Monumenting Lines With Jogs
@BStrand Gotcha. Understood on that. Historically surveyors have been seeking permanent monuments to be placed. However it contains you to be a struggle as no matter what we set it truly does not meet the permanent idea. I mean natural monuments were chosen as they seemed permanent but that rock outcrop can be bulldozed down or whatever that natural pond spill way changes over time. The tree is cut down or dies. The rebar is uprooted by a disc or plow. Or the fence guy. Moves or removes it while setting up a fence post. I reckon we will continue to do the better can with what we have and that’s all we can do.
That photo of the toe doesn't look like it's a contender for a "natural" monument call. If the landowner is building a fence it would be best to use it as the line. Lots of jogs in a fence means lots of expense building and buying material for brace panels. The builder will normally put the brakes on adding more braces than are needed. So the fence line will tend to "straighten" out as it gets built, the real world tends to slap people upside the head.
I've got to go do a BLA along a fence I staked in 1982. The landowner went out with me, the fencer went out too. They picked a line and I put in monuments and line points. Of course, the fencer who was there for two days helping to pick out a route built the fence in a different location. Next month after 42 years a portion of it will get pushed to the real fence from the proposed and monumented fence line, maybe someday the entire property line will get moved to the built fence location.
@thebionicman It is unfortunate the most common accomplice The Surveyor) rarely gets taken to task.
How so?
Seems like most of canals I come across haven't been mapped before. Until there are a couple records of where the canal actually is I'm not sure how you'd be able to tell if an irrigation entity was stealing land.
@MightyMoeThere is a statutory easement granted, so it doesn’t matter if they shift position, they are still inside the easement.
Same here. Occasionally a deed will call out a canal though and I think that's what bionicman is referring to.
If the landowner is building a fence it would be best to use it as the line.
Agree, but like I say didn't hear about it until after the fact.
There is a ton of evidence beyond recorded surveys. USDA began aerial surveys of Idaho in the 20s. The program continued for decades. Much of the data was passed to ISU and other universities and can be found on the internet. It is also common to find direct evidence of historical location on the ground. Old fences, buildings, crossing structures, etc. can be very helpful, especially when supported by the reliable testimony of longtime occupants.
The story I mentioned earlier is a prime example. The canal company attempted to eject a farmer for being 'in the easement'. They also whined and moaned about my survey for not centering the easement on the canal. Thier own map (1950's) showed the existing barn and fence on the edge of the easement. The evidence was overwhelming and they dropped it.
We have a duty to recover lines where they were established. That means gathering the evidence and evaluating it in light of the correct law.
I think most surveyors in this state would view that that as creating an unnecessary pin farm mess, myself included.
A pin farm is where you have a bunch of pins purporting to mark a single point. That is bad.
Having any number of pins (of record) along a line is just fine.
