PLSO The Oregon Surveyor November/December 2021

14 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 44, No. 6 Featured Article continued T the property over the easement to get to the gravel pit? This is an area of legal interpretation. If the buyer wants to remove the easement as a pre-condition of sale, it is likely up to the owner to meet with the county to get a written release from the easement. In terms of advisement, this becomes a job for an attorney, not a surveyor. A Case of Unclaimed Land A property owner wants to build a drive- way to access a county road. The driveway routes across a small triangle of land that encompasses approximately 500 square feet. When the property owner looks at his property map, it appears that this miniscule triangle of land is part of the property owner’s property, because his property boundary borders the county road and the small triangle of land is on his side of the road. However, the prop - erty owner’s survey map shows that there is a section line that bounds the north side of the owner’s property. This sec- tion line ends about 15 feet short of the border of the county road, and does not include this very small triangle of land that the property owner wants to cross with his driveway. The property owner goes to the county assessor’s office. He wants to know who owns this small piece of land. The coun- ty assessor tells him that there is no tax record of anyone owning the land, that it is too small to even assess, and that, as far as the assessor is concerned, it makes the most sense that the property own- er should own the land, since it is on his side of the road. The assessor then ad- vises the property owner to check with the county recorder to see if there is any more information. The property owner visits the record- er’s office. The recorder’s records show that all of the land on the north side of the owner’s property that is in the other section belongs to the state. Since the 500-square-foot triangle of land is north of the section line, it is state property. The property owner wonders if he can just claim this land under the legal doctrine of