US General Land Office Survey Makers

[+rescuermike]

Does anyone from the Las Cruces, NM area know anything about US General Land Office Survey Markers? I found one today in the Corrilitos Ranch area by the Rough N Ready. I'm trying to find any info on it. I do have a pic of it and the coordinates in UTM and lat/long. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[+jwahl]

I am not from Las Cruces, but I can provide some clues. The GLO or General Land Office were surveyors for the Federal Government up until 1946 when they merged it's operations into what became the Bureau of Land Management. Between 1908 and 1946 the monuments they set were brass caps on 1, 2.5 or 3 inch iron posts. Usually the monument would be to mark a section or 1/4 section corner, but the GLO also surveyed Indian reservations, and all kinds of grants and claims. So what you found would likely be either a PLSS monument (PLSS stands for Public Land Survey System), or a corner of a grant. It should have marks on it which give it's designation.

 

Plotting the location on USGS quad source will probably give you a good idea. The actual survey records which describe the monument would be located at the BLM office in Santa Fe. Some of their records are being scanned and put on the internet, but the work is just beginning. There will be a plat which shows that parcels being surveyed and the bearings and distances of the lines, and there will be a set of field notes which describe the survey and each monument and how it was established, marked and referenced.

 

Some NM plats are on line here: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov and perform a survey search. You have to already know the approximate location by township and range which is probably 23S 1E of the NMPM.

 

Tell us the lat long and maybe we can help.

 

- jl wahl

[+rescuermike]

I am not from Las Cruces, but I can provide some clues. The GLO or General Land Office were surveyors for the Federal Government up until 1946 when they merged it's operations into what became the Bureau of Land Management. Between 1908 and 1946 the monuments they set were brass caps on 1, 2.5 or 3 inch iron posts. Usually the monument would be to mark a section or 1/4 section corner, but the GLO also surveyed Indian reservations, and all kinds of grants and claims. So what you found would likely be either a PLSS monument (PLSS stands for Public Land Survey System), or a corner of a grant. It should have marks on it which give it's designation.

 

Plotting the location on USGS quad source will probably give you a good idea. The actual survey records which describe the monument would be located at the BLM office in Santa Fe. Some of their records are being scanned and put on the internet, but the work is just beginning. There will be a plat which shows that parcels being surveyed and the bearings and distances of the lines, and there will be a set of field notes which describe the survey and each monument and how it was established, marked and referenced.

 

Some NM plats are on line here: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov and perform a survey search. You have to already know the approximate location by township and range which is probably 23S 1E of the NMPM.

 

Tell us the lat long and maybe we can help.

 

- jl wahl

 

Thanks for the info. The lat/long is as follows N32 23.668 W107 02.490. It is stamped with "1/4" and 516 315 and says US General Land Office Survey 1940. I tried to include a pic with this but it's not letting me.

[tosborn]

Based on those coordinates, the monument marks the East Quarter Corner of T22S ,R2W, Sec 16 of the New Mexico Meridian. This is also the West Quarter Corner of T22S ,R2W, Sec 15.

[Wintertime]

I was just about to say something similar, although not with as much detail as "tosborn" was able to supply. :-) But I figured out that it was a quarter corner between sections 15 and 16...

 

Mike, you can see the location on a topo map by pasting your coordinates into this page:

 

http://benchmarks.scaredycatfilms.com/NM.html

 

You may need to change the map display to "Topo" if it comes up in some other mode.

 

Patty

[+GEO*Trailblazer 1]

I was raised in Deming and Pinos Altos.

I frequented Las Cruces and the Initial Point for New Mexico is located north of you not to far.

 

AI5439: INITIAL POINT NM

 

You can add them to the PLSS group at Waymarking as well.

I also have a few I need to add that are real close to you near the Oro Grande benchmark.

 

You will find a lot of BLM Pipe Caps in the area as many were placed and are still there but not NGS benchmarks.

Most of the Major Ranchers have benchmarks on their boundaries.

Edited December 29, 2008 by GEO*Trailblazer 1