The Lost Quarter Corner in a Golf Course
Section 14, T43S, R25E, was subdivided by the GLO in 1873. The north quarter corner was called for as a 3-inch cypress post with a mound and pits. The area is now a golf course; excavation has removed all trace of the post, pits, and bearing trees. You find the northwest corner and northeast corner of Section 14 as original stone monuments. The GLO plat gives the north boundary as 80.00 chains, with 40.10 chains from the northwest corner to the quarter corner and 39.90 chains from the quarter corner to the northeast corner. Your GPS/traverse measurement between the two found corners is 5,268.40 ft. The calculated quarter-corner position falls within a paved golf-cart path. The club wants the corner set at the edge of the path to avoid cutting pavement and asks you to "just use the record distance from the northwest corner."
1. How do you reestablish the lost quarter corner, and what is the calculated position?
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Because both section corners on the line are original and accepted, use single proportionate measurement between them. The record total is 80.00 chains, or 5,280.00 ft. The measured total is 5,268.40 ft. The proportion is 5,268.40 / 5,280.00 = 0.997803. The record distance from the northwest corner to the quarter corner is 40.10 chains, or 2,646.60 ft. Multiply by the proportion: 2,646.60 × 0.997803 = 2,640.79 ft. Therefore set the reestablished quarter corner 2,640.8 ft from the northwest corner along the measured line toward the northeast corner; the remaining distance is 2,627.61 ft. Do not simply use the record 2,646.6 ft from the northwest corner, because that ignores the measured line and puts the corner about 5.8 ft too far east. The GLO field notes and bearing trees are supporting evidence, but with no trace remaining, the original section corners and the plat proportions control.
2. What monument should be set, and how should it be marked and documented?
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Set a durable monument of the type required by the Board's minimum technical standards and acceptable to the governing body-typically a 5/8-inch rebar with a cap or a concrete monument-at the calculated position. Mark it with your license number, the corner name, and 'reestablished' or an equivalent notation. Record the basis of the position in your field notes: the found northwest and northeast corners, their descriptions, the measured distance, the GLO record distances, the proportion factor, and the calculated bearing and distance. Show the corner on the survey map with a note that the original cypress post was not found and that the position was reestablished by single proportion. If the point falls in pavement, do not move it to a convenient edge without documenting why; set a flush monument if the owner permits, or set a witness monument at an offset with a measured tie and label it clearly as a witness, not the corner itself.
3. The club argues that the record distance from the northwest corner is 'more accurate' because the GLO plat is the original record. How do you respond?
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The GLO plat is the best record of the original corner's relative position, but it is not a measurement of the current line. The original corners are the controlling evidence, and they show that the actual distance between them is 5,268.40 ft, not 5,280.00 ft. Proportioning preserves the original record relationship between the corners; using the record distance from one end would create a corner that is inconsistent with the other original corner and would distort the remaining distance. The club's approach would also make the quarter corner's position depend on which end you start from, which is not acceptable. Explain that the pavement is an occupation feature, not a boundary control. If the club wants to avoid cutting pavement, you can discuss a flush monument or a witness corner, but the boundary position itself must come from the proportionate measurement.