CornerRestorationProcessInformation-MilleLacsCounty.PDFVIP

Section Corner restoration and the advancing technology of measuring By: Warren Delles, Mille Lacs County Surveyor Date: February, 2014 Global Positioning System (GPS) surveying equipment enables the capture of positions of points on the earth with a great degree of precision, confidence, and ease. The use of GPS equipment allows us the ability to efficiently collect the field data essential for the Section1 corner restoration and maintenance efforts throughout Mille Lacs County. When the original Public Land Survey was executed throughout Mille Lacs County in the mid 1800’s, far less sophisticated surveying equipment was utilized. Although astronomic observations were used to establish some controlling survey positions, much of the Section corner work was performed with a Gunter’s chain (recorded in chain lengths of 66 feet) and a surveying compass. Section corner locations were typically marked with a wood ‘post’. Reference positions to nearby trees or other objects were noted with regard to relationship with the corner ‘post’ location. The established method was well documented, and the work was well done by the original surveyors with the equipment of the time, however, the process was subject to systematic, accidental, and human errors. Footnote 1 In 1785, Congress enacted a law which provided for the subdivision of the public lands into townships six miles square, with townships subdivided into thirty-six (36) sections, most of which are one mile on a side. Basic surveying principles established by Acts of Congress and documented by the Bureau of Land Management as controlling upon the location of all public lands are of significant importance to the Mille Lacs County Section corner restoration and maintenance program: That the boundaries of the public lands as surveyed under the approved instructions, the physical evidence of which survey consists of monuments established upon the ground, and the record eviden