A man bought 10 acres of land near Williams in a large open area with very little infrastructure. He thinks it will be worth something in the future. However, he had no idea exactly where his ten acres were, nor where the corners were. A surveyor offered to mark the corners for $2500, so he called me instead.
It was a long drive from Phoenix, but I liked the challenge so I took the job. First, I had to look at the county site to find the plat for that subdivision. Once I saw where the lot was supposed to be, then I marked the distances and directions to know where to work. I drove out, very glad I had my four wheel drive, as the road was nearly impassable in more than one spot. When I got close, I used a GPS positioning app to make sure I was on the right property to start. None of the “roads” were named or marked, so it was easy to be in the wrong spot.
After assuring I was in the correct spot, I started by looking for the first corner. They were marked a few decades ago when the land was developed, and the rebar was still in the ground. I found the first corner. Then, I had to use my old boy scout experience of map and compass. I lined up the correct direction on the compass, then had to use my “pace” to determine 660 feet. The topography was up and down, so that had to be taken into consideration too. I walked what I thought was 660 feet, in the exact direction my compass told me to walk, and stopped. Then, I looked around. There was a pin literally about 4 feet away from me. I was surprised I was so close, after too many years since scouting, but marked the second corner. I did the same for corners 3 and 4, both another 660 feet away, and marked all four corners. The owner was ecstatic, s he had tried to find the corners and could never get close enough to see them. Two of the four were visible, and two were buried under dirt from all the years, and needed the metal detector to find. All 4 were marked and I went home. Happy and successful.
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