The tract that I'm surveying consists of five different pieces, the most southern of which was a 20 acre tract originally conveyed in 1881. The rod and cap 2.85 ft. east of the new wire fence marks the Northwest corner of the 20 acres. Nothing very interesting there.
What is sort of interesting is the chain of evidence providing the basis upon which the rod and cap was placed to mark the corner. The 1881 surveyor called for the corner as having been marked by a "stake" (meaning wood stake according to the usage of the time) and gave ties to two bearing trees that were evidently taken out when a road was cleared on the other side of the fence. I suspect the original bearing trees may have been destroyed before 1890, because in 1890 when the remainder of the tract off of which the 20 acres had been cut in 1881 was surveyed, the 1890 surveyor marked a new bearing tree, describing it as "a small live oak marked X" and giving a bearing to it of N28°E, 6-8/10 varas from the corner that he described as being marked by a stone (no mention of a stake).
The leaning remains of a tree, standing dead, in the above photo are pretty much certainly those of the same "small live oak" marked by the 1890 surveyor. Here is a closeup of the side of the dead trunk facing the corner:
In the light-colored patch of the trunk, you can see the faint scar of the mark "X" on in the wood, although mostly grown over.
This is a bearing tree that is almost down for the count although it may well have stood dead for more than twenty years. Here's what the backside of the trunk looks like:
The actual corner was a post hole that I took to perpetuate the original stake/stone.
It falls on the line of old post holes running South from there at 9 ft. intervals and from my rod and cap marker, the center of the base of the dead live oak trunk (if stood up plumb) bears N26°07'E (Grid), 6.78 varas. Considering that the 1890 surveyor evidently has his compass adjusted so that "North" had a grid bearing of N1°40'W, that is quite close agreement. The discrepancies are 0°13' in bearing and 0.02 varas in distance.
From comparing the position of this corner to other corners established by the 1881 surveyor, I didn't see any reason to think that the 1890 surveyor did anything other than perpetuate the original 1881 corner, although he could have left a somewhat more explanatory record of his work.
Good insight, Kent.
I believe you've earned the name "Tree Whisperer." 😉
> I believe you've earned the name "Tree Whisperer."
Well, maybe "Live Oak Inspector". As bearing trees go, I'd rather have a call for a Live Oak than just about any other species. They live a long time (if they aren't killed by the marking), hold their scars on their bark very well, and even grow back from the bole if cut down.
This tract is in the middle of what in the late 19th century was mostly Czech and German-speaking Texans. In that light, I can almost heard the German accent of County Surveyor Vogt who called Live Oaks "Life Oaks". At least that's the way his field notes were transcribed into one of the deeds.