Weird survey marker.

[Cameramonkey]

So a month or two ago a survey crew apparently came through our church property and marked a stake near the corner of our driveway at the road, and another smack dab in the middle of our yard about 40% of the way back into our property. The stake by the road is nowhere near the corner of our property, by like 100'. Any idea what is up with that? And there is a corresponding marker pin driven into the ground by the 4' stake spray painted orange with orange ribbon tied to it. Its not directly in line with the street stake, unless maybe its on a magnetic heading.

And there is nothing going on in our immediate vicinity. There is a new neighborhood going in a half mile away on the next road over. And there are other survey markers along streets North and south of us. But looking around I dont see any other markers in anyone else's yards.

Any ideas what they are up to? The pin dropped in the middle of one of our greenspaces is what puzzles me most. Its not like its on a boundary, a corner marker, etc. It just seems like its in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Ingomike]

Could it be a survey monument? Rather than me trying to explain it here is a link.

Everything you should know about Monumentation! - Godfrey Hoffman Hodge

Monumentation can be described as the process of placing markers on a surveyed area of land for the purpose of distinguishing ...

ghhllc.com

 

[indyjohn]

I believe they are called reference markers. They are not in line with the property lines by purpose. The surveyors somehow use them to audit their actual property lines. They did the same thing when the surveyed our woods, pretty much as you describe.

 

[1DOWN4UP]

If your property is a odd shape,it may be a traverse mark.

 

[Cameramonkey]

If your property is a odd shape,it may be a traverse mark.

Good point. On that side of the property, the neighbor's property doesn’t go all the way back to the tree line. We own the back half of that lot. It’s like the original owners sold the front half of that lot to somebody who wanted to build but didn’t want the full depth.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

I had my property surveyed last year. I think they all use GPS now to locate everything. The only problem is (at least the unit my guy was using) the units have a hard time receiving satellite signals through a lot of tree canopy—especially pine/cedar trees in the winter time (like what happened at one of my corners). They can pick somewhat arbitrary points offset from the point they’re trying to find and then triangulate from them to the point they’re seeking. In my case, the one corner where they had to do that they placed temporary offset markers until they found the actual property corner and then removed the offset markers.

One of my other corners is actually in the middle of the county road on which I live. They drove a pin into the pavement to mark it. But he also set a reference pin along my property line about 20 feet from the corner. He said he did that so it would be easier to find the corner pin in the future, assuming the county ever repaves my road.

I’m not sure any of that applies in your case though.

 

[Mij]

Benchmark…………?

 

[Ingomike]

I had my property surveyed last year. I think they all use GPS now to locate everything. The only problem is (at least the unit my guy was using) the units have a hard time receiving satellite signals through a lot of tree canopy—especially pine/cedar trees in the winter time (like what happened at one of my corners). They can pick somewhat arbitrary points offset from the point they’re trying to find and then triangulate from them to the point they’re seeking. In my case, the one corner where they had to do that they placed temporary offset markers until they found the actual property corner and then removed the offset markers.

One of my other corners is actually in the middle of the county road on which I live. They drove a pin into the pavement to mark it. But he also set a reference pin along my property line about 20 feet from the corner. He said he did that so it would be easier to find the corner pin in the future, assuming the county ever repaves my road.

I’m not sure any of that applies in your case though.

If they pave over it the next surveyor to use it is supposed to reset the monument at proper height. (Not that they always do it.) This fact alone can greatly affect the price for a staked survey. If the company has been near recently and knows the monuments are accessible it will cost less. While they use GPS they still must locate the monuments.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

If they pave over it the next surveyor to use it is supposed to reset the monument at proper height. (Not that they always do it.) This fact alone can greatly affect the price for a staked survey. If the company has been near recently and knows the monuments are accessible it will cost less. While they use GPS they still must locate the monuments.

Yes, they found three of them to establish my survey.

 

[Mij]

Yes, they found three of them to establish my survey.

PK nails, hardened steel nails in road way, iron pipes in Ground. Each Can be located with metal detectors, wood lath with flagging will have location reference numbers and horizontal permanent mark with elevation on it. Depending on the engineering co. doing the work.JMO

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

PK nails, hardened steel nails in road way, iron pipes in Ground. Each Can be located with metal detectors

Here’s one of them that applied to me. The other two I believe are as you describe. On the roads around me, there are several of these monuments the county surveyor (I think) has placed the last few years.

 

[Mij]

View attachment 241424

Here’s one of them that applied to me. The other two I believe are as you describe. On the roads around me, there are several of these monuments the county surveyor (I think) has placed the last few years.

That looks like a bench mark used for location and most likely elevation you can see all of the references for ident. on it. Don’t recognize any state ident. Maybe local county or private engineering co.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

That looks like a bench mark used for location and most likely elevation you can see all of the references for ident. on it. Don’t recognize any state ident. Maybe local county or private engineering co.

It’s marking the corner of a quarter section. It’s been awhlie but I believe I see the township number, range, and section IDs. If I gave you the legal description of my property, you’d see those numbers on that monument.

 

[Mij]

Ya, I can extrapolate sec. S12 n S13 of course the 1/4 the rest is Greek. My work was at the state level with hi-way engineers we always had a state seal ID. I do and have had my own places surveyed it’s always a crap shoot who the county hires. Supposed to be next name on the list, but I think they use their buddies or award the bid on the cheapest bidder. I live on a range line. It’s an argument every time they resurface the road, they want to encroach on tillable ground. They use the old rite of way excuse then it cost me money for a lawyer. Dad gum .gov anyway.