PLSO Oregon Surveyor Vol. 40 No. 6

16 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 40, No. 6 By Andrew Plett, PLS What Did They Mean by “Proper Monuments”? Proper Monuments W e’ve all read it. The surveyor’s cer- tificate of some old town plat reads something like, “correctly surveyed and marked with proper monuments the lands as represented.” Most of the time these plats lack any bearings, their boundary descriptions don’t close, and the plat doesn’t havemonument symbols or any description of what was set. When faced with retracing the boundaries of a lot in one of these plats, there is little to go on in answering the cardinal question: “What does an original monument look like in this plat?” This article is the result of my pondering on the possible mean- ing of the term ‘proper monuments.’ In it, I will retrace the history of Oregon law on the subject and provide a few examples of how it played out in the early twentieth century. Current Oregon law is quite clear about what a proper monument is, as our read- ers well know. ORS 92.060 states that all monuments set for subdivision, partition, and condominium plats must be 5/8” or greater iron or steel rods or 3/4” or great- er galvanized iron pipes, all being at least 30” long. ( Or. Rev. Stat. §92.060 (2015)) Unfortunately, the early laws on town plats are not clear on what they mean by ‘proper monuments.’ In fact, it wasn’t until 1909 that the town plat laws even addressed monumentation. To get di- rection on monuments before that time, surveyors would need to look to the laws regulating county surveyors. In 1870, for the first time, monuments were specified for use by surveyors as follows: “Fourth, establish every corner of every survey by a stake of durable wood, not less than three inches in diameter, or less than three and one half feet long, firm- ly planted, not less than two feet in the ground, or by a stone containing not less than 1,000 cubic inches, stating the size, or by a bar of iron, from either of which the bearing and distance shall be accu- rately taken to two or more living trees of more than three inches in diameter, within five chains of the corner, which trees shall each be blazed in two places, one near the ground, the other from two to four feet above. Upon the former blaze shall be legibly cut in the wood the letters B.T., (for bearing tree) upon the lat- ter blaze, in like manner, the letters C.S., (for county surveyor) and if there be no bearing trees, then the corners shall be es- tablished by depositing stone, glass, iron, charcoal, charred stake, or some very du- rablemineral beneath the stake, stone, or iron corner, and amound of earth not less than four feet square at the base, and eigh- teen inches in height, shall be compactly formed around it; and two pits, eighteen inches square and one foot deep, shall be dug on opposite sides of the mound, at a distance of five feet from the corner. When a stone of not less than 2,000 cubic inches, or a bound of rock not less than three feet square and eighteen inches in height, or a bar of iron two feet long and not less than two inches broad and one half inch thick is used, then the earth- mound and pitsmay be omitted; provided, that in surveying town lots such corners may be used as are deemed proper; but in every town there shall be at least two permanent corners established with rock or iron.” (“An act to definemore particular- ly the duties of county surveyor,” October 20, 1870 §1, 1870 Or. Laws Pg. 43 1870) Based on these specifications, we see that surveyors were given full discretion to set whatever they wanted in a town plat, as long as there were two permanent mon- uments. Before 1870, monumentation was not discussed, even in the county surveyor’s statute. In 1891, a lawwas passed for Benton and Clackamas counties that required all town plats filed for recording in those counties have an affidavit from the surveyor. This affidavit was very similar to the survey- or’s certificate of later years, stating that he surveyed the land correctly, marked with proper monuments, that he placed a stone at the initial point with a refer- ence to a GLO corner, and with bearing trees at the initial point when practicable. (1891 Or. Laws, pg. 61 §4) In 1909, the rest of the state followed Benton and Clackamas counties’ lead with an act that regulated town plats much more closely. Like the 1891 act, this act discussed the initial point, but, instead of stating it was to be just a “proper stone monument,” it states: “The initial point…shall be marked with a monument, either of stone or galvanized iron pipe; if stone be used it shall not be less than six inches by six inches by twelve inches, and if galvanized iron pipe be used it shall not be less than two inch- es in diameter and three feet long, which said monument shall be set or driven six inches below the surface of the ground, and the location of the same shall be with reference to some known corner estab- lished by the United States survey, or two or more objects for identifying the loca- tion of the same.” (1909 Or. Laws, pg. 123 Chapter 70 §1) In §2 of the act, it mentions the ‘affidavit of the surveyor,’ in which the surveyor states that “he has correctly surveyed and marked with proper monuments the lands as represented,” Because the 1870 law regulating county surveyors was still in effect in 1909, the proper monuments mentioned here is certainly a reference to the terminology used in the 1870 statute. A surveyor’s discretion was allowed in monumentation of town plats and sub- divisions until 1947. In that year, we see the first edition of the modern form for Gladstone, Blocks 22 to 103 inclusive, and fractional blocks C to H, 1893 During my research, I was somewhat frustrated by finding that the state laws of the late 1800s don’t really answer the question of what monuments were used in subdivision plats. In practice, surveyors will need to continue to piece together the best evidence available of the lo- cation of lot boundaries, as they have always done. Hopefully, this knowledge of the history of plat monumentation in Oregon will prove useful to the readers. continues T