McPheeters & Associates

Sometimes property corners fall in the middle of someone's lawn. We put effort into trying to return things how there were after we've had to dig a hole.

Field Friday - Last Friday we had to pick up early because a storm was rolling in. We returned to the site this week to find a couple inches of snow still on the ground. Glad we left lath next to our control point, or it would have been hard to find. We are performing a boundary and topographic survey for and architect to design the house on the lot. We locate the existing utilities, drainages, ground surface, trees and rocks. All of which impact the development of the site. A good survey with a good design makes for a happy homeowner. There were over 125 trees on this 150' x 205' lot. #boundarysurvey #landsurveying #bretzmountian

This past week’s survey site is very appropriate given this was a presidential election week Wilsonia, California The name Wilsonia originates from the United States presidential election of 1916. The outcome of the election was decided by votes from the mountain communities of California, which were delayed due to a snowstorm. To commemorate the area's decisive role in President Woodrow Wilson’s reelection, the community was named Wilsonia in his honor. (Wikipedia) The ...community of Wilsonia began as a 100-acre plot of land homesteaded in the 1870s. (Wikipedia) In 1891 the US Government issued a patent to Daniel M. Perry (image of patent attached). Around the same time General Grant National Park was created (image of official government plat attached). About 30 years later in 1918 the first of three subdivisions divided the land into smaller lots was recorded (Wilsonia map attached). This community consisting of approximately 200 cabins was recognized as a historical District 1996. #landsurveying #boundarysurvey #wilsonia See more

Monument Monday - Property Corners are often iron pipe driven into the ground, but not always. This property corner set over 40 years ago (1979) by James B. Preble of Hanna & Preble was a tag on the top of a block wall. We found it right were they said, with the tag still readable. #landsurveying #boundarysurvey #propertycorner #MonumentMonday

Field Friday - The Quarter Section Corner at Road 24 and Avenue 13 1/2 was paved over with no spreaders and only one Corner Record tie remaining. Today we jack hammered through the pavement and found the corner down 1.5 feet. We set new ties and spreaders (2' offsets) at the surface. Corner Record to be files with Madera County Surveyor. Hopefully the next guy or gal won't have to do as much work to survey for their client. #landsurveying #sectioncorner #payitforward #cornerrecord

Don't forget to service your fire extinguishers annually. Home, office & vehicle. You'll want this to be working properly when you need it. #safetyfirst

Monument Monday - Realizing old brass tags last better than a new plastic plug when property corners are impacted by fire. The corner set by James McPheeters is still readable, but a newer corner is not (melted). It is important that survey monuments be protected to preserve property rights as lots are rebuilt. Thinking of ways to preserve my surveying monuments going forward. #creekfire #landsurveying #surveymonuments

October brings these guys out every year. I ususally see them crossing the road on the way to and from the job site.

TBT - Usually the end of September beginning of October many of us are at the The Big Fresno Fair but Covid-19 has made this year different. Here is a look back when Dan W. Chamberlin (LS 1185) was laying out the horse track at the County Fair Grounds for the Fresno County Chamber of Commerce. The first two pages are his calculations. His survey work was done in August 1920 - over 100 years ago. #landsurveying #constructionstaking #geometry

Monument Monday - When surveying Swamp and Overflow land you should expect some corners to fall in the water. This property had eight property corners. Four of which (50%) were within the San Joaquin River. We set the ones we could and several witness corners.

Term Tuesday WC = Witness Corner "A witness corner is a monumented point near a corner. It is established only in situations where it is impracticable to occupy the site of a corner with a monument or a mark. A witness corner is a witness to the true corner point. When the true point for a corner falls at an inaccessible place, such as upon a precipitous slope or cliff where the corner cannot be marked, a witness corner is established at some suitable point where the monume...nt may be permanently constructed." - Section 4-16 from the Manual of Surveying Instruction 2009. This particular corner fell on a bedrock slope where setting a pipe would be impracticable. The surveyors came over online until they found a location where they could get the monument in the ground. Witness corners are not set a any particular distance from the corner. Thus, is it very important to review the map and notes to know the true position. I think you can see how, without reviewing the map and notes a layperson might erroneously assume the monument is the corner. Often the witness corner monument is marked with WC, but not all monuments have stamping like these. It would have been practically impossible to find the chiseled cross on this mountain slope of granite, but once we found the Witness Corner to reference from, we had a much smaller search area and discovered the chiseled cross easily. Witness Corners are set often on boundary surveys when the corner falls in locations such as a tree, stream, road, etc. #PLSS #witnesscorner #manualofsurveyinginstruction

Monument Monday - Another original 1924 GLO monument. The corner fell on a bedrock face where they couldn't set a pipe, so they set a chiseled cross in the granite at the true position and set the pipe near by (witness corner - see tomorrows post for more information). Both original pine bearing trees were still in with healed blaze scars. #GLOcorner #landsurveying #cadastral #bearingtree #blazescar #PLSS #wardmountain

Term Tuesday - CHAIN - The Surveyor's Chain is both a tool and a unit of measure. It was used for measuring distances. The Chain is 66 feet long, and has 100 links, of 7.92 inches. These units of chains and links can be seen in the notes and plats of the early land surveys. 1/4 of a Chain (16 feet) is called a Rod, Pole, or Perch and 10 Chains (660 feet) is called a furlong, a unit which is still used in horse racing. An Engineer's chain is basically the same as a surveyor...'s chain, except that it is 100 feet long, consists of 100 links, each 12 inches long, and the wire used is usually much stronger. The Engineer's Chain was used on construction projects, such as railroads, flumes, and roads. Fifty foot engineer's chains were also manufactured. W. & W. E. Gurly, and Buff & Berger, were two well know companies who manufactured chains and other precision surveying instruments #surveyorschain #origialsurveys #boundary #plss #mdshs Courtesy of Mount Diablo Surveyors Historical Society

Monument Monday - Amazing Blazes! This 1924 GLO Section Corner still had 3 of it's 4 original bearing trees. Bearing Tree #2 was a 20" Pine that was dead in 1974 per USFS notes (less than 50 years). #PLSS #GLOcorner #cadastral #landsurveying #bearingtree

TBT - This, young whippersnappers, is a "Typewriter". We used typewriters before computers to create written documents such as deeds. Thank you Gary Dixon of Dixon & Associates, Inc for demonstrating (pic is from 9 years ago). Other tools used with the typewriter were "carbon paper" (pre-copiers/printers) and "correction tape" (pre-spellcheck/autocorrect). Oh, and phones used to have cords. LOL #typewriter #landsurveying

Monument Monday - Found this "Lucky" Quarter Section Corner from 1924. The USFS notes mentioned one of the two bearing trees and said they couldn't find the corner without the notes. But that lucky horse shoe was working and we found both original bearing trees. The Juniper blaze was still open and readable. The Pine blaze was closed, but the scar still visible. Section corners were set every half mile, how many corners and accessories do you think you have walked by and never seen? #GLOcorner #landsurveying #cadastral #bearingtree #blazescar

Lots of survey monuments out there to find. Check out Kevin Nehring's blog to see lots of benchmarks. I'm sure we aren't the only one's who enjoy these quests.

Gratefull the GPS base unit could be left alone all day and someone didn't have to endure this seranade. Turn up the volume to enjoy. Can you imagine being set up here all day behind the total station?