The Rest of the Story............................ pg 9 The LongWay Around, Part II.........pg 18 The Oregon September/October 2022 A publication of the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon
Editorials From the PLSO Chair, by Jeremy Sherer, PLS, PLSO Board Chair 4 From the PLSO Office, by Aimee McAuliffe, PLSO Executive Secretary 6 Featured Articles Twice Told Tales: The Rest of the Story, by Chuck Whitten, PLS 9 Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World, by John Thatcher, PLS 13 The Long Way Around, Part II, by Mike Fallert, PLS 18 Surveying the Surveyors, by John Richmond, PLS (WA, OR) 22 Columns Member Spotlight, by Vanessa Salvia 14 Surveyors in the News, by Pat Gaylord, PLS 16 The Lost Surveyor, by Pat Gaylord, PLS 24 On the Cover Dane Mead took this photo of an old brass cap marking the northeast corner of Donation Land Claim (DLC) 56 in T. 37 S., R. 2 W. set in 1926. It’s uncommon for the markings on these caps to be hand-scribed. Usually, they’re made with a stamping tool. It’s located about 50 feet north of Biddle Road, which is one of the busiest county roads in Jackson County. The photo was taken on September 28, 2021. Dane is president of Meade Surveying LLC and is president of the Rogue River Chapter of the PLSO. The Oregon Surveyor is a publication of the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon (PLSO). It is provided as a medium for the expression of individual opinions concerning topics relating to the Land Surveying profession. Address changes & business All notifications for changes of address, membership inquiries, and PLSO business correspondence should be directed to Aimee McAuliffe, PO Box 230548, Tigard, OR 97281; 503-303-1472; execdirector@plso.org. Editorial matters & contributions of material The Oregon Surveyor welcomes your articles, comments, and photos for publication. PLSO assumes no responsibility for statements expressed in this publication. Editorial matters should be directed to Vanessa Salvia, vsalvia@gmail.com. Advertising policy Advertising content and materials are subject to approval of the PLSO Board and LLM Publications. The publisher reserves the right to reject any advertising that simulates copy; material must be clearly marked as “Advertisement.” For advertising, contact: Ronnie Jacko, ronnie@llmpubs.com; 503-445-2234, 800-647-1511 x2234. A publication of the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon Executive Secretary Aimee McAuliffe PO Box 230548 Tigard, OR 97281 503-303-1472 Toll-free: 844-284-5496 execdirector@plso.org www.plso.org Published by LLM Publications 503-445-2220 • 800-647-1511 www.llmpubs.com Advertising Ronnie Jacko, ronnie@llmpubs.com Design Jon Cannon © 2022 LLM Publications Editor Vanessa Salvia Publications Committee Tim Kent, Interim Chair Pat Gaylord Contents Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon @ORLandSurveyors The Oregon Vol. 45, No. 5 September/October 2022
2 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 5
3 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Ronnie Jacko ronnie@llmpubs.com | 503-445-2234
4 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 5 From the PLSO Chair MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Tomorrow “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow just as well,” the writer and humorist Mark Twain once claimed. Procrastination is the gift of dispiritedness; it’s the thief of time. The last issue’s column from your Chair and CEO was missing in action (MIA) from our magazine. Yet, who can accuse me of tardiness when excuses are many? Bound by the dread and anxiety of perfection, shame and guilt become my captive. Like my procrastination, many of you are captive to our organization out of guilt or a need for perfection. Our organization stands on the shoulders of our founders, who laid the foundation for excellence. Our generation has tried to perfect it, but for many, it has only led to emotional and mental exhaustion-burnout. Something’s Amiss Something is amiss in how our mission is executed and how our corporate structure is organized. Our mission is to promote the profession. To most, it means marketing and advertising, including outreach programs for young people and the community we serve. We have been marketing and advertising for years to no benefit. Something is amiss. Our corporate structure includes a senatorial-based board, with an executive function primarily in the executive secretary. Most decisions are centralized at the executive and committee level and are authorized by a continually rotating board and chair. Chapters do not contribute to corporate functions other than electing representatives and voting on corporate matters. Some chapters are dying, others have gone rogue, and the rest are somewhere in between. Something is amiss. At a Crossroads Our organization is at a crossroads. Some of us have already left, some are holding out, but only a few will fight for something better. We are at a junction between doing the same thing repeatedly or taking a different path. One that builds on the foundations of those that came before us. The direction we take will be a path for the rising generation to follow. But before embarking on a new path, we must take stock and be honest with ourselves and each other. The first step is to acknowledge the problem. If you see someone drowning, recognize the problem. The person in the water can’t swim. It does no good to describe the water—throw the person a life vest. Once the problem is acknowledged, we must be able to forgive ourselves and each other. Finally, we must have faith in a vision that allows human flourishing in our profession. There Is Hope There is hope for those exhausted from trying to perfect our organization. Perfection is the fear of failure; the absence of hope. Perfection is not our hope; it is excellence. Excellence does not require the unattainable desire for perfection, only forgiveness. Perfection demands a denial of human nature; excellence embraces it. Excellence is facing our imperfections but trying anyway. Perfection produces frustration; excellence involves faith. Faith is a rational belief that something will happen. Taking the first step is a precondition. No one builds a house all at once; the bricks are laid one at a time. The goal of excellence is human flourishing, while the pursuit of perfection is freedom from defects. The former brings hope, the latter only disappointment. There is hope. Procrastination Is Not an Option Our profession is aging, and we do not have a plan to bring up the next generation of surveyors. There are challenges, but putting off the inevitable is not an option. As I previously mentioned, something is amiss with how we implement our mission and our corporate structure. Our mission to promote the profession is self-serving, and our organizational structure is centralized. It discourages consistency and frustrates long-range planning needed for an energetic, vibrant organization. Jeremy Sherer, PLS PLSO Board Chair Taking the first step is a precondition. No one builds a house all at once; the bricks are laid one at a time.
5 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org From the PLSO Chair Our Challenge Our challenge is to find a path that embraces our shared humanity and our desire to serve. Goodness is our shared humanity; a good Land Surveyor has mastery over the art and skill of surveying with an honest charter. Excellence is expressed through our desire to serve. To serve well as a Surveyor is to do what is equitable and just. Our challenge is agreeing on the path toward human flourishing as Professional Surveyors. Working with a diversity of thoughts and ideas is messy. We will never agree on everything, but we must agree on the principles that make a good Surveyor, developing excellence in our profession, toward a common idea of our duty to humankind. Meeting the Challenge With these challenges, let me offer a path toward bringing up this Organization and preparing it for the next generation to flourish. First, let’s look to the future and have a vision. We touched on it a few years ago but have not finished the work. Like a land survey, a Good Surveyor needs a point established in moral and ethical character, a direction toward excellence in the mastery of the art and science of surveying, and a destination toward a duty to self, the profession, and society. The last proposed vision statement met these three criteria: “Our vision is to achieve excellence in the art and science of the practice of Surveying by building on an individual’s character that produces professional fellowship and the virtue of justice.” (PROPOSED VISION.) Second, let’s reimagine a more energetic organization that encourages excitement and unleashes creativity. A structure that is unshackled from a topdown, committee-centric approach to one that fosters Chapter independence and Executive consistency with a Chair- President. We are already tinkering around the edges. This year we are looking at a ByLaws change tomake the Chair a President- Chair who serves a two-year term. Finally, let’s prepare the next generation to be good Surveyors. This includes our work in the Practices Committee who are dedicated to Leadership Academy and Professional Development Programs that train young and old Surveyors toward a vision of a Good Surveyor, excellence in our profession, and duty to society. The Leadership Academy is presently working on an Emerging Leadership program that will be a Chapter lead, Mentorship Practicum focusing on the Past, Present, and Future of Professional Surveying in our Society and Organization. Preparing the next generation also includes our continual partnership with OSBEELS to create a path toward licensure that fits the reality of how many of us become Surveyors. Barriers to licensure can be lowered while ensuring that it maintains rigor. Many have already participated individually or corporately in the Task Force meetings. Last March, the Board provided a statement on the initial draft on licensure, which can be viewed on the Chair’s Corner on our website. Get Involved Today We don’t have tomorrow or the day after. Today is the day to take the first step. I am asking you to join our Practices Committee to promote Good Surveyors and Excellence in our Profession. If the Practices Committee is not for you, please consider volunteering in other ways. If you are interested in being involved, please call me today at 541-517-8205. If you are interested in joining this team, please get in touch with our office or the Chair at 541-517-8205. How to Send Us Your Work Please email the editor Vanessa Salvia with submissions. vsalvia@gmail.com Your submission should be in .doc format. Please send images separately (not embedded in the document) and at the highest file size available (MB size range versus KB size range—larger sizes are encouraged). Please include the author’s name and email address or phone number for contact.
6 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 5 From the PLSO Office Aimee McAuliffe, PLSO Exec. Secretary Marketing is Changing, Are You? If you are on social media, have children or grandchildren, you may have heard of the term “influencer.” It’s not something that often comes up in the land surveying community. We tend to be a little more introverted (except for maybe Mike Berry and Shaun Fidler) and detail oriented versus big picture highlights. With that said, we are trying to appeal to a younger crowd to replenish our workforce, so it’s time we got a little savvy. In essence, an influencer is someone who promotes and creates trends by using their celebrity personality status. Before you roll your eyes and start blaming everything on Millennials not wanting a “real job” let’s understand that, while it hasn’t always been a job title, the idea of someone being an influencer existed in American culture for centuries and even longer in human history. In ancient Rome, gladiators would endorse products, the 1700s saw England’s royalty give its stamp of approval on tea sets, and in 1930s America the dawn of celebrity influence on fashion began. With our history in mind, according to the Oxford Dictionary the modern-day term influencer is “a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media.” Seems easy enough, right? You can’t technically claim the job title of influencer until you have a platform. What is that, you say? It’s pretty much the modern-day stump—buyer beware, as the truth is ambiguous. If you want an official definition for context, Technopedia explains that “social media platforms are used by people to publish their daily activities, comments and photos as well as re-publish information posted by others.” “Oh, but that’s easy,” you think! “I’ve been doing that for years on Facebook since 2007 and I’m certain I opened an Instagram account once.” Calm down—you’re not quite a Kardashian yet. The next step to becoming an influencer, of course, is to get people to follow you on said platform. “Easy again,” your mind brags, because your Gen Z intern has 1,200 people following them. (You or your admin checked because you didn’t want any details about projects being discussed.) This is where it gets more interesting. Your intern could be considered a nano- influencer, but for the purposes of this column we’ll break it down into two major categories. A micro-influencer generally has 2,500 to 100,000 people following them and can make anywhere from $40,000–$100,000 a year. A macro- influencer has 100,000 or more and Being smaller often feels more like a friend you can trust, thus contributing to quality community engagement. Therefore, it is important to understand a campaign’s goals and objectives.
7 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org From the PLSO Office can earn more than that, even tens of thousands per post. If you’re wondering, the Kardashians are considered mega- influencers, and we’ll leave it at that. How do you reach so many followers? You must be consistent about smart and funny content every day. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the steps to achieving this lifestyle and profession, you must follow these steps: 1. Select your niche 2. Optimize your social media profiles 3. Understand your audience 4. Create and post relevant content 5. Be regular and consistent 6. Engage with your audience 7. Let brands know you’re open to collaborations BenchmarkSurveys Getting a helping hand @donkeysanctuary. Ladyland_Surveyor Still goin hard over here guys, don’t you worry. Because this isn’t a directional piece about how to become an influencer, I’ll leave the list at that. You’re land surveyors and we can’t afford to lose any more of you, so I don’t want to make anything about the influencer career sound too attractive. However, there is a reason I have gone into as much detail as I have. Marketing is a job that is easy to think you can do during your lunch break after getting a few pics from your Party Chief. It may be for maintaining your own company account. But the people that come to your company page are people that either know what a land surveyor is or need one. And that’s who you want. You can produce proper expert context for your Facebook and Facebook page. The difference for promoting the industry is that we need to reach people who have never thought of land surveying (except maybe asking what kind of pictures that guy on the side of the road might be taking), much less considered it a possible career. And the scariest part of all is that we need to appeal to the younger generation known as Gen Z (currently 9 to 24 years old), which means we are coming into TikTok and Snapchat territory (cue shudder of confusion and fear). The question becomes . . . is it appropriate to manage your own content creation and distribution, or is it smarter to pay an influencer? Hence the need to understand the difference between micro- and macro- influencers when deciding the if, who, how, and when of hiring one to promote your message. Macro-influencers have a farther reach that will put more content on the internet—nearly 20 times more than micros. Large companies that want to cast a wide net to a diverse group of people will often hire macro-influencers. On the other hand, micro-influencers continues
8 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 5 tend to focus on a niche demographic, making them seem like an expert in their topic. As a result, micros tend to achieve more engagement and authentic communication. Being smaller often feels more like a friend you can trust, thus contributing to quality community engagement. Therefore, it is important to understand a campaign’s goals and objectives. For Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon’s purposes in promoting land surveying as a career, we want the niche market and quality engagement for a more affordable price tag that a micro- influencer provides. As discussed on more than one occasion over the last two years, we have been raising marketing funds for a social media campaign through the sales of t-shirts in the PLSO online store, as well as paying close attention to NSPS activities in creating From the PLSO Office Geospatially_Opinionated Ahhh... The wooly booger. My least favorite nemesis of the fall and winter fields. You pretty much have to burn your clothes in order to get them off. #survey #surveying #surveyor #landsurvey #landsurveyor #landsurveying #woolybooger SurveyLife @Kross_Survey with a unique setup, during a geotechnical monitoring project, in Rybreka, Russia. #SurveyLife promotional video content that may be curated towards each state association. PLSO also has representatives working in a task force with other construction industry associations in promoting land surveying as a career (turns out they don’t like the shortage any more than we do). Conflict between generations has existed since Cain and Abel became teenagers. However, this has become clearer in the modern world as each of the five generations today (Silent, Boomer, Gen X, Millennial, and Gen Z) are so different, they are entirely their own cultures. Technology has widened the chasm. Older generations know the world without the internet and therefore use it as a tool. To younger generations, the internet simply exists like oxygen. Therefore, if you don’t consider using social media as its own lexicon, you will miss two entire generations all together. This can be difficult for the land surveying community as the national average of its professionals is 60 years old. Suddenly, the idea of influencer being a job title isn’t so bad after all. Smart people, no matter the generation, ask for help. If you are wondering how to start in social media, start by following accounts and interacting with them. Suggestions on Instagram include @benchmarksurveys, @surveylife, @ladyland_surveyor, and @geospatially_opinionated. As for TikTok, I’m afraid I’m still figuring that one out myself. I’m pretty sure I’m going to need to ask my 16-year-old daughter, Hanna, for help. Follow the PLSO's Instagram account at @plso_1959. Tag us with your photos. The account is new and needs followers! continued
Featured Article TWICE TOLD TALES: THE REST OF THE STORY By Chuck Whitten, PLS A survey retracement in 2019, a forest fire in 2020, and a re-visit in 2021 result in unexpected surprises! This is a follow-up to the original article published in the July/August 2022 edition of The Oregon Surveyor (https://www.associationpublications.com/ flipbook/plso/2022/JulyAug/index.html). I firmly believe that a picture is worth a thousand words! Unfortunately, all of the graphics I had supplied with the original text except one were inadvertently omitted. My goal here is intended to highlight and clarify what I consider to be some key elements of the story with both text and the pictures. The eastern face of Bruno Mountain, the route of the “semicontrolled fall” down the Second Standard Parallel South on June 11, 2019, by Chuck Whitten, Tony Chenier, and his father, traversing (with offset jogs to avoid tag alder) by hand compass and 200-foot tape. Originally surveyed by William E. Campbell in September 1891. Several days later, I sent Tony some pictures I had taken and thanked him for going with me on the “walk.” He emailed me back and said, “That wasn’t a walk, it was a semi-controlled fall.” Spoken like a true mountain climber. The orange arrow shows the location of the fire. 9 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Chuck standing by the 1891 line tree.
Featured Article Although I had my Trimble XH, a handheld sub-meter GPS, there was not enough sky available to get proper geometry for a reliable reading. There happened to be a recent, small clearcut visible about three miles away. I screwed a target and a surplus triple prism to the 1891 BT that was six feet south of the 1891 corner location, where we placed a rock in 2019. Tony didn’t have a lot of previous experience with retracement and was glad to get out of the office for a change. He is a fast learner and enjoyed finding the 1891 marks on line trees and BTs on June 12, 2019. 10 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 5
11 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Featured Article An example of my typical prism and target setup at a different corner some years before. On June 12, 2019, Tony, Jim, and I continued to chain east from the line tree and within five feet of the record distance (223 feet) we found ourselves beside a 56-inch alpine fir, which turned out to be Campbell’s 1891 BT.
12 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 5 This shows a comparison of Campbell’s “calls” from the “top of hill” to the “top of point” on both a 7 1/2-minute quad sheet and a LiDAR image from the Oregon Department of Geology and Minerals website. Ridges and streams, etc. may exist, but are not visible on the quad. On the LiDAR image, the size and shape of the “top of point” is easily seen, as well as the “begin to descend” and “foot of descent.” Featured Article On September 21, 2021, my son Jeff and I returned to the “ridgetop” and were shocked to see that the Lionshead Fire of 2020 had actually burned through that area! Leaving the ridgetop, we dropped over the edge, headed east, and were soon at the southern 1891 BT at the quarter corner. As I stood there by the 2019 rock, gazing at the destruction, something caught my eye. About 10 feet down the hillside was a broken stone. The sun was at a low angle and was just grazing across the face of the stone and I could see marks plainly as they were shadowed. I stumbled down to it and immediately saw the letters SC 1/4 on Campbell’s original 1891 stone that had been cracked open by the heat of the fire. At that point, I recalled the 1837 book Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I thought it would be proper to give this article the same name, since the developing plot was similar to Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story” radio programs that many of us older surveyors remember. My particular “tale” of unexpected surprises now has a happy ending. Nathaniel Hawthorne
13 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Book Review Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World Reviewed by John Thatcher, PLS Land is not specifically about surveying. Rather, it is a history—thoroughly researched and engagingly written by a best-selling author of many books (if you haven’t read The Professor and the Madman, I leave it here as a teaser). I believe history is important, and often fascinating, illuminating and frightening. Land delivers. The book is dedicated to Chief Standing Bear, whose image appears with the caption, “In 1879, the U.S. government declared this Ponca chief to be a ‘person’ under the law. But they still took away his lands.” The reader now has a taste of the flavor of the book. The author, Simon Winchester, takes the reader around the world to explore many cultures and how they each have dealt with, and are dealing with, ownership of the earth’s crust. His starting point is a discussion of a deed he had acquired for a tract of land in the village of Amenia, New York, near the Connecticut border. From there the reader is taken all over the globe to explore how land ownership is handled and how it has impacted indigenous peoples, current citizens, governments, and the environment. A (very) small sampling of the issues Winchester takes on follows: • The need for ownership and demarcation of boundaries arising from the beginnings of soil cultivation, as humans transitioned from nomadic to agricultural lifestyles. • The history of the effort to determine the size of our planet. • The “rewilding” movement. • The taking of land from Indigenous peoples, including the Oklahoma Land Rush. On the morning of April 22, 1889, the already-surveyed town of Guthrie, Oklahoma, had a population of zero. At sundown the population was 15,000. • The incredible story of the creation of Flevoland, The Netherlands, by the construction of a 20-mile-long barrier dam at the neck of the Zuider Zee. The result of this engineering scheme was to tame a wild part of the North Sea and create an additional 1.2 million acres of dry land for development. • “The right to roam harmlessly across a landscape…,” most notably in Scotland and in Scandinavia. The concept that both land and sea belong to all, and that the right to breathe the air and bathe in the sea overrides a landowner’s right to privacy. Simon Winchester, a British-American author, has written 28 books between 1975 and the present. At least six of his books were New York Times bestsellers. Winchester was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006. He lives in western Massachusetts. The Professor and the Madman, noted above, was published in England in 1998 as The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World By Simon Winchester HaperCollins Publishers, 2021 411 pages, hardcover The book is dedicated to Chief Standing Bear, whose image appears with the caption, “In 1879, the U.S. government declared this Ponca chief to be a ‘person’ under the law. But they still took away his lands.” The reader now has a taste of the flavor of the book.
14 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 5 Member Spotlight Curt Chappell www.oregonsurveyor.net By Vanessa Salvia Some people don’t have to look far to find an introduction to the surveying profession. Curt Chappell, who runs a surveying business in California, has a brother who is a land surveyor along with a grandfather who is a civil engineer. “The profession was on my radar,” Chappell says. After college, Chappell had a bachelor’s in business administration with an option in logistics and operations management and worked in marketing post-college but was looking for something different. He opted to return to school to pursue aerospace engineering and took a job at a civil engineering firm in the Bay Area called Brian Kangas Foulk. He took more classes related to land surveying and, since he worked part-time for an engineering firm, ended up transitioning full time into the career. “While working at Brian Kangas Foulk I found out I really like this profession, and decided to change gears and pursue that,” he says. “I liked the mix of the field and the office aspects and the history of the profession, so I pivoted and then started accumulating hours and studying to get my license in California.” Chappell started his own business, Pacific Crest Surveying, about 25 years ago. At that time, he was doing consulting on the side and has also consulted off and on over the past two and a half decades, but then transitioned into more serious full-time work over the past seven years. Pacific Crest Surveying does a little bit of every type of land surveying, Chappell says. “All the way from single-family residential remodel additions to large commercial sites,” he says. “Currently our marquee project is that we’re doing all the front end land surveying for the new Facebook campus. So, we do that sort of thing and everything in between.” Chappell is licensed in California and Oregon. Although Chappell grew up in California, he has a brother not in the land surveying profession who lives in Oregon. He loves the environment in Oregon, and some day, Chappell says, he plans on retiring there. He sat for and passed his Oregon license last year and opened a small office in Ashland. That helped lead him to PLSO. “I have a lot of connections in surveying here in California, peers that I can chat with about things, but I didn’t really know anybody in the Ashland area,” he explains. “So, I visited a few surveyors in Ashland, and they mentioned getting involved in PLSO, which I did.” After that, he just happened to see an advertisement for the Finance Chair. “Since finance was part of my former life, I thought it would be a good fit,” he says. “I had the degree and a little bit of experience in it. I thought it made sense as a way to help out the community and meet some people.” Chappell goes on to say that he really loves the land surveying profession and that his life and career path worked out for the best for him because he didn’t You can show up to work and do your survey work, and then go home, but being involved in the profession more is very rewarding.
15 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Member Spotlight go right into surveying right out of college. That led him to have a little more life experience before embarking on his chosen career. And having the finance and business background gave him the valuable skills to start his own business. “There are surveyors who are probably better surveyors than I am,” says Chappell. “But in the end, it is a business. It’s a surveying-specific business, and it has been a benefit to me to have that background.” He says once he embarked on being a surveyor, he didn’t have any regrets about the path he chose for himself. Having an “engineering brain” means that his career suits him better than marketing or sales or whatever he might have ended up doing if he hadn’t gone back to school. Prior to joining PLSO, Chappell was active in his regional chapter of the California Land Surveyors Association. He wanted to continue to meet people and grow his network, but there are some differences in the way that surveying, and mapping is done in Oregon as compared to California. So, ultimately, he wanted to have some peers he could talk to and learn from. “And,” he says, “I just like being active in organizations. I enjoy meeting the other characters.” Being members of the organizations has “definitely” helped his career, he says. “You have a lot of people who are into history that are helpful instead of being competitive. So, it’s always nice to be able to call somebody up and bounce a survey question you have off of them. Maybe they’ve had some experience in areas that I haven’t. That’s a nice part about it.” As for being on the Finance Committee, Chappell is just getting started so he is still figuring out how he can be the most helpful. He sees that a small number of people are trying to do a lot of work to lead and grow the profession, and he wants to help. He says he would recommend anyone in surveying become a member of their organization and start getting involved. “It keeps you engaged at the next level,” he says. “You can show up to work and do your survey work, and then go home, but being involved in the profession more is very rewarding.” Curt at Cycle Oregon in Pendleton. Curt and his partner, Michelle, at the Oslo Opera House in Norway.
16 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 5 By Pat Gaylord, PLS Surveyors in the News Surveyors were much in the news during development in the Pacific Northwest. Through the archives of the University of Oregon Library, this column revisits and celebrates some of those stories of our profession. Daily East Oregonian Pendleton, Oregon Friday, August 30, 1907 An article in the Daily East Oregonian Newspaper in 1907 published a glowing description by the National Parks of the newly released survey map of Yosemite National Park. A cash payment or money order in the amount of 10 cents and you could have one of your own! MAP OF YOSEMITE ISSUED BY GOVERNMENT AND IS AUTHORITATIVE Of Especial Great Value to Tourists—Distances and Elevations, Directions and Connections Shown with Complete Accuracy and on a Comprehensive Scale— Seventy Square Miles on a Scale 15x30 Inches. A map that will be of Interest to lovers of mountain scenery throughout the country, and to Californians in particular, has been recently completed by the United States geological survey in co-operation with the state of California. It embraces the Yosemite Valley, that far-famed gem of the Sierra Nevada, which was made a part of the great Yosemite national park in March 1905, and which for many years has been a rendezvous for tourists from all parts of the world. The area covered by the map comprises scarcely 70 square miles, but is so large that the sheet is of unusual proportions— namely, 15 by 30 inches. The Yosemite Valley Itself, with Its two main prongs, Tenaya canyon and Little Yosemite valley,
17 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Surveyors in the News traverses the entire length of the area mapped, which includes also portions of the plateaus and mountains on both sides of the valley. Clouds Rest, dear to the memory of many a mountain climber, lies near the eastern border of the area; Mount Starr King stands near its southeast corner; the Cascades, the Gateway of the Valley, and a portion of the Merced canyon lie near the western border. Owing to the large scale of the map it depicts the valley with a degree of minuteness that was not possible in any of the earlier and smaller maps. Not only is every wagon road, trail, and house shown, as on the regular geological survey maps, but every angle and bend in the roads, however slight, every turn or zigzag in the tourist trails, and every structure, down to the smallest cabin or Indian rancheria, is faithfully recorded in its exact location. All the bridges even the larger culverts are indicated, and the streams themselves are carefully traced. Those that contain running water all the year round are shown by a continuous blue line: those flowing only intermittently are represented by the conventional dashes and dots. Especial care has been taken to distinguish those streams and springs that contain water perennially from those that dry up In late summer, so that campers and mountain climbers many have absolute faith in the reliability of the map in this respect. But one exception has been made to this rule: Yosemite creek, which Is shown with a full line, is in reality intermittent. Strange as it may sound to many, this charming stream, with its glorious falls, for which the valley has become famous, frequently dries up entirely toward the end of a long, dry summer. During the autumn of 1905 the Yosemite falls were altogether extinct for fully two months. Advantage was taken of this condition by the surveying parties, which ran a line to the very foot of the Upper Yosemite fall where mapping operations are ordinarily precluded by vast clouds of fine, windblown spray and thus were able to determine for the first time, the exact location and altitude of this interesting point. It was found that the total height of the Upper fall is 1,430 feet considerably less, unfortunately, than the popular estimates. The relief of the region is Indicated on the map in brown by contours, or lines of equal elevation, representing intervals of 50 feet vertically. These are not mere article shading designed to bring out distinctly the cliffs and other topographic features, but are mathematically placed lines, each of them continuous throughout and controlled by numerous points whose location and altitude have been determined instrumentally. The extreme precipitousness of many of the cliffs bring these lines very close together and makes these feature stand out conspicuously. Those acquainted with the Yosemite region will have no difficulty in identifying each one of Its scenic marvels Half Dome and the lesser domes; Clouds Rest and Mount Starr King; El Capitan the Cathedral Rocks and Spires. The true declivity of each of these is shown, the base and upper rim of each cliff having been mapped with equal care. Among the most noteworthy cliffs are, perhaps, the great precipice under Glacier Point, 1000 feet high and absolutely vertical, appearing In plan like a single straight line; the northwest face of Half Dome, fully 2000 feet high, slightly concave In plan as well as In profile, and overhung by the ragged upper edge near the summit; the cliffs over which the great waterfalls leap, none of them quite vertical except those of the Bridal Veil and Vernal Falls; and finally, El Capitan, with its 3,000-ft facade of solid granite. Other prominent features are Sentinel Rock, the Three Brothers, the Royal Arches, Profile Cliff and the remarkable “Fissures,” and the Leaning Tower and other cliffs under Dewey Point. A novel feature of this map Is the legend in its upper left-hand corner, which gives the heights of the principal waterfalls and the altitudes of the chief eminences and their elevations above the floor of the valley. These have been variously estimated heretofore, and although the geological survey carefully determined them some years ago, they are still frequently exaggerated for the sake of impressing the tourist, who, it is hoped, will now turn to the map for data of this kind and learn to appreciate its trustworthiness as a source of information. Like the other maps published by the survey, the Yosemite special sheet is for sale. As It is double the size of the regular sheets its price has been fixed at 10 cents, and remittance (in cash or money order) should be addressed to the Director of the United States Geological Survey at Washington, D.C. Owing to the large scale of the map it depicts the valley with a degree of minuteness that was not possible in any of the earlier and smaller maps. Not only is every wagon road, trail, and house shown, as on the regular geological survey maps, but every angle and bend in the roads, however slight, every turn or zigzag in the tourist trails, and every structure, down to the smallest cabin or Indian rancheria, is faithfully recorded in its exact location.
18 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 5 THE LONG WAY AROUND, PART II Mapping the Old Oregon Trail By Mike Fallert, PLS Welcome back, and I hope you enjoyed the first part of this article. This story started with a Public Records Request (PRR) that came into the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) with someone requesting any mapping or information on the original Oregon Trail. PRRs are a form that most all public agencies have for requesting information. ODOT’s form is located at the following link: https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/ Get-Involved/Pages/Public-Records.aspx The Oregon Department of Transportation’s standard is 10 business days to communicate with you and either supply the requested records, give you an estimate of the time and cost to produce the records, or let you know ODOT cannot fill the request and the reason. The time required to produce all responsive records may be longer than 10 days. The ODOT Library is filled with old documents, pictures, and other information related to the state highways and waysides, etc. I was intrigued by the information that you are about to read and see and I hope that you are also. As surveyors, map makers, and information gatherers, we get to help keep history alive for others to find. The original mapping of the Oregon Trail on the ground by Oregon State Highway Department engineers occurred in 1959 in preparation for the Oregon Centennial. The work was performed from the Snake River to the John Day River under the direction of Earl Bickmore, of La Grande, with assistance from Larry Smitton and Bob Rennels. The work from the John Day River to The Dalles was performed by Josh Sullivan of The Dalles. Featured Article continues
19 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Featured Article
20 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 5 Featured Article continued Bickmore created a set of strip maps on white paper approximately 8x36 inches. Each strip map contains approximately 30 miles per map on a township grid system of 1:62,500 (1 inch = 1 mile). Bickmore turned over a copy of his maps to the Oregon State Highway Department. The Oregon State Highway Department produced a series of 10 strip maps at a scale of 1:62,500 with more location information. Those strip maps were reduced in size and detail for publication in a pamphlet for the Oregon Centennial Celebration of 1959. In 1972, Aubrey Haines and his son, C. L. Haines, conducted a field survey of the Oregon Trail for the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation and created a set of maps and a report of significant sites and segments. The report was filed with the National Park Service and formed the map basis for the Congressional designation of the National Historic Oregon Trail in 1978. Haines’s report and a simplified set of maps was published as Mapping the Oregon Trail. According to the introductory material in Mapping: “The Oregon portion of the trail was mapped by personnel of the Oregon Park and Recreation Section of the Oregon State Highway Department. Evidences reported by field engineers were correlated with markers placed in former years, and the partial alignment so obtained was then checked by low- level aerial photography which was able to see traces of the emigrant route otherwise hidden by cultivation and modern use of the land.” The original map drawings by Earl Bickmore remained with him. After Bickmore’s death, the original drawings were passed by Mr. Bickmore’s widow to John W. “Jack” Evans, author of Powerful Rockey, copyrighted in 1980 and published in 1981 by Eastern Oregon State College in La Grande. Mr. Evans used Bickmore’s map Mike Fallert is Senior Surveyor at David Evans & Associates, in their Pocatello, Idaho office. Mike spent 16 years with the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) starting as Junior Surveyor/Inspector in the Astoria Construction office then progressing to Surveyor/Inspector, Crew Chief, Region 2 Project Surveyor, and Lead Right of Way Surveyor over the Right of Way Engineering group. Mike is a graduate of Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Oregon and has an Associate of Science Degree in Survey Engineering Technology. Mike’s diverse background includes growing up farming and ranching in Southern Idaho, several positions with private Engineering Firms performing boundary surveying, land development, construction surveying, and construction testing and inspection in both Nevada and Idaho. study as a base to create his own set of USGS maps of the Oregon Trail based on his own observations and research into the old wagon roads of eastern Oregon. In 2003, Evans provided the original Bickmore drawings to Stafford Hazelett to make copies. Hazelett maintains a set of the original Bickmore drawings at full scale in three forms: as continuous strip maps as created by Bickmore, as individual 8x11 sheets on white paper, and on clear acetate. In the summer of 2005, Evans and Hazelett visited the safe storage vault of Eastern Oregon State University (formerly College) and discovered a complete set of the original Oregon State Highway Department strip maps drawn from the original Earl Bickmore strip maps. Hazelett was allowed to make a copy of the original Oregon State Highway Department strip maps which he maintains.
21 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Featured Article
22 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 5 SURVEYING THE SURVEYORS By John Richmond, PLS (WA, OR) A family outing combined with a little work on a project turned into a safari. On Saturday, July 2, 2022, our eldest son Stan and his spouse Barbara, with Danny Phelps came to Forks, Washington, for the holiday weekend. They enjoy letting Culley, their 2 year-old mixed Lab-English collie, run free on the homestead acreage in the upper Hoh River Valley. We drove 1/4 mile off the county road across the neighbor’s pasture, and forded a narrow, ankle-deep creek in the alder grove to reach the end of the quad-runner road, to eat our picnic lunch in the shade of 100 year-old spruces. After lunch, my spouse, Lois, Barbara, and Danny decided to walk Culley around our property. After about an hour, we could hear them returning. Stan’s effort to train Culley to come for a treat consisted of using the squeaky bulb from a dog-toy rubber ball, which he vigorously applied. We loaded up the two cars and drove back 200 yards to cross the small creek in the alder grove, parking about 50 feet away. Stan and I took the necessary assortment of lath, flagging, and markers to lay out a permanent road crossing, about 200 feet upstream from the quad-runner road. In about an hour, Stan and I had completed our surveying task and gathered up the equipment to go back to the vehicles. We walked down a good elk trail along the creek to reach the quad-runner road and the now visible vehicles. Barbara and Danny: “There’s a mountain lion on the road!” (The gravel road is about 1,000 feet to the west, so no worries?) We do not have that species of feline in this part of the world. Maybe it is a deer or a coyote? Me: “What are you talking about?” Barbara: A text message to Stan: “Cougar, and he’s on the trail where we had lunch and he’s coming this way.” Stan: “Dad, can we go directly to the vehicles?” Me: “Too many blackberry vines to tangle feet. We should tuck up close and continue on the trail.” Now we are only 50 feet or so from the quad-runner road and are intently looking at a thicket of small spruce about 150 feet further down the creek. No cougar in sight. Culley: “WOOF! Etc...” Barbara: “He’s in a tree!” We had not yet seen the cougar. Noticing that Barbara had her cell phone camera aimed toward us. Me: “Where?” Barbara: “Look straight up!” as she snapped a memorable portrait. In less than 10 minutes, we are all in the vehicles and shut the doors. The cougar shinnied back down the tree to go about his day. I did suggest that Stan no longer use the squeaky-toy in a forested locale, as it could attract interested critters with its kittenish squeals. No people or animals were injured in this encounter. On that day, my rod-person (wife for 57 years), declined to serve any longer as a “designated decoy.” John Richmond, from Forks, is a registered land surveyor in Washington and Oregon, and is a member of LSAW and PLSO. He retired in 1998 from land surveying on three national forests, comprising the final 15 years of a 40-year federal service career. He continues to stay active in the practice. The cougar’s eyes were reflected in John’s cell phone’s flash as he took the photo before the cougar went on his way. John estimates the visible portion of the tail to be 36 to 42 inches in length. John is in the orange vest, followed by his son Stan Richmond, with the cougar in the alder tree. Photo by Barbara Richmond. Featured Article
23 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org 2022 PLSO Board & Committee Chairs EXECUTIVE SECRETARY AIMEE McAULIFFE 503-303-1472 | execdirector@plso.org www.linkedin.com/in/amcauliffe BlueMountain President Lance King lance@ck3llc.net President-Elect Brenton Griffin bgriffin@rogerssurveying.com Secretary/Treasurer Remi Fritz remi@ck3llc.net Central President Scott Freshwaters sfreshwaters@chamberscable.com President-Elect Daniel Burton burtonsurveyor@gmail.com Secretary/Treasurer John McCoy mccoyjohn8@gmail.com Mid-west President Ryan Erickson rerickson@egrassoc.com President-Elect Daniel Nelson dann@branchengineering.com Secretary/Treasurer Tucker Hines tucker.hines@gmail.com Pioneer President Jered McGrath mcgrathjered@gmail.com President-Elect John Putnam jputnam@oriongeomatics.com Secretary/Treasurer Brady McGarry brady@chasejonesinc.com Rogue River President Dane Meade danemeade@hotmail.com President-Elect Scott Fein feinsd@jacksoncounty.org Secretary/Treasurer Joe Hall halljh@jacksoncounty.org South Central President Darryl Anderson darryla@andersonengineering.com President-Elect Open Position Secretary/Treasurer Open Position Southwest President Edith Forkner eforkner@blm.gov President-Elect Derek Windham emap@northbendcity.org Secretary/Treasurer Jerry Estabrook estabrooklandsurveying@yahoo.com Umpqua President Brent Knapp knapp@ieengineering.com President-Elect Daniel Saily dan.saily@lrtco.com Secretary/Treasurer Kenneth Tynan tynan@ieengineering.com Willamette President Rhonda Dodge rhondakdodge@gmail.com President-Elect Paul Kowalczyk paulczyk@yahoo.com Secretary/Treasurer Kurt Andersen krapacker@aol.com CHAIR JEREMY SHERER jeremy.a.sherer@gmail.com COMMITTEE CHAIRS AUCTION Robert Hamman rhamman@mtengineering.net AWARDS Dan Nelson dann@branchengineering.com BYLAWS/CONSTITUTION Brent Bacon, brent.bacon@eweb.org CONFERENCE Jered McGrath, mcgrathjered@gmail.com EDUCATION&OUTREACH Open Position FINANCIAL Curt Chappell, curt@pc-surveys.com GNSS USERS GROUP Chris Munson, chris@munson-assoc.com LEGISLATIVE Jim Hepler, jim@azimuth-surveying.com MEMBERSHIP Gary Anderson Contact PLSO Office NSPSOREGON STATEDIRECTOR Pat Gaylord, oregonimages@hotmail.com OACES LIAISON Mike Berry, mjb97701@gmail.com ORYSN Brenton Griffin bgriffin@rogerssurveying.com THEOREGON SURVEYOR Tim Kent, takent@comcast.net SCHOLARSHIP Daren Cone, daren.l.cone@oregon.gov STRATEGICPLAN/OSBEELS LIAISON Tim Fassbender, htimfass@aol.com TRIG-STAR Contact PLSO office PLSOOFFICE PO Box 230548 Tigard, OR 97281 PHONE 503-303-1472 TOLL FREE 844-284-5496 FAX 503-303-1472 EMAIL office@plso.org WEB www.plso.org CHAPTEROFFICERS CHAIR-ELECT & PAST CHAIR TIM FASSBENDER htimfass@aol.com Affiliated with The State Board of Directors is made up of the PLSO Chair, Chair-Elect, Past Chair, and each of the Chapter Presidents and Presidents-Elect. Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon @ORLandSurveyors
By Pat Gaylord, PLS Lost surveyor The
25 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org The unassuming historic town of Brownsville was the first Oregon home of a prolific surveyor who holds a special place in Oregon surveying history. Born in Granby, Massachusetts, in 1832, he and his family made their way to Oregon in 1851 aboard the steamer “Empire City.” Landing in Aspinwall, which is now Colon, Panama, they crossed the isthmus of Panama by mule, then made their way to Oregon via San Francisco, Astoria, and Portland aboard the steamers “California,” “Columbia,” and “Lot Whitcomb,” respectively. Arriving in Oregon City on April 21, 1851, he found his money was nearly gone. After performing odd jobs for nearly six What is Brownsville, Oregon’s unique tie to Oregon surveying history? Question continues Photo 1: Main Street looking north in the historic downtown of Brownsville, Oregon. weeks, he asked for a job from James E. Freeman, with whom he had traveled on the various steamers along with John Preston. His inquiry was timely and thus began his surveying career at $50 per month. Only months later, our Lost Surveyor, Zenas F. Moody, as a lineman for Freeman, participated in setting the “central point” of the Willamette Meridian (The Oregon Daily Journal) and by doing so, launched our surveying legacy in Oregon. Throughout his life he held many positions and occupations, but he always returned to his one love: surveying. Moody was known as an expert surveyor and quickly ascended to a U.S. Deputy Surveyor in Oregon. Marrying in 1853, Moody became a storekeeper and private surveyor in partnership with Origen Thomson, in Brownsville, Oregon (Olson). [Photo 1] He traveled to California in 1855 and spent six months examining surveys as an Inspector of United States Surveys in California, under an appointment by Surveyor General Hayes. He returned to Oregon briefly in 1856 and soon after he moved his family to his prior home in Illinois. He spent four years in Illinois and served as County Surveyor of Morgan County. The draw of the west was too strong to remain, and he returned his family to Oregon, settling in The Dalles. Once again, he became a store keeper while continuing his surveying career. The Lost Surveyor
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