I'm doing some surveys in a town I wasn't very familiar with until this year. I've worked all around it in the big country but not much in town. I was surprised how many of these we're finding:
That isn't a thing I'm used to seeing. I was talking to one of the local surveyors and he said, yep those are mine I set when I first started out, the shop was too cheap to even rent a drill. Good thing is they won't be there much longer.?ÿ
We've always called those Scribed "X" (in concrete). Usually good for control. Sometimes I have seen them used as an actual corner of a property if it is inside a driveway or sidewalk.
yep, property "monument" in this case. I did some in the late 70's for a subdivision and never did another one. I started renting core drills when necessary and now there are dozens of options for good concrete drills to set monuments.
I would never drill a hole in natural stone used as a sidewalk, drive or curbing. A scribed "x" would be damage enough.
BTW, a few days ago on a new survey project, I made reference to a survey I had performed directly across the city street about 10 years ago. Then I smiled. On the prior survey, we had discovered a lot corner was monumented by a mark on a sewer manhole lid. So, I made a point to go to that lid and look for anything that might have been the mark we discovered 10 years ago. I was certain the lid had surely been moved in that period of time. There were some marks suggesting the lid had been hit in several places to loosen it to aid removal, but, there was absolutely nothing unique that might have been a definite mark by a land surveyor.
monumented by a mark on a sewer manhole lid
Nothing keeps the lid from being replaced in a different rotation does it?
monumented by a mark on a sewer manhole lid
Nothing keeps the lid from being replaced in a different rotation does it?
City crews will often have a practice of orientating a lid with the lifting notch pointing a direction, normally north. Makes finding it easier when it's covered with dirt or snow and ice. Hardly a precise procedure, but it's something.
They are called cross cuts here in NJ and used to be found all the time in older subdivisions and urban areas, either on the corner or on a range line.
monumented by a mark on a sewer manhole lid
Nothing keeps the lid from being replaced in a different rotation does it?
Used to have a CE that was notorious for putting Area Inlets on rear property corners, usually when lots were back to back in a subdivision. We would have to cut a cross on the lid. We would then string line across the lid to outside the rim and scribe four more notches. That way we could string across the lid and spin it back if it ever got moved.
We usually use punch marks on the rim for cross ties when the point falls on a manhole lid, but I've seen "+" marks, punches inside triangles, punches between two vertical lines (absolute value?) and just plain single chisel lines.
The City of Los Angeles has a method of using what are known as "hooks" inside the manhole about two feet below the top. They were cup hooks set in lead that was set in drilled holes in the brick so a rubber band or string could be strecthed between the two pairs to intersect at the monumented point. The sewer maintenance workers would break off the hooks because they snagged on their overalls so the hooks were replaced by tacks in lead. The position was set by a transit/theodolite either to set the "hooks" (as they are still known) or the set the punches in the rim.
Michael Pallamary is writing an article on this method.
I was surprised how many of these we're finding:
Scribed 'X's are very commonly used for urban boundary marks in OK. You see them in Portland sometimes also but they are then always construction layout control.
I've scratched hundreds of scribes. Only times they weren't control was when a pin was under concrete sometetimes i would transfer the divit to the surface and scribe it. If you wanted to know if it was someones control or exactly over a monument you would have to dig under and transfer it to the surface to check yourself❤️
I'm a fan of scribed Xs, especially for control points; beats littering rebar all over the place that might be mistaken for property corners. I bought a gadget for sawing them recently actually and it's worked great so far. I've been dropping a lath on the ground and stepping on it for use as a straight edge and it mostly works but occasionally I slice into the lath. I need to find about an 8" long strip of lath-shaped metal for the job instead. Anyway, home depot had a sale on these things a few months ago where I was able to get the tool, 2 batteries, charger and a bag for $200.
It's common practice here to have centerline or curb crosses set through out the subdivision. They mark the prolongation of the property line or PC's, PT's, Center of the Sac, CL at CL etc. These are set once the street is installed and used going forth for foundation staking, final surveys, setting front corners etc. You will also find crosses on the old granite curbs in city where buildings occupy zero lot line.
I've found scribed Xs but won't set them without a witness monument or for a traverse or turning point. I've stopped setting monuments within public RoWs but will occasionally set a gin spindle in privately owned asphalt.
A regulation defined monument in Ontario.
“cut cross” means a mark in the form of a cross seventy-five millimetres in both width and length;
2. (1) A surveyor shall define each point in a survey that requires monumentation under this Regulation with a monument that is, (a) a concrete pin; (b) a cut cross;
(3) A surveyor using a cut cross shall cut the mark into bedrock or concrete so that it is five millimetres across and five millimetres deep. O. Reg. 525/91, s. 2 (3).
