Perhaps this should be under humor.
1859---Government contractor lays out section. ?ÿEast, west and north lines are precisely 80.00 chains and south line is 80.08 chains.
1875--- County surveyor wishes to set the center corner. ?ÿEast and north quarter corners must be lost. ?ÿHe starts at northeast corner, crosses significant river, finds that his line hits the southeast corner dead on and at exactly 80.00 chains. ?ÿReturns back to the 40.00 position and sets new stone to mark east quarter corner. ?ÿThen heads west from the southeast corner and finds the south quarter corner at exactly 40.04 chains. ?ÿHeads north, parallel to east section line and sets center corner at 40.00. ?ÿContinues north, crosses river again and finds north line at exactly 80.00 chains. ?ÿMeasures east to northeast corner and finds it at exactly 40.00. ?ÿReturns the 40.00 west and sets stone for north quarter corner.
Call me overly skeptical if you like, but, ?ÿI don't believe any of it.
?ÿ
Of course, nothing agrees with any of that today. ?ÿProration or no proration.
Overly skeptical?? I stopped believing it when the north, east, and west lines were all 80 chains.
Cheers,
Henry
These kind of narratives usually start out with "Once upon a time..."?ÿ and end with "...and they lived happily ever after."
A BIG part of [Professional] Retracement, is understanding the nature of "Field Notes" within the context of how, why, and when these NARRATIVES were created. While many of the?ÿ"courses" where actually run as described, many were not (run, or run in the direction, or by the methodology described).
The FORMAT of these narratives were strictly defined in the various "manuals," and IF the contractor (or GLO surveyor) wanted to get his survey APPROVED (and therefore get paid), then the NARRATIVE had to follow the format and structure required by the "manual." A few links (or even ?« a chain per mile at times) was not as big a deal then, as it is (or might be) TODAY.
Some Deputies (and early GLO Surveyors), were much better than others, some were much WORSE, but MOST did a reasonable (if not admirable) job, considering the conditions and technology of their time.
There were all sorts of short-cuts, non-standard methods, and less than ideal decisions that factor into RETRACING historic Boundaries (PLSS Rectangular, Mineral Surveys, Homestead Entry Surveys, etc.), but that is?ÿwhat often makes this job so satisfying (and sometimes frustrating).
Loyal
?ÿ
Loyal;?ÿ?ÿOutstanding post above. All young surveyors should read your post.
?ÿ
JOHN NOLTON
Loyal;?ÿ?ÿOutstanding post above. All young surveyors should read your post.
?ÿ
JOHN NOLTON
And a lot of old ones, too.
Dave Lindell; forget the old ones. Most can't spell or use correct terminology even when you show them.
JUST put them out to pasture.
?ÿ
JOHN NOLTON
Dave Lindell; forget the old ones. Most can't spell or use correct terminology even when you show them.
JUST put them out to pasture.
?ÿ
JOHN NOLTON
Like us.
...but many surveyors still report only record distances and bearings on their surveys today. It's not any more useful today than it was in 1875.