PLSO Oregon Surveyor Vol. 40 No. 6

18 what is nowORS 92. This law gave specifica- tions for the initial point (stone or concrete 6”x6”x24” or galvanized iron pipe 2”x36”), street intersections and exterior boundary points (stone or concrete 6”x6”x24”, galva- nized iron pipe 1”x30”, or iron or steel rods 5/8”x30”), and lot corners (galvanized iron pipe 1/2”x24” or iron or steel rods 1/2”x24”). (1947 Or. Laws, pg. 518, Chapter 346 §2). From 1947 on the monuments deemed ‘proper’ have always been defined explicitly. So, from1855 to 1947, surveyors could set pretty much whatever they wanted at lot corners, as long as they deemed it prop- er. The question is, what did they actually use? Did surveyors follow the 1870 statute for corners and set wood stakes 3 inches by 3.5 feet? I suspect that many survey- ors of the late 1800s wouldn’t go to all the work of driving hundreds of stakes 2 feet into the ground, when the 1870 statute let them get away with something less. While most early plats do not state what monu- ments were set, a fewdid. InH.H. Johnson’s 1906 plat of Whitman’s 2nd Addition to Woodburn (below), he states that he set wooden stakes at all lot corners. No note about the size, of course. Andrew Plett was a 2006 graduate of the geomatics program OIT, and recipient of PLSO and ACSM scholarships. He is currently licensed in Oregon and Washington, and practices at OBEC Consulting Engineers in Vancouver, Washington. Proper Monuments Whitman’s 2nd Addition to Woodburn Other town plats show pipes and other monuments for lot corners. Surveyors of the day used the entire gamut of materials available to them for monuments. It is unfortunate that early surveyors probably used mostly wooden stakes, and did not describe what they set. Surveyors in Oregon are quite familiar with the details lacking in all parts of early subdivision plats. Some were even done in a manner that suggests the surveyor spent little to no time in the field and cre- ated rectangular blocks in rough terrain, such as in Scotts Mills or what is now Forest Park in Portland. In other cases, however, early surveyors took a bit more care. On a recent survey that I completed in Gladstone, recovered a couple stones set at street inter- sections in the original plat of Gladstone in 1893. The original surveyor, Sidney Smith, had the foresight to not just set a gas pipe at the initial point, but set at least 10 stones at various street intersections in the plat. Later surveyors were able to use these stones to perpet- uate the subdivision, and apparently set brass screws at 4’x4’ offsets from block corners through a large part of Gladstone. Unfortunately, a large proportion of the original sidewalks have been removed at block corners for ADA ramps, but in places where they remain, the old screws can still be found. T continued The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 40, No. 6