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Greetings Surveyors!
I'm confronted with a difficult situation here in Santa Barbara regarding retracing original GLO surveys, potential fraud of 1891 retracing of the same lines and the potential for telegraph transcriptions fouling the 1891 surveyors efforts to get their contract survey started for the GLO.
I've submitted a request for a group to address the specifics, and hope the request is granted so others with the courage, integrity and interest can help address this for the benefit of the profession of surveying generally.
I've been working on monument location and using the original 1873 notes of W.H. Norway, who was shown to be fraudulent himself in his later years, which clouds the issue of fraud badly. The fraud he was found guilty of was in the Monterey area late in his career. Other reports of his work near Bishop California show that his work when he was younger was quite exceptional in comparison with many of his peers. Basically his section corners in that area were found by modern methods to be +- 6.0' feet from his stated locations, over a number of townships.
It seems that this issue could effect surveyors appreciation of past work and problems encountered, as well as future work and how to deal with it. There is a lot of history and experience coming together to approach a specific set of surveys that can be an excellent reference if surveyors are made aware of the issue.
Fraud in surveying is a sensitive issue, but the integrity of surveyors towards doing the best work possible is so great, that I feel this matter can be reasonably dealt with and an acceptable methodology for dealing with the problem when it arises settled upon, informally by professionals working in the industry today.
Included is an image of a pit for a 1/4 corner set in 1873 by Norway, cut into solid sandstone, intentionally plugged with a rock, which was found after unraveling a number of blunders in notekeeping that had gone unnoticed for over a century fouling all other efforts at retracing the original surveys.
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Replies
I thought I should post a pic of the "+" mark found which most people cannot even distinguish as an "+" or a man made mark.
The fact that no surveyor describes finding or setting an "+" really tops the problem off with serious question as to HOW this is justified in moving a 1/4 corner line 30' south. Particularly when the 1/4 pit in the pic above was found with redwood roots from the accessory tree!
See the web site for an explanation of why northern section lines are all shifted north.