SURVEYING YOUR OWN LAND

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Surveys always measure distance on a horizontal plane, not along the ground slope. Unless you have a calculator that's well versed in trigonometry (for equating slope distance to horizontal), you, too, must measure on the level. To do so, whenever you're traversing hilly land, you and your assistant need to hold your tape (or a measured length of string) along your directional line and exactly level (use your level to determine this). Then, let your plumb bob hang vertically down from the tape (or string) end to determine where on the ground that horizontally measured distance falls (Fig. 4). Repeat as needed to accurately measure across rises and dips.

Step three: Once you've traveled the full distance in one direction, search for the boundary marker. This is always my favorite part. Will you know it when you see it? If you're lucky, your plat or deed will mention how the surveyor marked corners. If not, you're in for some Sherlock Holmes-style detective work.

You are looking for some object artificially placed in a certain spot (Fig. 5). What kind of object? If your documents omit mention of the markers, look for a date of survey, a clue to the type of marker used. Nowadays, surveyors use well-anchored pipes or steel rods, capped with brass, aluminum, or plastic, embossed with the surveyor's registration number. But years ago, they used anything handy. That included railroad spikes, wooden stakes, even broken glass (usually from a convenient whiskey bottle).

If you know you're seeking a buried pin, you can use your compass as a metal detector (Fig. 6). Stand so the compass needle is pointing due north, then turn the compass vertical — so the needle points up. Keep facing north and move the compass back and forth over the approximate pin location, holding it about a half-inch to an inch off the ground. If the needle spins downward and points to the ground — dig.

The public land surveyors often spent months or years on the frontier, and couldn't afford to carry around a load of markers. Thus the identity of their monuments varied widely. In the prairie, they filled pits with charcoal. In the mountains, where they spent most of their time hacking brush, they simply left an etched stone buried at the section corner. They would use witness trees in their notes to relocate the marker through triangulation.

Remember, markers don't last forever. Wooden stakes may last less than 10 years. A "10 inch pine" in ancient notes may be a 20-inch pine today — or a rotting stump.

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