The American Surveyor

I don't read the trade magazines either but I did looked up the edition you recommended. The article I found interesting was "It’s a Matter of Opinion." I didn't agree with everything James Jones had to say.

Jones "I have never taken a single measurement in any expert witness case."

I've provided expert testimony in only one case where I didn't make a field survey. Opposing attorneys tried to get me to admit I did in an effort to discredit an ancient County Survey. It was one of the most interesting cases I had.

Jones "The judge is the impartial decider of facts and the law."

Sometimes. Usually a jury decides the facts. The judge decides which legal argument presented should be applied to the facts and which party prevails.    

Jones "The attorney is an advocate who makes the client’s best case based."

That's what an attorney should do. In boundary cases, without the assistance of a competent surveyor, attorneys often fail. 

I am an Associate Member of the Missouri Society of Professional Surveyors.  They have an excellent magazine,  Definitely enjoy the high quality stories.  The have quite a number of advertisers.  It seems like it is about 48 pages with a slick magazine cover that normally has a photo of surveyors at work.  The photo wraps around to fill the back page.  A high quality publication in my opinion.

In his recent article Jones mentions another piece he wrote 2015. it's an interesting tale of records research.

https://amerisurv.com/wp-content/uploads/PDF/TheAmericanSurveyor_Jones-RoadRiders_May2015.pdf

From the article:

And

@pls8xx 

Much like Mr. Jones, I have focused my attention on county records for several decades.  The gold we seek can almost always be found in those mountains of books and file sleeves if we apply ourselves diligently.

The current curse in the survey profession is a lackadaisical approach to research in general, let alone the type of persistence required to open the information locked away more by ignorance than anything else.  Everything is supposed to be available within a matter or seconds, not hours or days.  Many wasted hours and days in the field come about due to avoiding honest-to-God research in places where it never rains.  We must break this compulsion in those we mentor.  The quality of a survey is far more based in the words than the numbers.  Those words go back to the words, lines, squiggly lines, showing of intent and the relatively few numbers that confirm the words.

In my backyard we have indexes in the Register of Deeds Office that eliminate the need to blindly paw through the Grantor/Grantee Books.  It is incredibly rare for us to search those tomes.  My home county had a full time surveyor employed from Day 1 until 20 years ago.   We also have all of the county road data from the handwritten applications for a road to be built and any later changes they were implemented.  I have assisted researching surveyors since that time at no expense to them, if they made the effort to show up and learn how and where to access what they need to know.  It is fortunate to know that one of the very few who know that full research is paramount currently serves on the Kansas State Board of Technical Professions.  Most fall into the "I'm burning daylight" crowd.  That is very, very sad.

One critical item to consider involves the filing of section corner reference data both with the State and the County or available via Hub Tack.  Look at ALL such reports filed, not just the one filed six months ago.  Today, I reviewed a survey plat where there were two different monuments about 13 feet apart that differed in all cardinal directions from each other.  The current surveyor and a surveyor whose project was two years ago met onsite and resolved the dilemma, that had been caused over 40 years earlier by a now deceased surveyor.  Various metal objects were removed and everyone felt better.

A fellow surveyor told me over 40 years of a situation virtually identical to the story by Mr. Jones in the Road Riders Book story.  In this case, the surveyor kept pushing and pushing on the Register of Deeds until finally a little light bulb appeared above her head.  She said, "There is a closet down the hall that I remember was opened once when I was the assistant here.  I have no idea what is in there, but, someone, just like you, convinced my boss to open it."  The door was opened and a multitude of field books, maps, road information and THE FIELD NOTES were in a heap on the floor at least three feet deep.

There are two subjects here under consideration; expert testimony and old records. It could be that modern surveyors favor the new and shiny. But courts give greater weight to evidence that predates the controversy, and the ancient document rule can be used to have a document presumed to be correct.