Texas Surveyors ? "LSLS, RPLS" ?

Paul

touche' Kris..........

Here's my...

...two dollars:

Thanks Kent

> Of course he is.

I guess I forget that most of the younger surveyors in Texas are unfamiliar with the history of Texas surveying and so could not be expected to be aware of the Licensed State Land Surveyors Act of 1919.

Much of what each of the Texas folks has a little bit of correctness in their posts, but they all forgot the most important part,and that is sad.

Why Does TEXAS have a General Land Office?(GLO)

Gotta disagree with Kent, this LSLS has not been a matter of the elitist few, but has a much more difficult exam today than an RPLS has to pass and many that attempt the LSLS exam fail miserably. Are these passing, better surveyors? Usually yes, but then we have a few that learn to take the exam well and pass finally and make the rest look bad.

Thanks Kent

> > Of course he is.
>
> I guess I forget that most of the younger surveyors in Texas are unfamiliar with the history of Texas surveying and so could not be expected to be aware of the Licensed State Land Surveyors Act of 1919.

Evidently reading comprehension isn't as important to you as it used to be.

Thanks Kent

> Evidently reading comprehension isn't as important to you as it used to be.

Not really, when one writes "it would appear you are right" about some obvious point such as whether the sun is shining, it suggests that the person wants to leave the door open to some possibility like, say, there might really be thousands of birds with flashlights that merely look like the sun.

Thanks Kent

> > Of course he is.
>
> I guess I forget that most of the younger surveyors in Texas are unfamiliar with the history of Texas surveying and so could not be expected to be aware of the Licensed State Land Surveyors Act of 1919.

And you wonder why there is the occasional animosity between older surveyors and younger surveyors. I don't post here often, but I do read the board daily. Kris seems to be humble and very well experienced for a young surveyor. I was fortunate to come up through the ranks with a veteran surveyor who realized I didn't know everything and sure as hell didn't talk down to me simply because I was young. If I had to deal with that, I would have gone into another field.

If I read that post incorrectly, I sincerely apologize. However, I feel the need to stick up for people who are just like me: Young surveyors who contrary to popular belief of some older surveyors, do give a darn.

Thanks Kent

"It would appear that you are right."

Kris, such statements are clear license to the recipient to commit open condescension and arrogance.

You should most certainly be more judicious of whom you accuse of "being right" in the future.

> The main thing the previous posters forgot, is that in certain instances, these vacancies, etc is land that still belongs to the State of Texas.

Actually, what that oversimplifies is the more general fact that the definition of a vacancy as a practical matter is anything that the Commissioner of the General Land Office says is a vacancy. So, the LSLS basically works as an employee of the Commissioner to resolve all questions according to the instructions of the Commissioner (or on a practical level his staff). Absolutely nothing new there. Even in the 1870's if you were a county surveyor or one of his deputies and wanted to have a set of field notes approved for patent, you had to do whatever the Chief Draftsman in the GLO wanted you to do.

> The other part of this issue is that the GLO did not establish any rules for the surveys until the early 1900's and the first license was 1919.

That's really not true at all. If you examine the Laws of Texas, you'll find instructions regarding how surveys were to be made. They are scattered all over the statute books, not gathered in one place.

The rules about how boundaries are to be constructed are found in the decisions of Texas courts. Any rules promulgated by the GLO to the contrary would be of low value.

> Gotta disagree with Kent, this LSLS has not been a matter of the elitist few ...

Well, some of the craziest work I see is the work of LSLS licensees, including some well-known fellows who are no longer around. The basic problem is that the problems are old and very difficult and the LSLS selection is often made on what is in effect a low-bid basis, and often some official action has taken on the strength of that work that has had the effect of further compounding the problem.

Thanks Kent

> And you wonder why there is the occasional animosity between older surveyors and younger surveyors.

No, I don't wonder about that at all. Kris and Shawn are in East Texas, so it's understandable that they don't know much about people who lived in Austin like William Sidney Porter or the laws that were made in Austin as all of the acts of the Texas Legislature have been.

Thanks Kent

> > And you wonder why there is the occasional animosity between older surveyors and younger surveyors.
>
> No, I don't wonder about that at all. Kris and Shawn are in East Texas, so it's understandable that they don't know much about people who lived in Austin like William Sidney Porter or the laws that were made in Austin as all of the acts of the Texas Legislature have been.

Interesting. Let me quote your original response. "I guess I forget that most of the younger surveyors in Texas are unfamiliar with the history of Texas surveying and so could not be expected to be aware of the Licensed State Land Surveyors Act of 1919."

Funny, that post mentions absolutely nothing about their location of East Texas. I guess we all can't be perfect. Talk about folklore...entertainment has Chuck Norris, college football has Tim Tebow, and surveying has Kent McMillan.

Thanks Kent

> Interesting. Let me quote your original response. "I guess I forget that most of the younger surveyors in Texas are unfamiliar with the history of Texas surveying and so could not be expected to be aware of the Licensed State Land Surveyors Act of 1919."
>
> Funny, that post mentions absolutely nothing about their location of East Texas.

Yes, you're right that I was being polite to pretend it is a general problem instead of one over-represented in a particular geographic area. :>

What Gets Listed First ?

What's redundant is where I've seen people licensed in multiple states with PLS,RPLS,LS, etc, written on their business cards, like they stand for different types of licenses.

My business card just says Licensed State Land Surveyor. There are times, however, when I list both acronyms on documents, and I use LSLS, RPLS.

If someone wants to complain that that's redundant, fine. Report me to the Redundant Office of Redundancy.

> If someone wants to complain that that's redundant, fine. Report me to the Redundant Office of Redundancy.

we did...

at least twice.

> > If someone wants to complain that that's redundant, fine. Report me to the Redundant Office of Redundancy.
>
> we did...
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> at least twice.

You did? You really did? really?

> My business card just says Licensed State Land Surveyor. There are times, however, when I list both acronyms on documents, and I use LSLS, RPLS.

I think that practice got started back when one didn't need to be licensed as an Registered Public Surveyor (the precursor to the license now known as the Registered Professional Land Surveyor in Texas) to be an LSLS. There were shiploads of guys with an LSLS ticket running around who weren't competent enough to be licensed as an RPS and hadn't even passed any exam at all. So the LSLS licensees who had some real credential wanted to distinguish themselves from the guys who had mailed in the box tops to get their LSLS licenses.

Kent, thanks for proving my point

My original statement noted the 1919 year for LSLS. I can see how you missed it though feverishly clicking reply to tell someone they were wrong. Good show Kent!!

Kent, thanks for proving my point

> My original statement noted the 1919 year for LSLS.

So, what you seem to be saying is that you might have actually had the means to know that William Sidney Porter seemed never to have been an LSLS or even a land surveyor of any sort, but seemingly merely an apparent draftsman?

JPH ?

That would bug me to. I would expect to use PLS in multiple States. If push came to shove, maybe I would go with PA PLS, TX RPLS and probably need a dedicated line on the business card for that.

However the most I would imagine I would use is, PE, PLS, PP, CME. The cost of all those initials is hard to justify.

Paul in PA