A Tale of Two Sixteenth Corners...
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 12:32 pm
The names and details have been changed to protect the innocent.
In 1895 Smith Timber Company Surveyor Grabowski set the southeast 1/16th corner of Section 25 using compass and chain and he marked the lines in from the south and out to the east for harvest. The southeast quarter of the southeast quarter was owned by others, the timber company had the other three quarter-quarters. Harvest happened and no one objected.
In 1940 the landowner in the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter used the timber company monument to write a deed selling the westerly 500', "beginning at the 1/16th corner, thence east on the 1/16th line 500', thence south..." There is an old wire fence at about 505' from the Grabowski monument.
In 1965 a surveyor, Mr. Lord, working for the owner of the former Smith Timber Company lands found the 1895 1/16th corner and perpetuated it with a concrete monument up 2' but other priorities got in the way of filing the Record of Survey. Again no one objected. Part of his reasoning for accepting the monument was deeds in the area used it.
In 1977 a surveyor, Johann Strauss (now deceased), determined an alternate location for the east quarter section corner which dragged the subdivisional lines northerly in the section and the 1895 surveyor wasn't terribly precise. Mr. Strauss shows a dimension point northwest 90' from the existing 1895 1/16th corner on his filed Record of Survey, no monument set.
In 1990 a new surveyor, Mr. Mercator, working for the same owner as Mr. Lord, sets a pipe and cap complete with the same owner information at the Strauss 1/16th corner. So now we have two monuments representing the same 1/16th corner.
Is this sort of foolishness what Thomas Jefferson had in mind when he conceived of the PLSS? Or better stated, "quit changing the answer, it's a boundary problem, not a title problem."
In 1895 Smith Timber Company Surveyor Grabowski set the southeast 1/16th corner of Section 25 using compass and chain and he marked the lines in from the south and out to the east for harvest. The southeast quarter of the southeast quarter was owned by others, the timber company had the other three quarter-quarters. Harvest happened and no one objected.
In 1940 the landowner in the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter used the timber company monument to write a deed selling the westerly 500', "beginning at the 1/16th corner, thence east on the 1/16th line 500', thence south..." There is an old wire fence at about 505' from the Grabowski monument.
In 1965 a surveyor, Mr. Lord, working for the owner of the former Smith Timber Company lands found the 1895 1/16th corner and perpetuated it with a concrete monument up 2' but other priorities got in the way of filing the Record of Survey. Again no one objected. Part of his reasoning for accepting the monument was deeds in the area used it.
In 1977 a surveyor, Johann Strauss (now deceased), determined an alternate location for the east quarter section corner which dragged the subdivisional lines northerly in the section and the 1895 surveyor wasn't terribly precise. Mr. Strauss shows a dimension point northwest 90' from the existing 1895 1/16th corner on his filed Record of Survey, no monument set.
In 1990 a new surveyor, Mr. Mercator, working for the same owner as Mr. Lord, sets a pipe and cap complete with the same owner information at the Strauss 1/16th corner. So now we have two monuments representing the same 1/16th corner.
Is this sort of foolishness what Thomas Jefferson had in mind when he conceived of the PLSS? Or better stated, "quit changing the answer, it's a boundary problem, not a title problem."