Winter 2015 In this Issue Cast Iron Monument ………………. 6 Stettnische v Lamb (1886) …….. 7 2015 Winter Convention ……… 12 Ft. Robinson State Park Fees .. 14 Historical Map of Nebraska ….. 16 Professional Surveyors Association of Nebraska’s 2015 Winter Convention. Photo courtesy of Sandy Maillie. THE NEBRASKA SURVEYOR / Winter 2015 1 THE NEBRASKA SURVEYOR / Winter 2015 2 PSAN’s 2015 Winter Conven- tion. Photo courtesy of Sandy Maillie. 2015 PSAN Officers Wayne Dietz, President (2013-2014) Dan Martinez, President Elect & NSPS (2014-2015) Winter 2015 Issue Warren Headlee, Secretary (2013-2014) John Berry, Treasurer (2014-2015) Contents: Board Members President’s Letter ………………….………………….. 4 Jason Headley (2014-2015) Cast Iron Monument ..……………………………….. 6 Brian Langenberg (2014-2015) The Land Surveyor’s Guide to the Supreme Duane Katt (2014-2015) Casey Sherlock (2015-2016) Court of Nebraska—Chapter 7 …………………. 7 Matt Tinkham (2015-2016) Summary of Board Meeting Minutes …………. 11 Jeremy Feusner (2015-2016) 2015 Winter Convention …………………………... 12 Steve Cobb - State Surveyor & SENLSA Fort Robinson State Park Fees …………………. 14 PSAN Sustaining Members …………..….……….. 15 2015 Advertising Rates Display Ads per Issue Historical Map of Nebraska ……..……………….. 16 Size of Ad Sustaining Reg. Rate Upcoming Events ……………………………………... 18 Quarter Page ** $50 Half Page $50 $100 Advertisers Index .…………………………………….. 18 Full Page $100 $150 Full Page Inside Cover $150 $200 ** Sustaining Membership ($300 annual dues) includes 1/4 ad and Exhibitors Fees at Annual & Summer Conventions. Professional Surveyors Association of Nebraska The Nebraska Surveyor is the official publication of the Professional Professional Business Card Directory Surveyors Association of Nebraska (PSAN). It is published quarterly: Win- $25/4 Issues - members only. ter, Spring, Summer, & Fall. The Winter and Summer issues are mailed to members and similar organizations on a complimentary basis. The Spring and Fall issues are only put on the PSAN website. Material pub- Classified Ads lished is not copyrighted and may be reprinted without written permis- $0.25 per word. sion as long as credit is given. Articles and columns appearing in the publication do not necessarily Advertising Information reflect the viewpoint of PSAN, but are published as a service to its mem- All ads must be submitted as black & white or color in digital (PDF or bers, the general public, and for the betterment of the surveying profes- JPEG) format or an additional charge will be made for set-up. sion. No responsibility is assumed for errors, misquotes, or deletions as Payment must accompany the advertisement request. to its contents. Contact Information: All ads must be professional in nature. Connie Arnold – PSAN Admin. Sect. PSAN reserves the right to reject any advertisement of whatever 813 Marian Rose Ave., Herman, NE 68029-4055 nature, without cause. Phone: 402-870-1738 or 402-456-7370 Published quarterly - Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall. e-mail: [email protected] website: www.nebraskasurveyor.com Sandy Maillie – The Nebraska Surveyor Editor Editor - Sandy Maillie at 402-371-7400 1004 Norfolk Ave., Norfolk, NE 68701 or email: [email protected] Phone: 402-371-7400 Proofread by Lea McKenna, Norfolk, NE e-mail: [email protected] THE NEBRASKA SURVEYOR / Winter 2015 3 President’s Letter Dear fellow PSAN members, Well, another year has come to an end. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. [president photo] It looks like Richard and Peter Johnson have a good meeting planned for January 29 & 30, 2015, in Norfolk. Before our annual meeting, please think if we should have a booth at the State Fair. We will need a lot of volunteers. There are 11 days of the fair and we will need 4 people per day. I want to thank everybody for the cards and phone calls after my recent heart surgery. Thanks to Doug for taking over for me at the Board of Directors meeting. Your President, Wayne Dietz PUBLICATION DEADLINES Issue Material Cutoff Publication Winter (printed copy) January 1 February 1 Spring (pdf on website) April 1 May 1 Summer (printed copy) July 1 August 1 Fall (pdf on website) October 1 November 1 THE NEBRASKA SURVEYOR / Winter 2015 4 THE NEBRASKA SURVEYOR / Winter 2015 5 Cast Iron Monument By Jerry Penry On December 6, 2014, a static GPS observation on the Cast Iron Monument located on the state line between Rulo, Nebraska, and White Cloud, Kansas, was performed. A Topcon Hiper V receiver was used for the 4 hour-34 minute continuous observation. A 10’-5” tall tripod was used to center over a punch mark on the top of the Cast Iron Monument. The receiver was centered over the point by use of an optical tribrach and checked with a plumb bob. The file was then submitted to OPUS for pro- cessing. The results were as follows with the horizontal position being NAD_83(2011) and the vertical position being NAVD88 using Geoid 12A: Latitude: 39°59’59.66595” Longitude: 95°19’55.47565” Ortho height: 976.547 feet (Top of monument) 970.691 feet (Base of monument) The road surface elevation below the monument is approximately 853 feet (Google Earth) making the base of the Cast Iron Monument on top of the bluff approximately 118 feet above the road. The obser- vation was made by David Hoffart, Gene Thomsen, and Jerry Penry all of Lincoln, Nebraska. This current position compares to a previous position obtained by the Kansas Department of Transpor- tation under Bill Haverkamp in 1993 with the horizontal position being NAD_83. 2 Latitude: 39°59’59.67194” Longitude: 95°19’55.47320” 1 3 Photos - 1) Cast Iron Monu- ment, 2) Gene Thomsen and 4 David Hoffart setting up the equipment, 3) Receiver mounted over Cast Iron Monument, & 4) punch mark in top of Cast Iron Monu- ment. Photos courtesy of Jerry Penry. THE NEBRASKA SURVEYOR / Winter 2015 6 The Land Surveyor’s Guide to the Supreme Court of Nebraska Chapter 7 – Stettnische v Lamb (1886) By Brian J. Portwood On the same day that the Cox case, which we have just reviewed, was decided, the Court also issued the most comprehensive decision on adverse possession that it had yet produced, taking another important step to- ward fully defining the parameters of adverse possession in Nebraska. In deciding earlier cases involving ad- verse possession, the Court had generally summarized the evidence in a relatively brief and minimalistic manner, as we have seen, but in this case the Court found it appropriate to set forth the evidence in greater detail, because many of those details were directly relevant to the controversy and the principles that would control it's outcome. The point of contention at the core of the case we are about to review was the question of what constitutes a val- id interruption of the time period required by the statute of limitations to conclusively secure title to land by ad- verse means. Since it had already been well established by this point in time that the passage of 10 years, during which period any form of land use endured without interruption, could have serious legal consequences for the ownership of the land, attorneys began to devise arguments which highlighted events that could be characterized as disruptions of that 10 year period. One such argument was that whenever land changes hands any existing possession is thereby interrupted, and another argument was that whenever an owner of record pays taxes that are due upon land to which he holds the legal title his rights in the land are thereby fully refreshed, regardless of who may be using the land. In some states, these and other similar factors can derail adverse possession, by ef- fectively resetting the statutory clock to zero upon the occurrence of such an event, making it highly difficult for an occupant of land to benefit from any statutes of limitation that have been enacted to govern actions relating to title conflicts. In Nebraska however, the Court has always endeavored to give legal and equitable effect to the legislative call for repose that is embodied in such statutes of limitation, and made it clear that such statutes will be enforced, as an important means of limiting litigation over land rights. Our present case thus demonstrates the Court's desire to both adhere to the basic premise that land rights can be lost due to negligent behavior on the part of an owner of land, and to further clarify the conditions under which adverse possession will be deemed to have been successfully completed, despite the occurrence of certain events that may be pointed out as represent- ing potential obstacles to it's enforcement. In addition, this case effectively marks the close of the era of conven- tional adverse possession in Nebraska, involving only title conflicts with no boundary issues, thus the perspec- tive on adverse possession taken here by the Court would soon enable it to become a major factor in judicial boundary determination in Nebraska. 1860 – A certain platted lot in Beatrice was conveyed to G. W. Mumford, who was evidently the first owner of the newly platted lot, which had apparently just been created in 1859. Mumford was evidently an absentee owner who did not reside in Nebraska, and had acquired the lot only as an investment, so during his ownership of the lot it was never used in any way. 1864 – G. W. Mumford verbally gave his brother J. P. Mumford authority to sell off all of his land in Nebraska. No document conveying the power of attorney thereby bestowed upon J. P. Mumford was ever recorded however. 1865 – J. P. Mumford conveyed the still vacant lot to Towle, who erected a building on it, which she operated as a store. 1867 – Towle conveyed the lot to Saunders, who took over the operation of the store.