Reminiscing

That brings back many ' not-so-fond' memories.

I was there. The chaining wasn't that bad. The attitudes were terrible. I still suffer from PTSD. 😮 ?ÿ ?ÿ

Wonderful article. Thank you for posting it. I've saved it to my Kindle for leisure reading now and then.?ÿ

My only addition would be the wonderful "cut" vs "add" tapes. That kept you on your toes.

For those of you familiar with the Jacaranda area of Plantation, Florida, which is south of Broward Boulevard and West of University Drive, I surveyed all of that in 1968 with a 500-foot tape. The fun part was triangulating across the canal along SR84 so we could reach the gun barrel section corner which was inside the banyan tree that had grown around it (and across a ditch, of course), just about where the Publix is now along Pine Island Road.?ÿ

Surveyors are a weird breed. Other trades use all the tools at their disposal, I remember it being a kind of embarrassing thing to use chaining clamps. Imagine a carpenter taking the handle off of his saw because it's more manly to grasp the blade in his hands or the plumber insisting on clenching the pipe in his teeth while wielding a loose hacksaw blade.

I think they left out fire ants - which are still around, if you're reminiscing.

We have maps and notes of the old traverses. We stay on line as much as we can because a sight line 50' above ground is not a problem but they would wander a lot more, first you have to be able to chain the traverse leg and second need a reasonable spot to operate a transit. I can set up on a very steep spot then hunker down, the machine will flip the angles, I don't have to try to read a vernier while sliding down hill.

@Bruce small

We also had a 100' "cut tape".?ÿ

(For those not familiar, the first foot of the tape, had the hundredths. So... If the guy holding feet, was holding 30', and the head chairman was holding .75, then the actual distance was 30 minus .75, or 29.25'.)

It was called a "cut tape" because you cut OUT the hundredths, from the feet.

An add tape had an extra foot, AFTER zero, with the hundredths on it. So, whatever the tail chairman had, that was the foot. And the head chain-man had the ADDITIONAL hundredths, reading directly.

This always led to confusion with a green field crew.?ÿ

Especially if both tapes were handy.

Fire ants. They tend to congregate at property corners. Up the gps pole they come! Thanks for mentioning them. They are good to place into a sealed bag, and put .... Never mind! 🙂 🙂

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Nate

A few months back I was searching on Google for several articles by the brilliant lawyer/engineer/surveyor Mr. Herman Knudson.?ÿ Never could find them.?ÿ Then I came across an article I had printed out prior, by Mr. Knud Hermansen.

Reminiscing??ÿ I began surveying in '76.?ÿ My first plumb bob was actually chrome plated.?ÿ Never could find a replacement point that had the same threads.?ÿ So my boss issued me the standard 16 oz brass one I still have to this day, all dented and dinged hammering in lathes when I didn't have my hammer.