Darrell D. Shine’s Guide to [mostly] Texas Surveying

January 4, 2008

A compilation of technical papers by Darrell D. Shine, RPLS 502, LSLS Compilation by William P. Bernsen

Introducing

DARRELL D. SHINE Super Surveyor, Fisherman Extraordinaire, Jazz Banjo Player

Prevaricator, Gambler, Sunday School Teacher Lover of Beautiful Women

Specialist In

Revolutions, Civil War, Gun Running Smuggling, Bootlegging, Spying

On Request

Prayer Meetings Church Socials

Will Travel

Mr. Shine has graciously granted permission to compile and distribute these papers for the benefit of surveying education. For those who benefit from his knowledge, please support surveying education by donating to TSFI and other surveying scholarship funds, sponsoring students and mentoring young surveyors. Special thanks to Nedra Foster, Robert Young, Brianne Bernsen, Chris Conrad and William Bernsen for their parts in making this compilation possible. But most of all, THANK YOU, Darrell, for your dedication and support for Texas Surveyors, the education of future Surveyors and the positive impact you have made on your profession and peers.

CURRICULUM VITAE DARRELL D. SHINE

Darrell D. Shine founded the surveying and mapping firm of Shine & Associates in 1956. In 1994 he redirected his efforts and began to concentrate time in areas of complex land and water boundary issues throughout the state. His extensive work on water boundaries has established precedent for coastal waters and inland streams; his technical papers are being used as guidelines to establish boundaries by the legal profession, state agencies, and surveyors. He has studied streams from the Amazon River in Brazil to mountain streams in the Canadian Rockies. Shine was named "Surveyor of the Year" by the Texas Surveyors Association in 1984. He served on the Texas Board of Land Surveying from 1981 through 1987. In May 1987 the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science of Texas A & M University Corpus Christi named Shine as the recipient of the Conrad Blucher Chair for Excellence in Surveying. The Institute is committed to supporting major research in the surveying field. Shine was commissioned by the University to author a book entitled Inland and Coastal Waters of Texas and Their Boundaries, which is still in manuscript form. During his career Shine has been an instructor for various surveying courses at Texas A & M University and Lamar University as well as steadily conducting seminars across Texas. Mr. Shine has long been a proponent of “surveyors helping surveyors.” To this end he has dedicated revenue from seminars presented by him to helping aspiring young surveyors to attend college. Shine surveyed nearly a million forest acres in Southeast Texas for Kirby Forest Industries, Inc., Champion International Corporation, Temple-Eastex, Inc., and the United States Government (Big Thicket National Preserve), and others. More than 100,000 acres of marshland and coastal prairie have been surveyed for U. S. Fish & Wildlife Refuge, Texas Parks & Wildlife, and major landowners. He has surveyed 110,000 acres in South Texas (Webb County), and provided consulting services in surveying 60,000 acres in far West Texas in Andrews and Ector Counties and 400,000 acres which includes approximately fifty miles of shoreline along Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay in Kenedy County. He has surveyed approximately 240,000 acres in the Texas Panhandle including over ninety miles of gradient boundary survey of the Canadian River. He has also performed several hundred miles of gradient boundary surveys along other Texas streams across the state. In 1996 he completed a gradient boundary survey of 159 miles on one stream for the National Park Service.

Under his direction the firm mapped every parcel of land in Hardin, Chambers and a portion of Jefferson Counties in a comprehensive computer mapping system. He was formerly employed by the Texas Highway Department and Kirby Lumber Company. He was educated in Lamar Junior College and International Correspondence School. Shine served as Trustee for nine years for the Silsbee Independent School District. He also served for four years as Mayor of Silsbee. Licenses:

Texas - Registered Professional Land Surveyor – January 23, 1956 Licensed State Land Surveyor – August 29, 1977

Louisiana - Registered Land Surveyor – June 3, 1959, Retired license Memberships:

Charter Member and Past President of Texas Society of Professional Surveyors Charter Member and Past President of Deep East Texas Chapter of Texas Society of Professional Surveyors

Charter Member of Louisiana Land Surveyors Association American Congress on Surveying and Mapping since 1956 National Society of Professional Surveyors Arkansas Association of Registered Land Surveyors Surveyors Historical Society Member of Item Writers Committee for Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying

01/2008

CONTENTS The PDF file contains the following Bookmarks:

A Discussion of Riparian Boundaries, Water Law, Small Bill and Gradient Boundary

A Surveyor's Viewpoint in Preparing for a Land Boundary lawsuit A Brief History of Texas Land Surveys and General Rules of Construction

Coastal Boundaries in Texas Description of Land

Footsteps to Satellites General Land Office, County and Private Records

A History of Measurement More Precious than Gold

Navigable Waters above the Ebb and Flow North - Compared to What? And other Such Surveying Absurdities

Preparing for the RPLS Exam Professional Surveyor's Responsibilities

Some Problems in Resurveying Original Land Grants in Texas The Story of Texas Lands

What is a Stream? Why not the Gradient Boundary for all States?

Writing a Surveyor's Report