Norman Glover LS 1880
Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 8:01 am
Jim Frame mentioned Norman Glover, LS 1880. I interviewed Norman back in 1986, in connection with my research into local land surveying history. He lived in Fort Bragg at the time. My wife Maureen and I spent three days up there and we had a great time. The story below is one of the best I have ever heard. As an aside, Norman had 100 survey crews working for him when he was mapping all the military bases back in the 1940's. He was a character.
NG is Norman and MP is me.
NG: Yeah, a man came to my office one time, I was across the street from the County Building at the time, on the main street. . .
MP: Pacific Highway?
NG: Yeah, and he said 'Mr. Glover, I understand that you take a survey regardless if you run afoul of the County or anybody on that, or the government.' And I said, 'Well, that depends on how much you pay.' He says, 'Well, I'm not a rich man, but I can pay for this.' He says, 'My father owned all of that land out there at one time and he sold part of it to Colonel Ed Fletcher and he said, 'but he maintained -- he retained a piece of land, a splinter, on the east side of the highway there, that Escondido Road. And it's about 150 feet wide at the south end and it peters out to about 20 feet at the north end, but it lies between the highway and the -- what they've got in there for the Marine Base now.' But he says, 'When Ed Fletcher sold them that Marine Base he sold them up to the highway.' So I said, 'Let me look into it.' 'If it is true, why, we'll make a survey of it. I'll stake it out.' He says, 'Well, [the government stands.]' I says, 'We'll stake it out anyway.' He says, 'Well they've got buildings on it.' I said, 'We'll mark the sides of the buildings.' He says, 'You'll do that?' I said, 'I'll do it.' So he says, 'O.K. I'll pay.'
So I looked the data up on it and it was a matter of finding where the pueblo line goes, see. It was easy. So I got the pueblo line in in two or three places, ran an offset line, and marked over there and then drove the truck on through the gate and told them I had to survey a work in there, the guard let me through and I get inside. From these offset points I started to put shiners on the guard's buildings and all in through there, you know. The next thing I know the M.P.s are out there and they escorted me into the Colonel's office. The Colonel says, 'What are you doing on the Marine Base?' I said, 'Somebody's wrong here, I'm not the Marine Base. I am at the moment, but we were not working on it. We were on private property over there. 'I said, 'You quys were on private property. Do you know that?'
'Oh,' he says, 'can't be.' I says, 'You better start looking, because you're in trouble.' He says, 'I never heard of such a thing.' I said, 'Yes you did. You just heard it.' And they started looking into it and I'll tell you what I'll do. This is going to go to the Judge Advocate General's office and that's where it's going to end up and probably the government will pay my client for this land. If it doesn't, we're going to put a line of saloons along there on that whole strip. And maybe a few whorehouses.' Well he says, 'We'll declare it off limits.' 'That's your problem.' And I says, 'I'm just telling you what my client is going to do if they don't buy that strip of land.’ They bought it.
NG is Norman and MP is me.
NG: Yeah, a man came to my office one time, I was across the street from the County Building at the time, on the main street. . .
MP: Pacific Highway?
NG: Yeah, and he said 'Mr. Glover, I understand that you take a survey regardless if you run afoul of the County or anybody on that, or the government.' And I said, 'Well, that depends on how much you pay.' He says, 'Well, I'm not a rich man, but I can pay for this.' He says, 'My father owned all of that land out there at one time and he sold part of it to Colonel Ed Fletcher and he said, 'but he maintained -- he retained a piece of land, a splinter, on the east side of the highway there, that Escondido Road. And it's about 150 feet wide at the south end and it peters out to about 20 feet at the north end, but it lies between the highway and the -- what they've got in there for the Marine Base now.' But he says, 'When Ed Fletcher sold them that Marine Base he sold them up to the highway.' So I said, 'Let me look into it.' 'If it is true, why, we'll make a survey of it. I'll stake it out.' He says, 'Well, [the government stands.]' I says, 'We'll stake it out anyway.' He says, 'Well they've got buildings on it.' I said, 'We'll mark the sides of the buildings.' He says, 'You'll do that?' I said, 'I'll do it.' So he says, 'O.K. I'll pay.'
So I looked the data up on it and it was a matter of finding where the pueblo line goes, see. It was easy. So I got the pueblo line in in two or three places, ran an offset line, and marked over there and then drove the truck on through the gate and told them I had to survey a work in there, the guard let me through and I get inside. From these offset points I started to put shiners on the guard's buildings and all in through there, you know. The next thing I know the M.P.s are out there and they escorted me into the Colonel's office. The Colonel says, 'What are you doing on the Marine Base?' I said, 'Somebody's wrong here, I'm not the Marine Base. I am at the moment, but we were not working on it. We were on private property over there. 'I said, 'You quys were on private property. Do you know that?'
'Oh,' he says, 'can't be.' I says, 'You better start looking, because you're in trouble.' He says, 'I never heard of such a thing.' I said, 'Yes you did. You just heard it.' And they started looking into it and I'll tell you what I'll do. This is going to go to the Judge Advocate General's office and that's where it's going to end up and probably the government will pay my client for this land. If it doesn't, we're going to put a line of saloons along there on that whole strip. And maybe a few whorehouses.' Well he says, 'We'll declare it off limits.' 'That's your problem.' And I says, 'I'm just telling you what my client is going to do if they don't buy that strip of land.’ They bought it.