PLSO The Oregon Surveyor Sept/Oct 2020

12 Vol. 43, No. 5 The Oregon Surveyor  | Featured Article road centerline intersections. The Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) began with the 1953 edition that replaced the Oregon Compiled Laws Annotated. Some 1800s and early 1900s engineering textbooks direct surveyors to set stone monuments at street in- tersections from which other surveyors can lay out lots as needed per the plat’s dimensions. I believe a few early plats in Bend were surveyed in this fashion, but the local standard of practice favored setting lot corners during the platting process to avoid leaving their client or the buyer holding the bag every time a lot was sold. Real estate agents comprise the third oldest profession on earth and we are all familiar with how confused they can get when ad libbing the loca- tion of a given lot or tract. With lot stakes in place it was easier for the seller and the buyer to know the extents of the lot. The 1904 Townsite of Laidlaw (Now Tumalo) The townsite of Laidlaw, comprising the West half of the East half of Township 16 South, Range 12 East, W.M. in what is now Deschutes County, was subdi- vided by the shyster William A. Laidlaw in 1904. The surveyor, C. M. Thomas of Portland, divided the 160- acre tract into more than 800 lots. (Photo 2) Laidlaw was the fifth plat recorded in what is now Deschutes County: SUBDIVISION BY DATE LOTS SISTERS SMITH BROS. 1901-07-15 72 DESCHUTES STAATS 1903-12-04 232 LYTLE ADDITION LYTLE 1903-09-04 211 BEND DRAKE 1904-05-28 350 LAIDLAW LAIDLAW 1904-08-31 800+ The town of Laidlawwas ostensibly in competition with Bend in attracting settlers, irrigation projects, business- es, manufacturing, and railroads. In one fell swoop W. A. Laidlaw platted a townsite that was larger than the three combined plats comprising the fledgling town of Bend. Through fraud and sharp dealings Laidlaw pock- eted the equivalent of millions of dollars in four short years from the investors and settlers he had bilked and then walked away from the townsite and the bogus ir- rigation project he advertised. The good citizens of the town hanged Laidlaw in effigy (twice!) and then uncer - emoniously changed the town’s name to Tumalo. The railroad bypassed Tumalo, the irrigation project was a bust, and the town became a quiet little settlement while Bend grew like a startled blowfish. In 1952, the McKenzie-Bend Highway (US Highway 20) bisected the Laidlaw plat. A handful of homes and businesses were on the north side of the highway and Photo 6: Perry’s found original monuments and digitized undisturbed “islands.” continued from previous page T