about some special monuments he used that actually lock into the turf. I don't remember the name or the company that produced them but they looked pretty cool. They had a barb or something that came out if it was ever pulled on as I recall.

These work much better than rebar:

http://www.berntsen.com/Surveying/Survey-Monuments/FENO-Survey-Monument

I once was doing a survey to divide a 40-50 acre parcel into tracts. The bank was pushing the owner to sell. When I was laying the tracts out, the owner wanted me to go to the center of the road. The problem with that was that that the brother surveyor upon whose survey the man had bought the property NEVER went to the center of the road, regardless of what the parent deed said. So I really couldn't include the road. I went ahead laying out the tracts. When I came back in a day or two to finish the stakeout, I discovered the the owner had moved all my pins and stakes, adjusting the tracts so that they would take in 5 acres if you went to the center of the road. Funny thing was the he did a good job of it, even with the back pins. But I just had to move them back.

Was the road regraded?

I've found it a losing battle of expecting monuments to remain in rural roads.

Between rural water companies and telephone companies installing and repairing lines that were installed at inconsistent depths, monuments are always missing, especially the ones that are from ditch to ditch.

They never mess up anything that is 5ft or more past the ditch line.

Back about 1991 or so I did a single lot survey in a small town. Had to set all four corners. A month or so later we got a call to do another lot about 100 feet north of the first one. Piece of cake. Find the four we had set and roll on. Only found three. A four inch trench had been cut to run a gas service line to a new meter location. Somehow that four inch trench hit the bar dead center.

Holy Cow, post: 418724, member: 50 wrote: Somehow that four inch trench hit the bar dead center.

I tease all of the excavators and utility guys I know by telling them that I'll never be lost as long as I have a stake and a bit of paint or flagging. Those who haven't heard it before will give me quizzical look and say "how's that?" I smile real big and tell them I'll just drive that last stake, tie the flagging to it and find a place to rest while I wait for them to come by to run it over and lead me back to civilization.

Holy Cow, post: 418590, member: 50 wrote: In 2004, we did a survey to cut out a rectangular 10-acre tract from an 80-acre tract. One side was the section line, right down the middle of a county road. We set 1/2" x 24" rebar at all four corners. Driving them down in the middle of the road is hard work, by the way. This is a crushed limestone road bed a few inches thick over packed soil.

This week we went back to sever a 6-acre tract directly to the south of the 2004 tract having the same depth from the section line. So, we should have found the bars set in 2004 for that south line to use as the north line of our new tract. Nope. Nada. Nowhere to be found. Went to the north end of the 2004 tract. Exact same results. Nope. Nada. Nowhere to be found.

Here's my best guess. The owner of the 10-acre tract lost it to his lender within the past year. Maybe, just maybe, he pulled them all just to spite the lender. I've seen people do crazier things when losing a property.

Removing the two in the field would have been fairly easy, but those two in the road would be quite the chore. It can be done, but they sort of take root the longer they are in place.

[SARCASM]It's well known in PLSSia the boundaries follow those rebars wherever they go so you better find them.[/SARCASM]

Maybe they felt so bad for being of low pedigree- you know- not placed by a rigorous enough least squares analysis/ adjustment, they ran off an joined the merchant marine and they'll never be heard from again.....

Sounds like a duck billed anchor. They use those for trees, coir rolls and other things that need stabilization. You pound and when you pull they lock into place. There are also little helical piles that are hard to remove, but pricey to set.