“Survey Gold”

Archaeology and surveying have a lot in common…

Whether its finding an ancient property corner under 60 years and 3 feet of debris, discovering a 10″ pipe in the middle of the wilderness, or setting new corners in accordance with old records, true surveying is about research, intuition, precision, sharp eyes (and mind), hard work and often…. a lot of digging.

 

Here’s some of our more memorable discoveries:

Witness Corner:

(From the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture & Construction)

A marker set on a property line, near, but not on, a corner; used where it would be impracticable or impossible to maintain a monument at the corner itself.

Witness Corner, Survey Garner Valley

Working from old notes, we found this 150+ year old witness corner 2 feet south of a steep vertical rock wall in the middle of a vast expanse of craggy hills, thick scrub-brush and painfully pointy cacti. A nearby rusted old ten-penny nail and flashing tipped us off to its proximity.

Original Section Marker:

The Land Ordinance of 1785 was created in order to encourage settlement of the frontier and provide some much needed funds to help the young US government pay off the Revolutionary War debt. Much of the frontier land was divided up into mile square sections (640 acres), then typically quartered again (and possibly again), measured and marked by a squad of surveyors and put up for sale to the public.

Original Section Marker, Survey, Garner Valley

 

Original Redwood Hub

We excavated this old redwood hub from under several feet of plants and accumulated DG, still with the original Riverside County Engineers Tag nailed to it. It had been buried along with its guard stake in the dry high desert soil of Anza for many decades.

Old Redwood Hub, Survey, Anza, CA

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