Went fishing in the creek

Not your standard fishing story or survey story for that matter. Today our goal was to find a 1/2" iron bar set in a creek bed in 1958 by the DOT to monument a section corner. The corner was to be found 134.1 feet north of STA such and such and 39.9 feet from the corner of the concrete abutment of the bridge that was being replaced and relocated that 134.1 feet to the south and further west. Using the record stationing on the bridge and the deflection angle shown between the bridge centerline and the section line (to the nearest minute) we determined the historical location. This lead us to a spot in the creek area now occupied by about four feet of soil over the solid rock creekbed. No metal signal anywhere within 10 feet of the spot. We brought out the major artillery; a backhoe. The filled area was so overgrown with trees that we had him set up in an area with creek water about a foot deep and reach under the trees to do the digging. He didn't have to worry about sinking as he was on one hundred percent limestone bedrock. We went down about a foot and tried for metal. Nothing. We went down another foot. Still nothing definite. We went down another foot and got a halfway decent signal, but, not a clear point to dig. We broke out the sharpshooter and went to work. We finally found the bar lying horizontally on the surface of the bedrock and somewhat bent. We dug out the remaining dirt in a four foot radius from the midpoint of the bar, but, found no definite signs of a hole in the bedrock matching the former home of the bar. We shot in the location of the bar, then backfilled and packed the hole as firmly as possible with the backhoe bucket. We then set a new bar at the location consistent with the DOT plans.

It was incredibly tempting to merely set the new bar without digging. That's not me. Had to do the search or I wouldn't have slept well for a long time.

An interesting side note. About 200 yards to the north of this section corner one can find wagon ruts that were worn into the creek's bedrock. They angle from ENE to WSW across the 80 feet or so between the earthen creekbanks. This area was not routinely inhabited by any tribe until about 1800 when the first Osages moved out of central Missouri and the Missouri River Basin into what is now southeast Kansas and the Arkansas River Basin. There were two main initial settlements established, both being on a fairly straight line (trail) from the home area in Missouri that crossed this significant creek. Adventurers, trappers and early settlers followed their routes. This portion of the creek remained a common pathway for everyone until county roads began to appear along section lines starting about 1870. It was probably about 1920 before a bridge would have been built in this location due to the significant elevation change from side to side. The one removed in 1958 sat at an angle of about 45 degrees and dropped about 40 feet. Normal traffic had to slow down tremendously at both ends to avoid sideswiping the far side or hitting someone else headon. I'm told young men used to try to find the highest possible speed and brag to their friends, until their father's found out why there were dents and scratches on the vehicle.

Second side note. Our client is purchasing a tract roughly one-half mile to the east of this corner on property that has been in his aunt's husband's family since about 1850 (it was not open for settlement until 1865). Another one-half mile distant to the east is land that was first settled by his own ancestors about 1860.