Ranch corner markers in California

[Rhune]

Would love some info from CA ranchers.

I am being told that all corner markers in CA are brass medallions on an 8x8x12 inch monument stone.

Seems a bit much. True/false?

Thanks in advance!

 

[HDRider]

Ask a Cali surveyor.

 

[Rhune]

I thought I'd ask some Cali ranchers...

 

[Supa Dexta]

I know around here only a main one would be like that, not sure the name.. Like a triangulation station or something.. Its the main one they work off of, to break down areas further. From there, property corners only get a wooden or metal marker.

 

[Rhune]

Thanks Supa Dexta,

This is specific to San Diego county. Their surveyors office doesn't appear to have a phone and only accepts emails or walk ins (I'm in Oregon and they aren't responding to my emails).

 

[talltimber]

I did just a very brief search and didnt quickly find anything about it, but I would doubt that ALL property corners in CA are what you mention. Now, there may be areas, or one specific survey company that uses such monumentation, normally. Our monumentation varies, according to client (private, COE, etc) and location (water, solid rock/concrete, soil, etc), so I assume that they do that out there as well.
We use capped rebar quite often for private surveys, normally a plastic cap about 1" diameter.

 

[dun]

I think those type of monuments are used for section corners. Seems I recall that from many years ago

 

[callmefence]

In Texas it's as dexta said. The monument is a benchmark, a known spot for a surveyor to start from. Has no actual ties to a property line. Often found in right of ways.

 

[Rhune]

Dun,

I was thinking the same thing. Section corners or DLC markers.

I have a neighbor that is trying to push a prescriptive easement across my property. Part of his argument is that the capped markers we use here in Oregon aren't the robust corner markers they use in CA... its a stupid argument that is part of a larger stupider argument.

I'm just trying to birddog some information for my lawyer instead of paying him 250/hr to do it.

 

[dun]

Dun,

I was thinking the same thing. Section corners or DLC markers.

I have a neighbor that is trying to push a prescriptive easement across my property. Part of his argument is that the capped markers we use here in Oregon aren't the robust corner markers they use in CA... its a stupid argument that is part of a larger stupider argument.

I'm just trying to birddog some information for my lawyer instead of paying him 250/hr to do it.

There should be a state surveyor check with that office.

 

[greybeard]

In Texas it's as dexta said. The monument is a benchmark, a known spot for a surveyor to start from. Has no actual ties to a property line. Often found in right of ways.

Yep, and at a bridge head foundation--something that ain't likely to move.
Property corners here for a long time could be a tree.
'Beginning at the 8" white oak tree sw corner of Dobie survey....blah blah blah'

 

[lavacarancher]

In Texas it's as dexta said. The monument is a benchmark, a known spot for a surveyor to start from. Has no actual ties to a property line. Often found in right of ways.

Yep, and at a bridge head foundation--something that ain't likely to move.
Property corners here for a long time could be a tree.
'Beginning at the 8" white oak tree sw corner of Dobie survey....blah blah blah'

Yes, you're right the state of Texas used to specify property description that way, but they don't do it like that anymore. My family used to have a property description that went back all the way to the original Spanish land grant and the way it read was " …ride a fast horse NNW for two and one half hours whence you will come upon an Oak tree leaning over a dry branch. Turn and head to the West for three hours where you will find a limestone rock ….." Interesting reading but not a very accurate way to delineate property corners.

The markers described in the original post are called geodetic markers and are used for starting points for future surveys. In Texas almost any piece of metal can be used for a corner marker. Typically, a three foot piece of 1" pipe driven into the ground so that it is just below ground level will suffice. Very easy to find with a metal detector.

 

[greybeard]

Yep, surveyors drove 3/4" rebar at every corner here in 2007, and they're noted on the survey. Rebar rusts out so quick tho, I had some old solid axle shafts and drove them in right beside the rebar, leaving the wheel flange right at ground level.

 

[callmefence]

Ran into one of the old concrete benchmarks
Saturday, remembered this thread..
Not a corner but a benchmark. Literally in the middle of nowhere.

 

[talltimber]

Does it have anything imprinted or chiseled into it. A cross, or any way of determining a point to measure from/to? No labeling of any kind?

 

[callmefence]

 

[talltimber]

That's cool. Looks like there may have been something attached over the top of where the cross is at one time