See CONTINENTAL SHELF*. Legal proceedings which are instituted by the Attorney General (or other proper person) in the name and behalf of the State, but on the information and at the instigation of an individual who has a private interest in the matter, are said to be taken “on the relation” (ex relatione) of such person, who is called the “relator.” Such cause is usually entitled thus: “State ex rel. The substance of the invitation includes the terms, conditions and specifications which affect price, quality, quantity and delivery terms. See CLOSING SUBDIVISION OF SECTION CORNER, CLOSING TOWNSHIP CORNER, CROSSING CLOSING CORNER. – National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. MEXICAN CESSION – Territory included approximately within the present limits of California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, ceded to the United States in 1848 under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. FEDERAL POWER PROJECT RESERVATION – A reservation of public lands for use in connection with a power development project under the jurisdiction of the Federal Power Commission. Precise connections are made between successive models which in turn are tied to vertical and horizontal control. 4) – A chain or range of rock or coral, elevated above the surrounding bottom of the sea, generally submerged and dangerous to surface navigation. GENERAL LAND OFFICE – The agency which was formerly responsible for the execution of the public-land laws relating to cadastral surveys, land disposals, and to various other activities with respect to the administration and management of the public lands. RECEIVER – An official in the Washington office of the General Land Office who was authorized to accept cash payments for the public lands and resources. QUALIFIED (as a witness) – Persons who are accepted by the court as being professionally skilled and knowledgeable in a particular field of study or science, as surveying. The vacant and unappropriated public domain is administered by the Bureau of Land Management. See CONTERMINOUS UNITED STATES. In common practice the terms alluvion andaccretion have been used almostinterchangeably. WITNESS – A person who testifies as to what he has observed. Usually considered as an imperceptible action, the rate of erosion may be quite rapid in total effect and may be distinguished from avulsion by the absence of identifiable upland between former and new channels. Where the scale error between a geodetic distance and its grid representation exceeds 1 in 10,000 a state was usually divided into two or more zones. SOD (Land Status Records) – Sodium. The Manual of Surveying Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States, 1973, is the current manual of surveying instructions. See TOWNSITE. The seaward limit of the beach – unless otherwise specified – is the mean low water line. CLINOMETER – A hand held instrument used to measure vertical angles or the inclination of a slope. SDW (Land Status Records) – Stock Driveway. RI – Rhode Island. 2) The principal meridian, adopted in 1803, which governs surveys in the southwestern part of Mississippi is also named the Washington Meridian. 224), which provides for the homesteading of nonirrigable agricultural lands in parts of Nebraska. – Variation. Visit the various levels of the Virtual Mall to see what types of specials and deals our vendors are currently offering for Land Surveyors United Members! MA – Massachusett s. MAT S (Land Status Records) – Material site. See PEDIS POSSESSIO. Land boundaries are usually defined by ownership, commencing with the earliest owners through successive ownerships and partitions. A patent from the Government is a quitclaim deed. See PATENT, WARRANTY, BARGAIN AND SALE, QUITCLAIM DEED, and DESCRIPTION BY LEGAL SUBDIVISIONS. PRECISION – A quality associated with the refinement of instruments and measurements, indicated by the degree of uniformity and repeatability of observations. TALLY – 1) Five chains as measured with a two pole chain. The correct technical term is “Ebb Current.” TIDE, FLOOD – The movement of a tidal current toward the shore or up a tidal stream. He was appointed to the position under the terms of the Ordinance of May 20, 1785. to measure an area of land, and to record the details of it, especially on a map: Before the new railway was built, its route was carefully surveyed. See DOWER. NGS – National Geodetic Survey. To 8 yd.. RULE OF APPROXIMATION – A purely administrative expedient intended to equitably decide whether an entryman could obtain patent to more than the area provided by the Preemption and Homestead laws, still maintaining the contiguity of tract entered. See MINING ACT OF 1866, MINING LAW OF 1872 and PLACER LAW OF 1897. Translations UINTAH SPECIAL MERIDIAN – The Uintah Meridian governs surveys in a small part of Utah. SNOW BLAZE – In regions subject to heavy snowfall it is desirable survey practices to make a small additional blaze at a height of 6 or 8 feet above the ground on tree monuments and bearing trees to attract attention to them during the winter. See DISTRICT MANAGER AND RESOURCE AREA. Used in the speciman field notes in the General Instructions of 1855. UT – Utah. The railroads did not relinquish rights to lands for which they had received patents (or their equivalent) or which they had sold to bona fide purchasers prior to September 18, 1940. TCP (Land Status Records) – Timber Cutting Permit. SUPPL (Land Status Records) – Supplemental. After 1910 they wereapproved by the Surveyor General, or Supervisor of Surveys, and afterexamination accepted by the Commissionerof the General Land Office.) In field notes the point where the thread of a smaller non-meandered stream crosses the meander line of the larger stream is the confluence. 688, 43U.S.C. 121, Historical Note). S (Land Status Records) – South. ENLARGED HOMESTEAD ENTRY – A homestead entry, not exceeding 320 acres, initiated under the act of Feb. 19, 1909 (35 Stat. NP (Land Status Records) – National Park. 237, 43 U.S.C. COLO. – Colorado. RCPL (Land Status Records) - Reciprocal. See INDEMNITY LIMITS, PLACE LANDS and LIEU SELECTION. In the state coordinate systems, a grid length differs from a geodetic length by the amount of a correction based on the scale factor for the given line. MINERAL LAND ENTRY – Filing a claim to hold or purchase lands belonging to the public domain and valuable for the minerals they contain, implying a prior discovery of ore and the opening of a mine. In 1850 this was changed to sections 16 and 36. HEADQUARTERS SITE – Five acres or less of public lands in Alaska which are used as, and are subject to entry as, headquarters for a productive industry. 383) South Dakota – November 2, 1889 (25 Stat. Appendix II) Montana – November 8, 1889 (25 Stat. Native towns occupied partly by white occupants are to be surveyed under the provisions of both the Act of March 3, 1891, and the Act of May 25, 1926. See FIELD NOTES. CHAIN OF TITLE – A term applied metaphorically to the series of conveyances, or other forms of alienation, affecting a particular parcel of land, arranged consecutively from the Government or original source of title down to the present holder, each of the instruments included being terms a “link.” CHANCERY – See EQUITY. UNITED STATES MINERAL MONUMENT – A term formerly used. In determining these limits, and ascertaining the interests obtained under the various grants, legal advice may be required. PAROL AGREEMENT – An oral agreement between the owners establishing the boundary dividing adjacent land. BED – In mining, a stratum in the earth’s crust which has been formed in an approximately horizontal layer. KGRA (Land Status Records) – Known Geothermal Resource Area. CONTRACT – A binding legal relationship obligating the seller to furnish personal property or nonpersonal services (including construction) and the buyer to pay for them. Colorado – Canon City, Craig, Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction and Montrose. In modern public land surveys the term is used specifically to mean a parcel of land that lies in more than one section or that cannot be identified completely as a part of a particular section. BLM maintains these individual chronological records of each public land transaction. 2) that “The Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate shall perform all executive duties appertaining to the surveying … of the public lands.” Other statutory declarations affecting the cadastral survey program are: 25 U.S.C. CONFLICTING TESTIMONY – A contradiction or ambiguity of facts, evidence, or statements made previously or made by other witnesses. LODE – Mineralized rock lying within boundaries clearly separating it from the neighboring rock and extending longitudinally in a continuous zone or belt. CONTROL DOCUMENT INDEX – A reference file consisting of microphotographic copies of legal documents mounted in aperture tabulating cards arranged by State, meridian and township. These grants by Congress were grants which may pass title to lands without further approval or documentation by a Federal agency. See OMITTED LAND SURVEY. The term “riparian” is also used as relating to the shore of the sea or other tidal water, or of a lake or other considerable body of water not having the character of a watercourse. Accuracy relates to thequality of a result , and is distinguished from precision which relatesto the quality of the operation by which theresult is obtained. Utah – Cedar City, Fillmore, Kanab, Monticello, Price, Richfield, St. George, Salt Lake City and Vernal. WC is the abbreviation for Witness Corner when used alone or, as in this case, with another abbreviation; however, in the field notes or in simply talking about it, a surveyor would say, “Witness Meander Corner,” not “Witness Corner Meander Corner.” WD (Land Status Records) – Warranty deed. LEFT BANK (River) – The bank on the left-hand side of a stream or river as one faces downstream. sec. See VACANT AND UNAPPROPRIATEDPUBLIC DOMAIN LANDS.APPROVED CLEAR LIST – A selection which has been approved by theSecretary of the Interior or the Director ofthe Bureau of Land Management. SCHOOL-LAND INDEMNITY SELECTION – A lieu selection made by a State to compensate for School Lands which it did not secure. The two principal systems in use in the United States are the Lambert Conformal Conic map projection and the Transverse Mercator map projection. CO (Land Status Records) – Company. A boundary line between privately owned parcels of land is usually termed a property line. 676; 26 Stat. RELEASED RAILROAD CLAIMS – The lands any potential claim to which was relinquished by railroads pursuant to the Transportation Act of 1940, viz, all railroad grant lands within the primary limits of the unadjusted railroad grants for which a patent or its equivalent had not been issued and all public lands within the indemnity limits of such grants which might have been available for the selection by the railroads in satisfaction of their grants. REST (Land Status Records) – Restoration or Restored. See BACK BEARING. SI (Land Status Records) – Silver. FINAL CERTIFICATE – A document which evidences that an entryman is entitled to a patent provided that no irregularities are found in connection with his entry. See WITHDRAWAL, GENERAL ORDERS OF; RESERVATION. No. The drainage basin of the Red River of the North, south of the 49 parallel and west of the cessions by the 13 Original States, is a part of the original public domain. LU (Land Status Records) – Land Utilization. INSTRUMENT – An angle measuring device such as a compass, transit or theodolite. Adopted in 1855, it is abbreviated 6th Prin. CIMARRON MERIDIAN – The principal meridian which governs surveys in the Oklahoma panhandle; it was established in 1881. The right is limited to claims which contain the apex of the vein at or very near the surface, which are oriented with the lode line substantially along the vein and which have the end lines substantially parallel. PL (Land Status Records) – Public Law. FRAGMENTARY SURVEYS – Surveys required to identify parts of townships and sections not completed in original surveys. See MEAN LOW WATER and HIGH-WATER MARK. Powered by. CADASTRAL SURVEY APPROVAL AUTHORITY – Prior to becoming an official cadastral survey the field notes must be approved and the plat, field notes and survey must be accepted on behalf of the Director of the Bureau of Land Management by the officer to whom he has delegated this responsibility. 1157), and these surveys are no longer executed. See COLOR OF TITLE, ACCRETION, AVULSION, COLOR OF TITLE ACT, and WITHDRAWAL. See GRADIENT BOUNDARY. PRIVATE CONTEST – See CONTEST. Voluntary arbitration is;therefore, by mutual and free consent of theparties.ARBITRATOR – A private, disinterested person chosen by the parties to adisputed question for the purpose ofhearing their contention and giving judgment between them. R&R (Land Status Records) – Register and Receiver. 468 (1961).See also Bobby Lee Moore, et al, 72 I.D. INTERIOR ANGLE*. TEXAS ACCESSION – The Republic of Texas was admitted as a State in 1845, but retained title to all unoccupied lands. When cited, the section number should follow the abbreviation R.S. Adopted in 1805, it is abbreviated 2 Prin. It includes the restoration of lost corners in accordance with procedures described in the Manual of Surveying Instructions. OFFSET – 1) Moving over to a parallel line in order to avoid an obstacle. See APPROVED CLEAR LIST, PATENT, DEED, GRANT, and INTESTATE. The closing corner is located by law at the actual point of intersection without regard to its monumented location. CERT (Land Status Records) – Certificate. See WITHDRAWAL and WITHDRAWAL, GENERAL ORDERS OF. secs. TELEG (Land Status Records) – Telegraph. COMPLETION SURVEY – Executed to finish a partially subdivided township or section, or to finish parts of boundaries of townships or sections which are unsurveyed. 2) (T.R. In different times and countries it has varied from 2.4 miles to 4.6 miles. MISCELLANEOUS CONTROL – A mathematical recovery of a lost corner by allowing every known corner within a reasonable radius which was tied to the missing corner to enter into the control, each control corner being given a weight inversely proportional to its distance from the missing corner. USGS (Land Status Records) – United States Geological Survey. OUTLINES – An obsolete term sometimes used in older manuals of surveying instruction to refer to township boundaries. See RAILROAD LIEU SELECTION. Normally it is a quadrangle measuring approximately � mile on each side and containing approximately 160 acres. LOBE*. NWR (Land Status Records) – National Wildlife Refuge. WAYLEAVE – A right of way over or through land for the carriage of minerals from a mine or quarry. A vertical section of the finished hack marks resembles a double-V extending across a tree from two to six inches, depending on the diameter of the tree. See IRREGULAR BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT. “Prescription” refers to rights of use in land belonging to another, such as right of access, grazing rights or the right to divert flood waters. See SCRIBING*. “Lode,” “ledge” and “vein” are synonymous in mining law as well as in common usage. ERRONEOUSLY OMITTED AREAS – See OMITTED LANDS. The helicopter is hovered over a groundstation and the position of the flashing light is determined bycomputations. GADSDEN PURCHASE – A purchase from Mexico in 1853 to settle a question as to the limits of the Mexican Cession of 1848. In contrast, coastal marshes not covered by daily tides are “swamp and overflowed lands” within the meaning of the various “Swamp Lands Acts,” and are subject to survey. When this systematic error is detected during a retracement cadastral surveyors refer to the line as having been “sloped chained.” SLOPE CHAINING – The process of direct measurement of an inclined distance and vertical angle for reduction to its horizontal equivalent. In 1919 Oklahoma entered in suit against Texas and the United States intervened as a protection of the rights of Iowa and Comanche Indians. GUIDE MERIDIAN – An auxiliary governing line projected north along an astronomical meridian, from points established on the base line or a standard parallel, usually at intervals of 24 miles east or west of the principal meridian, on which township, section, and quarter-section corners are established. MESNE CONVEYANCE – Pronounced “mean.” An intermediate conveyance, one occupying an intermediate position in a chain of title between the first grantee and the present holder. MC – Meander Corner. ESLO – Eastern States Land Office. See GUIDE MERIDIAN, AUXILIARY GUIDE MERIDIAN and GOVERNING SECTION LINE. Each one is identified by the serial number assigned to it. TREATY WITH SPAIN, 1819 – The treaty of February 22, 1819, settled conflicting claims between the United States and Spain concerning East and West Florida. BARGAIN AND SALE – In conveyancing, the transferring of property from one to another, upon valuable consideration, by way of sale. CR PER (Land Status Records) – Crossing Permit. Terms of Service, © 2021 Land Surveyors United - Global Surveying Community 125 (1912)], it means “Federal Reporter.” FF LSE (Land Status Records) – Fur farm lease. Often issued by title-guarantee companies or by the state, as in the case of a Land Court certificate. TheArea administrative office was in Denver, Colorado.Area 4 had supervision over Alaska and the administrative office was inAnchorage, Alaska. PLAT – As used technically by the BLM, the drawing which represents the particular area included in a survey, such as a township, private land claim or mineral claim, and the lines surveyed, established, retraced or resurveyed, showing the direction and length of each such line; the relation to the adjoining official surveys; the boundaries, descriptions, and area of each parcel of land subdivided; and, as nearly as may be practicable, a representation of the relief and improvements within the limits of the survey. 204 (a) PL94-579, dated Oct. 21, 1976. ONE THIRTYSECOND (1/32) CORNER – A one-sixtyfourth (1/64) section corner. DEP – Department (of a traverse). See CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL and CERTIFICATE OF TRANSCRIPT. See HIATUS and GORE*. The adjective “dependent” applied to the term “resurvey” is for emphasis, and specifically to suggest the recovery and restoration of the prior official survey. Public ditches.ACKNOWLEDGEMENT – In regard to a legal instrument or document, formaldeclaration before an authorizedofficial such as a Notary Public, by the person who executed theinstrument, that it is his free act and deed. See PRECISION.ACEQUIA – A ditch, channel or canal through which water, diverted fromits natural course, is conducted for use inirrigation or other purposes. GEODETIC AZIMUTH – The horizontal angle at station A measured from a north south plane (perpendicular to the reference ellipsoid) clockwise to an ellipsoidal normal section passing through station B. Geodetic azimuth is determined by applying a correction to astronomic azimuth or by computations on the reference ellipsoid. MTP (Land Status Records) – Master Title Plat. See GEODETIC DATUM, TIDAL DATUM, NORTH AMERICAN DATUM OF 1927*, MEAN SEA LEVEL, LEVEL DATUM*. LEDGE – In mining law, and in popular usage in the Western States, it is synonymous with “lode” and “vein.” See LODE. PUBLIC-LAND LAWS – The laws which have been passed by the Congress concerning the administration of the public lands and the resources thereon. See GUIDE MERIDIAN and AUXILIARY GUIDE MERIDIAN. TREATY WITH SPAIN, 1795 – The southern boundary of the United States was described in definite terms by the treaties with Great Britain of 1782 and 1783, but its location was not accepted by Spain and was disputed by that country until settled by the treaty concluded on October 27, 1795. MOVE – A correction in position to be applied to a temporary stake so that the resulting point will be located at its proper position. See RAILROAD LIEU SELECTION. The positions aredetermined by computations based oncoordinate measurements of the image positions in each photograph. In 1919, a part of the Manual of 1930 was published, then the Manual of 1930 and the Manual of 1947. NORTHWEST ORDINANCE (1787) – An ordinance enacted by the Congress of the Confederation to provide for government of the Old Northwest Territory (Territory northwest of the Ohio River), and for the formation and admission of new states. PHOTOGRAMMETRIC SURVEY – An original survey in which monuments are placed at corner positions which have been pre-determined by photogrammetric techniques and equipment. See PROPERTY. A writ of error removes nothing to the higher court for re- examination except the law. TN – Tennessee. See SINGLE PROPORTIONATE MEASUREMENT and PROPORTIONATE MEASUREMENT. The object of the notice is to inform the public. As late as 1879, in Germany, a vernier was called a nonius. See INFRA and OP. FEDERAL PROCUREMENT REGULATIONS – The regulations issued by the General Services Administration implementing the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act. See PAROL AGREEMENT, PAROL CONTRACT and PAROL EVIDENCE. 3, which created the Bureau of Land Management in July 1946, the functions and powers of a “Register” were to become those of a “Manager” of a district land office. LAKES, MEANDERED – From 1851 until the issuance of the Manual of Surveying Instructions, 1973, all lakes of the area of 25 acres or more were meandered. MINERAL, VALUABLE – A deposit of a mineral ore or substance which is useful in commerce or the arts, occurring in quantity and quality sufficient to justify its mining and removal for sale; also, any quantity of such ore or substance in a vein or lode, the size and continuity of which are such as to justify an ordinarily prudent man in the expenditure of his labor and means in an effort to develop a paying mine. 2) Inrailway or highway surveying: The ground plan, showing the alinement ordirection, and components of the centerline, as distinguished from a profile, which shows the verticalelement.ALIQUOT – Contained an exact number of times in another; a part of ameasurement that divides the measurementwithout a remainder. This program is restricted to National Forest Lands and certain, designated, BLM Districts. This type of point is now called a witness point. HIGH WATER MARK – 1) The line which the water impresses on the soil by covering it for sufficient periods to deprive it of upland vegetation.