I’m not a surveyor but rely upon them fairly often. I have not heard of survey work put in the original vs. retracement terms before and maybe need to understand these better. In my experience, I hire the surveyors to establish “hard” property lines. Basically finding previously set corners or setting new ones. Then, establishing the line between them with blazes, lathe or in short term situations pins or flagging. In these situations it seems to me it’s moderately simple math, with the surveyors opinion having little to do with it. I guess there could be surveyor vs. surveyor disagreements on the math? I’m not working in areas where metes/ bounds are used or against old Spanish land grant properties, just straight up PLSS. Thanks for the write up.
I hope this isn't derailing the OP's thread too much, and I hope he keeps us posted as his situation unfolds, but there seems to be some interest in the general topic of land surveying. Therefore, I offer another morning essay.
As with any business and profession, surveying has specialty terms which are often misunderstood and/or misused by both surveyors and non-surveyors, and local vernacular adds more variation. Together, it's a constant struggle to keep things straight, and surveyors cause much mayhem by misunderstanding and misapplying their own professional and local terms. I don't have all the answers, but I attempt to periodically re-educate myself on the standard legal and professional definitions and both federal and state case law.
Boundaries are immeasurably narrow
lines, with
corners (geographic locations) on each end which are ideally marked by
monuments (physical objects) and possibly
accessories (additional objects), between legal entities we will call parcels. The original monument in its original location is the most conclusive evidence of a corner, and therefore boundary line, location.
Only two kinds of boundaries can exist: 1) those previously created by deeds (with descriptions written by surveyors or, god forbid, lawyers or title people), or a surveyor via plats, or similar legal instruments or 2) those to be created in the future. Therefore, only two kinds of surveys can exist: retracement or original.
In the PLSS, the original GLO surveys established corners, set monuments, and created the lines.
Every survey thereafter (unless the US Govt re-surveys its own land) is a an attempt to retrace the original GLO-created lines. The modern surveyor's job is to find the original line location because current owners' titles extend to the original lines. Ideally, the modern surveyor can find the original monuments marking the original corners, but time, careless owners, landslides, etc. make this difficult. Therefore, the modern surveyor must be an expert at gathering and analyzing other evidence to form a well-reasoned, defensible opinion as to the original corner, and therefore line, location.
"Hard" property lines and your subsequent descriptions sound like a local term for a retracement survey in which the original lines are found (by finding corners/monuments), and corners are possibly rehabilitated or remonumented. The line is established only by the corner which are ideally marked with monuments. A
ccessories in the form of blazes, lath, flagging, etc. point to the line and/or corner.
Surveyors disagree on measurements, rather than math, all the time. You'll recognize the measurement superhero because he will put a new monument an inch from an existing one because his measurement capabilities are superior. Or he will not set a new monument but claim the existing one is "out of position". In my observation, this is 50% or more of surveyors, and they are often the low-price leaders. They do not understand what they are doing. (Rant over....for now.)
I leave you all with one of the best explanations ever written of a surveyor's role.
The Quasi-Judicial Function of Surveyors
Again, thanks for your patience with my lengthy essays and indulging my writing bug. I hope they continue to be helpful.
