Just to get things off to a good start, what could possibly be more appropriate than a photo of a ... rock mound? (Well, aside from a photo of any number of items that come to mind.)
NW Corner Sur. 12, G.H.& S.A. Rwy. Co. Block A2, Terrell County, Texas
This one was built in 1889 to mark the Northwest corner of a nominally mile-square section known as Survey 12 of Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Rwy. Co. Block A2 in what is now Terrell County, Texas. Block A2 was originally located in 1880 by a very minimal amount of surveying that appeared to have basically just traversed along a military road, building corners that fell near to it, and leaving the remainder of the block to be filled in at some later date when someone would arrive who was interested in knowing where the various section corners fell.
Actually, that date arrived in 1889 when the G.H.& S.A. Rwy. Co. was sued by the State of Texas to recover lands it had illegally obtained and part of the judgment was that the successor in interest to the G.H.& S.A., the Southern Pacific, would pay for having a good survey made of all of the sections in Block A2 which the State recovered.
Block A2 was one of the earliest surveys (appropriations) of public lands in the area. After 1880, a series of surveys known as the D Blocks, D or D1, D2, D3, and so on through D12, were located around A2. This diagram shows the situation semi-schematically. It doesn't show the fact that parts of the South end of the D Blocks were later found to extend into the Republic of Mexico, when actually run out on the ground.
Where are the trees???
The only areas here (NW FL) that are that open are parking lots.. 😉
Good stuff, I enjoy seeing what others encounter Surveying.
I'm currently working on a rural 420'x420' parcel, R/W on 3 sides, mostly wooded & wet, with several cut-outs, from an unrecorded plat from the 1950's. Lucky for me, the descriptions provide M&B descriptions in addition to the lot & block #'s.
The original monumentation was 1.5" open top pipes. I have located 8 (of 12) of the old pipes, and the called for 1/4-sec corners and the alignment and distances are in agreement with the descriptions. I also located three 1/2" rebar pins (capped) from one of the cutouts that does NOT fit the pipes by 3.5' E-W. They fit within 0.1' N-S.
Calls to that Surveyor have gone unanswered, so I don't know how he established their locations. The 3 pins fit 0.01' within themselves, but totally bust compared to the pipes. They're not that old either, the caps (plastic) are still bright yellow with minimal deterioration.
It has rained here every day so far this week, with more predicted through the weekend, so I hope to return to the site (1.5hr drive each way) next week to recon a couple more of the missing pipes, and hopefully wrap up.
Trees?
Well, I guess you don't have much scrub mesquite in Florida, then? There is some of it in the flats at the toe of the slope, but not enough to keep the GPS from working just fine.
As for the mystery of the new rods and caps that don't seem to have any discernible logic for their existence, that is one of my least favorite situations to deal with because it is such a needless waste of time usually.
Trees?
No mesquite...but we do have mosquitos!
How about cactus?
I guess you have plenty of prickly pear cactus in Florida, though, right?
Likewise, bearing trees from 1847 like the 19 in. (basal dia.) mesquite I found on Monday are probably a dime a dozen, too.
Brush cutting
Yes, there are parts of East Texas where land surveying is mostly brush cutting, too. I've never seen the appeal. I don't mind running the chainsaw to limb some cedars and mesquites, but having to hack every inch would be something else.
Brush cutting
I'm not a fan of it either, but in this part of the country, brushing is a given on a survey of any acreage.
Also makes the use of GPS difficult.
Brush cutting
Yes, as you can see, it's pretty tough to use GPS in the parts of Texas I like to survey. This shot was taken on Monday in Concho County about three hours west of Austin. The receiver is set up on a trial point that is a rough estimate of where a corner was marked in 1847, a point approximately in line with wire fences that look to be about 1920's vintage and replacements of corners nominally a half mile and a mile South, replacements from original evidence of the 1847 survey.
Sadly, that corner's one bearing tree was a willow on the bank of a creek 190 varas (about 528 ft.) distant. A surveyor claimed to have recovered the willow BT in 1957, but considering how short-lived the species is, I think he just found a willow and convinced himself that it was the original. His location was about 50 ft. toward me from the receiver.
Brush cutting
I would love to take a break from "bush wacking" and be Kent's rodman for a week, only if he could put up with my rather lacking vocabulary.
language
Same here Dan, but Kent probably wouldn't understand either of us... you with that redneck-french accent, and me with my redneck southern drawl, y'all...
Holiday in rural Texas
Well, I can tell you what you missed this last trip. I'd prepared that basically diagrammatic sketch I posted on fb and had calculated some rough search coordinates for various corners based upon the theory I'd developed.
So, Saturday, I drove out to the ranch and spent the afternoon visiting the vicinity of the East corners of Surveys 1725, 1728, and 40, the East corners of Surveys 1830 and 1827, the West corners of 1726, and East corners of 1831. This was mostly intended as a quick look to:
a) figure out which areas looked substantially undisturbed where original evidence was likely to remain,
b) see if there was anything obvious that jumped right out.
I didn't even bother to break out the survey-grade GPS gear but was just navigating with a handheld unit.
Then, Saturday evening, I mulled things over and worked up a plan for Sunday over a few bottles of Dos Equis.
Sunday, I first went to the vicinity of some corners two miles South of the ranch to take a look at a waterway that the 1847 surveyor had given a passing call on. It was perfect for what I needed, because it was running nearly E-W for a long enough distance that any plausible location of the N-S line would have intersected it at substantially the same chainage +/-20 ft. or so.
There was some reason to think that the center of the E-W county road had been laid out in the early 20th century centered on the survey line, so I got some submeter positions on the road centerline in the vicinity of the estimated survey corners.
The passing call on the waterway checked the road centerline quite tolerably well, so I made the trial assumption that various points on the road centerline were approximately where the survey corners were marked prior to construction.
Then, I got submeter positions on a couple of points approximately at the NW cor 1733 and NE cor 1725 two and four miles North of one certain point on the road centerline. At the NE cor 1733, I found what appeared to be the remains of a rock mound still in place about two feet West of a wire fence, the trial position for the NW of 1725 was the position where in 1926 a rock mound had been reported in place prior to a road having destroyed it.
All three positions fell in essentially one straight line, so I made the trial assumption that its direction was the 1847 surveyor's "North".
Then I returned to the NW of Survey 1726 and set some temporary points on a line parallel with the line a mile East and at a best guess as to where the chainage nominally 7430 varas (about 20,640 ft.) North of the intersection of the waterway would place the corner. The 1847 surveyor's miles appeared to be running between about 1938 varas and 1963 varas for a nominal 1900 varas, so I made a rough allowance for excess in that range.
The trial position of the corner fell in an area mostly devoid of mesquite, on ground that was uncharacteristically rocky for that ranch. I found several possible candidates for a rock mound and no candidates for the mesquite bearing trees called for by the 1847 surveyor 60 and 70 varas from the corner. There was some evidence of clearing, so my first guess was that the trees might have been taken out.
Then I went half a mile North to the vicinity of the NE corner of Survey 1831. There, I found nothing obvious and my first impression was that bulldozing along a fence line had taken out both corner mark and bearing trees.
I returned to the motel to have a few more Dos Equis and decide what to do on Monday.
Monday was when it all clicked, but up to that point you would have spent some long hot hours tromping around and seeing nothing but pastures of cactus, catclaw acacia, mesquite, and tinder-dry grass. That would have been two days of muddle. Sure, the carne guisada burrito for lunch would have been good, but the rest would have been memorable in a possibly not-so-good way.
Holiday in rural Texas
Well, I was not talking about doing that in the summer, more like a late winter, early spring trip.
Not during hunting season
Well, it should be after the end of whitetail and mule deer season. Some boozed-up hunters with high-powered rifles are something I try to avoid.
Not during hunting season
Yes, I try to avoid them also, boozed up hunters that is.
I wonder if I could get CEUs for that?
Now that would be something!
Charge people to come help you work on a large project and give CEUs.
Just crazy enough to work.
Rock mound 101.
Kent County, Texas Stone Mound
This mound was built by George Spiller. It is located in Kent County, Texas and was set around 1895. I'll have to dig out my notes and check on that.
Kent County, Texas Stone Mound
That's not in one of the H.& T.C. Rwy. Co. blocks that Spiller resurveyed for Southern Pacific in 1887 is it?
Kent County, Texas Stone Mound
It probably is. I'll dig that stuff out and take a look later. It's been several years since I did that survey. It was one of my few (fortunately) hand drawn plats.
Kent County, Texas Stone Mound
I've seen plenty of pine knots and cedar stakes, but the only rock mounds I've ever seen were in Concan and Brady. You guys have it really good out there!
🙂
This is a very interesting early Beer Leg Survey Post.:-)
