Most of the GLO surveys in my area (central Utah) never marked any bearing trees. I just read the notes from a 1895 survey where I'm looking for corners. The notes included ties at the section corners (not ¼ corners) for bearing trees (Cedars in the notes) which are actually Rocky Mountain Junipers. So what should I expect. These trees grow slow and are popular for fence posts. I don't think the bark heals over like pines. I'm searching about ten sections. A lot of the area burned this spring, but many corners I need to help search for the others are not burned so unless the trees got whacked for fence posts they should still be there. Hopefully I can find a stone in place and then locate the trees and get a proper education. But any advice would be great!
The Deputy's where named Fitzhugh. The chainmen and axemen all have the last names of landowners that to this day own big chunks of the area. I'll need to mention the names to the landowners (bet I get hits).
Wear some sleeves if your trying to get at the trunk of a juniper..some of them get pretty wooly and bushy in their old age...;-)
Seriously, I've seen blazes and scribes on pines that were over eighty years old, but no junipers. Being coniferous, I would assume the scars would be fairly visible upon inspection if the junipers grow and heal as slow as pines.
I don't have personal experience with Rocky Mountain Juniper Bearing Trees, however we do see an awful lot of Western Juniper used for bearing trees here in Central Oregon. So for what it is worth...
http://oregonstate.edu/trees/conifer_genera/spp/juniper_spp.html
In my experience you never know what you are going to get until you search. I have seen a 5 inch (yes 5 inch dbh) juniper that was dead from circa 1890 still standing with visible scribing. I have seen others dead and standing with the blazes and chaining notches clearly visible, but the fires over the years have either charred or obliterated the scribing. I have seen others that the blaze totally heals over and the only thing that tips you off to the fact it is a BT is the location of the tree in relation to your search locus. Other times the blaze never healed or the blaze will be mostly healed with only a golf ball sized hole open to the blaze. Bring a flashlight!
I hope this is helpful. I do have some pictures for examples for some these situations. If I get a chance I will locate my pictures and share.
Good luck and good hunting!
Kevin
I second what Kevin said. Western Junipers are like time capsules:
1869 bearing tree:
1892 31 Mile mark from a road survey:
Leon
Trees? You have trees? As you probably know, in this part of the world it was very rare for the notes to mention a bearing tree.
Very interesting... 🙂
Thanks for sharing these pictures..
Unless they have burned or been cut, they WILL be there, and be readable (in my experiance anyway). I have seen them "grown-over," but it's rare.
Henry Fitzhugh was pretty good (and also a Deputy Mineral Surveyor).
One thing to watch out for is... SOMETIMES the blazes are on LIMBS not the "central trunk." And these "limbs" can be parallel to the ground too! In some cases (I suppose), this might be due to the "central trunk" having ALREADY been cut for fence posts when the GLO Deputy got there. I have found the blazes/scribes on horizontal limbs a good 6+ feet from the "center" of the tree, and still growing.
Loyal
Willard Cointmore, PLS had a slide show in the 1970's ...
in which he found a bald cypress bearing tree with the blaze about 30 feet up from the standing water in a South Louisiana swamp in, I think, Ascension Parish.
I don't remember just where it was, but I found an original bearing tree (Juniper) that was about 4 inches in diam. growing out of a rock outcrop.,when it was marked, and was probably 4 1/2 inches. diam. when I found it. It had not grown over and all the scribing was clearly visible.
Thanks for all the replies. If the trees haven't burned, been converted to posts or been dozer chained in the past I expect I'll find them. Actually the trees that burned mostly just got the bark and the foilage. Still there just black skeletons. Probably burned enough to take off the scribing though but I'll sure take a hard look.
I also was right about the chainmen and axemen. I talked to a landowner today. One of the crew was his wife's grandfather (land passed down). So I'd assume the rest where brothers or cousins. Big sheepherders. Help survey the land and then buy it. They probably had already been grazing it for years and knew the country well. Doesn't look like they were the best chainmen though. Part of the township was resurveyed by BLM in 1986. Lots of half miles are 1/2 to a chain length difference from record. The bearings are about a half degree different from record also but more consistent. I wouldn't expect that from a 1895 survey where the solar was used. Notes say Polaris was checked into at the beginning of the survey.
I'll take picture of whatever I find. Working on my control and search coordinates today.
Loyal is correct about the markings on the limbs. I think I have found more marks on limbs than on the trunk. And they make good fence posts and firewood so many have been cut off. I always called them cedar too.
Jerry
Western Juniper Bearing Trees circa 1890
Juniper Bearing Tree circa 1965
That is a GIGANTIC blaze on that first BT!
An axeman long ago had way too much time on his hands!
I don't know about the Rocky Mountain variety, BUT Western Juniper won't take much heat, a good ground fire in brush and grass through the area will croak a Juniper out here of the variety that Mike and Kevin posted photos of.
SHG