PUBUC WO SURVEY in MINNESOTA Prepared by JESSE E
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
REPORT PUBUC WO SURVEY IN MINNESOTA Prepared by JESSE E. FANT in cooperation with Minnesota Land Su"9J01'1 Auociation DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING-UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA-MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA Report on Public Land Survey in Minnesota Prepared by Jesse E. Fant Department of Civil Engineering University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota In cooperation with the Minnesota Land Surveyors Association February 1970 FOREWORD This report on the Public Land Survey with case studies has been written as a reference book for land surveyors. In addition, it provides a fonnat fa;· individual surveyors to follow when pre paring reports on other survey cases. In time a survey case book can be published. Most of the material contained in this report is from the auth or's lecture notes. Considerable study has been necessary to arrive at a fonnat for the case studies. The Manual Convnittee of the Minne sota Land Surveyors Association has provided many helpful suggestions. Some of the case studies included are from a 1966 Surveyors' Workshop. The field survey for Case IX was made by Mr. R. Hedman and Mr. A. Or sen as part of a class project at the University of Minnesota. A grant to the Civil Engineering Department by the Minnesota Land Surveyors Association provided funds for the initial writing and re search on this report. The author wishes to acknowledge with thanks this financial support. i TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD TABLE OF CONTENTS ii LIST OF CASES iii INTROOUCTION 1 HISTORY 10 SURVEY METHODS 16 CASE STUDIES - SUBDIVISION OF SECTION 25 BIBLIOGRAPHY 67 LIST OF CASES Page Case I Subdivision of Regular Section 26 Case II Subdivision of Fractional Section 32 Case Ill Subdivision of Fractional Section 35 Case IV Subdivision of Fractional Section 38 Mean Bearing Case V Subdivision of Fractional Section 41 Parallel with One Side Case VI Subdivision of Fractional Section 44 Astronomic Case VII Reestablishment of Lost Corner by Single 45 and Double Proportionate Measurement Case VII I Closing Corners on Standard Parallel 49 Case IX Subdivision of Fractional Section 52 Obliterated Methods Case X Township 4th Principal Meri di an 59 Case XI Townships 5th Principal Meridian 64 iii INTRODUCTION "The more extensive a man's knowledge of what has been done, the greater wi 11 be his power of knowing what to do. 11 Disraeli The difficult problem in writing this report has been the determin ation of the order and amount of material to be covered. The total in fonnation on this subject would fill many books, and if we follow the quotation above, all knowledge in the field should be used by the land surveyor in making his surveys. By necessity this report only emphasizes the important factors under consideration. Unfortunately this approach requires some knowledge of the total system: history of the Public Land Survey; survey methods of PLS; governing Federal and State statutes; proper surveying methods, court decisions and abi 1ity to interpret and "follow in the footsteps of earlier surveyors." The six General Rules 1 and the Minnesota statutes which must be followed when making section subdivision are quoted here because the prime purpose of this report is to explain and clarify their use. First - That the boundaries and subdivisions of the public lands as surveyed under the approved instructions by the duly appointed engineers, the physical evidence of which survey consists of monu ments established upon the ground, and the record evidence of which consists of field notes and plats duly approved by the auth orities constituted by law, are unchangeable after the passing of the title by the United States. Second - That the physical evidence of the original township, section, quarter section, and other monuments must stand as the true corners of the subdivisions which they were intended to represent, and will be given the controlling preference over the recorded directions and lengths of lines. 1Manual of Instruction for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States - 1947, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1947, p. 10 -1- -2- Third - That quarter-quarter section corners not established in the process of the original survey shall be placed on the line connecting the section and quarter section corners, and midway between them, except on the last half mile of section lines closing on the north and west boundaries of the township, or on other lines betweEh1 fractional or irregular sections_. Fourth - That the center lines of a re~ular section are to be straight, running from the quarter section corner on one boundary of the section to the corresponding corner on the opposite section line. Fifth - That in a fractional section where no opposite correspond ing quarter section corner has been or can be established, the center line of such section must be run from the proper quarter section corner as nearly in a cardinal direction to the meander line, reservation or other boundary of such fractional section, as due parallelism with section lines will permit. Sixth - That lost or obliterated corners of the approved surveys must be restored to their original locations whenever it is possible to do so. Actions or decisions by surveyors, Federal, State or local which may involve the possibility of changes in the estab lished boundaries of patented lands, are subject to review by the State courts upon suit advancing that issue. The Minnesota statutes related to the subdivision of sections are: CHAPTER 5 SECRETARY OF STATE 5.03 - CLERK OF GOVERNMENT SURVEYS. There is hereby created in the office of the secretary of state the position of clerk government surveys and documents for the purpose of receiving and for the safe-keeping of all the records and archives of the office of United States surveyor general for the state as soon as they sha 11 be received from the commissioner of the general land office at Washington, D. C. CHAPTER 389 COUNTY SURVEYOR 389.04 - RULES FOR SURVEYS. In all surveys the courses shall be expressed according to the true meridian, and the variation of the magnetic meridian from the true meridian shall be expressed on the plat, with the year, month, and day of the survey. In subdividing townships, sections, or parts of sections, as established by the United States survey thereof, and in reestablishing lost government corners, the county surveyor shall follow the rules established by or pursuant to acts of Congress, and all such surveys shall be made in strict conformity to the original survey made by the United States. -3- 389.05 - PLATS AND FIELD NOTES. To enable surveyors to conform to the requirements of this chapter, county boards shall pro cure and file with the registers of deeds of their respective counties certified copies of the original plats and field notes of the United States surveys. 389.06 - LOST POSTS. When a section or quarter section post originally fixed by the United States survey is destroyed, the surveyor shall fix a new post in accordance with the field notes of the United States surveyor, with similar marks to those placed on like posts by such surveyor. The Minnesota statutes quoted ahove state thct thP section subdivision methods in Minnesota follow the rules for subdivision of the Federal gov ernment. The interpretation of these rules is the main purpose of the report; however, there are other principles that should be analyzed and explained to give a proper perspective to the problem. The common heard remarks of some abs tractors, engineers, geograph ers, land surveyors, and lawyers are: (l) This survey was a land re source survey and the surveyors did a very poor job in classifying timber, land and mineral resources; (2) The survey accuracies of the PLS are so poor that the information cannot be used for today's surveys; (3) All of the surveys were made by incompetent people and many of the surveys were fraudulent; and (4) Many monuments were not set in their correct posi tions. uther statements of a similar nature could be added to this list. Although the surveyors were instructed to show in their notes all streams, roads, springs, swamps, ponds, stone quarries, coal beds, peat or turf grounds, mounds, precipices, caves, falls, minerals, ores, quality of soi 1, timber mines, and salt licks, this inventory was net the primary aim of the PLS. These men were not educated as geographers, foresters or geologists and their notes varied considerably in reporting the above items. They did have considerable nature lore which resulted in a good timber and land inventory. The survey accuracies were low but this has nothing to do with -4- the present-day use of the PLS. Even today, as we approach more nearly true measurements, any preexisting sys tern, even one of a few years ago, becomes subject to rerinement. The government surveyor did his surveys with crude and low accuracy instruments, the compass and the Gunter's chain, in the wilderness preceding settlement. This survey was one of few in nistory in which the land \-Jas surveyed before settlement and sold to individuals. The Public Land Survey was a remarkable achieve ment, quite accurate for the time, and supported oy legislation which made ttle survey usable for all time if the monuments had been pre served. State, county and local governments have not maintained the monu ments nor have the land surveyors educated the land owner in the value of these monuments; hence many thousands of i ndi spensab le property mark ers are missing at this time. Naturally using the original field notes without the monuments results in many new positions for property corners. Tt1e proolems connected with a complete remonurnentation program are stag gering and the costs of surveys with incomplete monumentation are tre mendous.