California Surveyors Forums

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/alte ... 16838.html

It would appear that following in the footsteps of the original surveyor is an ignored principle today.

The original article I read about this over a year ago also mentioned the utility issues of which there are many.

following the footsteps of the original surveyor is not the ONLY RULE. I would do my best to properly evaluate all the relevant evidence, I do agree that it is a mistake to not properly consider the original survey....

I had to do a Google search on some of the keywords because your link doesn't work. It seems from the brief article that the original monuments (hatchet marks in trees) cannot be found because the trees are gone. Weren't there any surveys after the original survey that could at least provide evidence to where those trees were?

When your property has been paying taxes in one State and your utilities are served from that State that should indicate where the original lines are in lieu of bndry markers.

Unless it can be shown that the original parties to the conveyance by which the parcel line was created had rejected the work of the original surveyor to effect their intended line differently (extremely rare - never seen it, but theoretically could have happened), retracing the footsteps of the original surveyor pretty much is the rule.

However, we are not limited to only whatever evidence might remain of the original surveyor's actions. We can look to the evidence of the actions of later surveyors and of landowners if those actions were based on, or were likely based on evidence of the original survey existing at that time. A lot of surveyors do not recognize that as retracing the original surveyor, but it is. It's simply following the best remaining evidence of the locations of the original boundaries, whether that evidence was left directly by the original surveyor, or was placed by a later party, serving to perpetuate that original position.

I don't put much credence in that news story as to accurately describing the methodology, they are really only interested in the results and how it affects people. For them, that's the story. They mention the technology a bit and think they've fully summarized the whole process and all the technical issues that go with it. GPS is "accurate" while pole, chains, and other older measuring equipment is not. Somehow GPS magically takes surveyors to the locations where the line was originally established with the crudest of equipment & methods, but all that other faulty equipment that was used between the early 1700s and now lead surveyors hundreds of feet astray.

The Yahoo News authors no nothing of the search for and use of evidence to find the locations where the original surveyors placed stones & stakes or left hack marks in trees. They have no idea that the equipment used to make the measurements, whether the latest gizmos that determine location from satellite data, or magnetic compass and measuring chain are secondary to the investigative process of trying to reconstruct the line. Hopefully, the surveyor for this project understood what his job was supposed to be..

The northerly (left rear) corner of the Lake Wiley Mini Mart building is in North Carolina according to Google Maps...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lake+ ... 81.0919023

It's hard to tell what is going on. The photo seems to indicate they are trying to follow the footsteps but the story doesn't really cover it sufficiently to know.

I am sure there has to be some sort of public record on this case, and yes news articles leave out a lot of details that persons not involved in the professions would not understand anyway, but bottom line is properties that have been in one State for over a century are now "moved" into an adjoining State whether they agree to it or not.