PLSO The Oregon Surveyor Nov/Dec 2018

2 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 41, No. 6 From the Editor Greg Crites, PLS Editor MESSAGE EDITOR FROM THE O ver the years of this magazine (and my career, for that matter), one of the constant themes of discussion within our organization has been how to recruit folks into this pro- fession. I have always marveled at why we even have to ask ourselves “what’s so great about surveying?” when the answer seems to be right beneath our feet? Once you’ve read this issue, the Latin term “res ipsa loquitur” comes to mind. The “thing” speaks for itself! Pat Gaylord has regaled us with a series of articles entitled “The Lost Surveyor”, the material for which has arisen from his keen interest in this profession and the wealth of experiences he has been af- forded through his travels. Dick Bryant’s tribute to TomMcCullough is a testament to the great friendships that can be ce- mented through shared interest in this profession. I have many fond memories I can relate to the number of times I’ve had incredibly valuable original survey evidence materialize simply because I took the time to chat with a neighbor who had a piece of history in his possession but was unaware of its significance until someone like me came along who could fully appreciate what it meant. of Tom and his youthful enthusiasm for his career. Reading Dick’s tribute rekin- dled many old memories of Tom from early in my own career. Chuck Whitten has had a long and storied work life retracing and recovering long lost GLO corners. Some of those self-same ex- periences are shared within the pages of this issue. Everyone who reads this mag- azine could benefit from his knowledge of the land surveying lore of the Pacific Northwest. I know from personal experi- ence, following in Chuck’s footsteps, that he has had the great good fortune of do- ing work on surveys that carriedwith them a rich history of successes and failures. His quiver is full of stories, so many and varied, that no single article could begin to reveal the breadth and depth of satis- faction he’s derived from his career. An immeasurable benefit of having come to know him through soliciting material for this magazine and retracing his work has been that he is willing to share his knowledge with another surveyor whose perplexity over some knotty problem re- quires the expertise of someone with a more seasoned resume’ in retracing orig- inal surveys. He’s going to be presenting at our conference in January and I would encourage any of you whippersnappers to corner him after class to talk about more of his experiences. How many of you have had “ah ha” mo- ments like AndrewMiller and his recovery of the original 106 Mile post? Talk about serendipity; I can relate to the number of times I’ve had incredibly valuable orig- inal survey evidence materialize simply because I took the time to chat with a neighbor who had a piece of history in his possession but was unaware of its significance until someone like me came along who could fully appreciate what