Just got off the phone with one of our construction supers who requested a few lath to be set on the back of an easement for constructing something or another later this week. We surveyed the cable that went in back in 2006. These little jobs can be a real pain in my tukis because they pull me off of what I'm working on at the moment and make it tough for me to stay focused. Got to looking at the '06 survey and immediately noticed we shot in all the utility poles along the route. Called him back and told him to get with me in the morning and I'll give him the offsets from the poles to get him onto the back of the easement. These days I'm shooting in all the utility poles and telephone pedestals, whether they're needed or not. They have addresses. They may carry power and phone, but to me, they're 40' tall lath that have unique IDs I can use to get onto control in a hurry.
Do they give them a new number when they get rot and a replacement is set about a foot from the original?
Right on.
Sort of like carrying elevations on shots when you only need horizontal for immediate needs.
Nope. They typically cut off the old pole leaving the stub and plant a new one within a few feet using the same address. That's not to say that a lot of older poles, the numbers have disappeared or been mangled by linemen's climbing spurs. Our local power co-op usually doesn't replace a pole unless the entire line is being upgraded, in which case I could be SOL. SOP for me is to locate one of these poles from an old job getting the pole # from the notes, inverse to a spike or whatever was set years earlier and rag tape and compass to the spot to sweep with the schonstedt. Works slick. 😉
