The FOUR CORNERS LEGACY

Monuments, Not Math, Define

Property Boundaries

And 1,001 Reasons Why Surveyors Plant Pin Gardens Anyway

Warren D. Ward, CO PLS 25971

March, 2012

A (property) CORNER is a point of

reference determined by the survey

process.

• A monument is the physical object set in the ground to identify a corner.

• The above concept is stated in the BLM Manual, and codified by many state statutes.

• End result: When a duly licensed surveyor places a monument, they have established a legal property corner. Subsequent surveyors DO NOT have some mystic right of superior math to discard previous surveyors’ work. Retracement, retracement, retracement!

- Four Corners

monument

set in 1875.

- 2009 News

report that

the 1875

stone was off

by 2.5 miles!

• The true

history is a

good example

of case law

for surveyors

to follow

– Some surveyors practice the frustrating act of setting multiple monuments for one property corner, or “pin gardens”

1,001 reasons surveyors give for planting pin gardens, despite the legal precedent that discourages such confusing practice.

Have a nice day! In

other words, may

your monument

prevail over some

other guy’s

touchscreen.

Deseret News Four Corners marker 2 1/2 miles off? Too late

• By Lynn Arave

• Published: Monday, April 20, 2009

• Laypeople easily use modern GPS

Laypeople can easily research surveying history, and make the wrong conclusion

Deseret News Four Corners Monument is indeed off mark

• By Lynn Arave

• Published: Thursday, April 23, 2009

• After surveyors call in to insist that there is no error

PID: NGS DATA SHEET BBCD57

Desi

gnat

ion:

FOUR CORNERS 2010

Sta

mpi

ng:

COLORADO UTAH ARIZONA NEW MEXICO 1992

Stab

ility: Monument will probably hold position well

Setti

ng: Mat foundation or concrete slab other than pavement

Desc

ripti

on:

THE STATION IS THE CENTER OF AN 8-INCH DIAMETER BRASS USDOI/BLM DISK MARKING

THE POINT COMMON TO COLORADO, UTAH, ARIZONA, AND NEW MEXICO. IT IS LOCATED

AT THE NAVAJO NATION'S FOUR CORNERS MONUMENT, MANAGED BY THE NAVAJO

PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT, TEL: 928-871-6647. THE FOUR CORNERS

MONUMENT INSTALLED IN 1992 (NGS PID: AD9256, NOW CONSIDERED DESTROYED) WAS

REMOVED AND THE DISK RESET IN 2010 DURING RECONSTRUCTION OF THE MONUMENT

AND VISITOR PLAZA. THE DISK WILL EVENTUALLY BE STAMPED "2010."

Obs

erve

d:

2010-07-07T22:39:00Z

Sour

ce: OPUS - page5 1009.28

REF_FRAME: NAD_83(CORS96

)

EPOCH: 2002.000

0

SOURCE: NAVD88 (Computed using

GEOID09)

UNITS:

m SET PROFILE DETAILS

LAT: 36° 59' 56.31568" ± 0.027

m

LON: -109° 2' 42.62051" ± 0.011

m

ELL HT: 1460.802 ± 0.003

m

X: -1664599.638 ± 0.015

m

Y: -4821995.076 ± 0.009

m

Z: 3818181.565 ± 0.023

m

ORTHO HT: 1481.544 ± 0.016

m

UTM 12 SPC 3003(NM W )

NORTHING: 4096544.982m 666054.142m

EASTING: 673944.597m 722137.487m

CONVERGENCE: 1.17671173° -0.72935591°

POINT SCALE: 0.99997275 1.00005994

COMBINED FACTOR: 0.99974356 0.99983074

Denver Post Four Corners spot is off the mark

• By The

Associated

Press

• Published:

Monday,

April 20,

2009

• Updated:

Thursday,

April 23,

2009

Cortez Journal

On the mark Four Corners National Monument officials

dedicate completion of $1M plaza work • By Hope Nealson

• Published: Sunday,

September, 19, 2010

• 18 months after first

report, the monument is

now correct.

New Mexico

Utah

Arizona

Colorado

Colorado Case Law:

Monuments, Not Math Define

Property! • Morales v. CAMB, a partnership Colorado Court of Appeals, March 22, 2007

• 2007 Colo. App. LEXIS 482, 2007 WL 851628

• Boundary dispute; subdivision monuments; monuments vs. calls.

• In this boundary dispute between the owners of adjoining subdivision lots, a simple issue was presented. The location of the boundary as described on the metes and bounds descriptions on the subdivision plat, and as shown on the plat map, favors one lot owner. (Note: Monuments set accurately throughout 1980 subdivision, two corners “off” by 13’)

• The location of subdivision monuments on the ground, placed pursuant to C.R.S. § 38-35-105(1), and approximately 13 feet south of the platted line, favors the other lot owner.

• The subdivision plat contains the required surveyor’s certificate attesting that appropriate monuments had been placed on the ground. Applying rules of survey interpretation, the latter owner wins.

• Monuments prevail over metes and bounds description (sic – see note), even if they are graphically depicted on a subdivision plat map.(emphasis added)(note: Subdivision Lots are simultaneous conveyance, not metes and bounds).

• Indeed, in this situation, the monuments are “conclusive.”See Everett v. Lantz, 126 Colo. 504, 514, 252 P. 2d 103 (1952).

• This is the holding even if (as here) the plat’s legal description does not “close” if one

defers to the monuments, implying that the monuments were misplaced at the outset. (emphasis added)

• All monuments in 10-Lot subdivision otherwise set correctly in 1980, and all acreages correct as reported on 1980 plat.

• Two 1980 monuments were set in error, or blunder, by 13’, along a 100’ lot line.

• Both Lots vacant.

• In 2003, surveyor during a “replat” discovered the discrepancy, set two new monuments in the accurate mathematical location, and filed a plat that showed the discrepancy.

U.S. Supreme Court

Monuments – Not Math Define Property!

• U.S. Supreme Court • New Mexico v. Colorado, 267 U.S. 30 (1925)

• No. 12 Original

• Decided January 26, 1925

• 267 U.S. 30

• (a) That New Mexico, upon her admission as a state, was bound by the previous recognition and adoption of the earlier location by the United States, her predecessor, and could not be heard to disavow the boundary thus recognized. P. 267 U. S. 41.

• (b) The effect of this recognition of the earlier location by the United States was not impaired by the temporary recognition of the later one by the General Land Office. Id.

• (c) After Colorado's admission as a state, her right to rely upon the boundary previously established could not be impaired by any subsequent action of the United States. Id.

• (d) New Mexico was bound also by her own recognition and adoption of the earlier line upon and after her admission to statehood. Id. .

• 2. The boundary between the States of Colorado and New Mexico is the line of the 37th parallel as surveyed and marked by Darling (emphasis added) from the Macomb monument westwardly to the 109th Meridian, and as surveyed and marked by Major and Preston from the said Macomb monument eastwardly to the Preston monument on the 103rd or Cimarron Meridian. P. 267 U. S. 39

• Page 267 U. S. 31

• The lengthy, archived explanation includes recognition of the many problems that disrupt an orderly society when survey lines and monuments are changed.

Some of Many Biblical References • Deuteronomy 19:14: Thou shalt not remove

thy neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set….

– Proverbs 22:28: Remove not the ancient landmark, Which thy fathers have set

• Deuteronomy 27:17: Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.

ASKED CREW CHIEF TO FIND ORIGINAL MONUMENT, HE SAID IT

WASN’T THERE. SET NEW PIN. SAME CREW CHIEF 15 YEARS LATER

AS PLS FINDS ORIGINAL MONUMENT, REJECTS NEW PIN ON PLAT.

ORIGINAL 1970 REBAR NOT GOOD ENOUGH? GREAT JOB OF

CALCULATING, POOR JOB OF SURVEYING!