Category: Article of the Week

Surveying and mapping in the Coast and Geodetic Survey

GLONASS satellites successfully launched

Boundary Line Agreements

The Ellicott line and Ellicott stone

The Next BLM Manual

Surveyor hunts for old mounds marking Ala-Fla line

Suspended in Midair

How-To Guide to Successful Surface Modeling

Retracement Surveys and Undocument Corners

Missouri-Iowa Boundary Line Investigation

Florida Dipping Vats

Previously discussed was the State of Florida, Tick Fever, Cattle Dipping Vats. I checked this morning and found pictures I have taken over the past several years of found dipping vats. The first three are vats taken near Kenansville, Fl on the Mills Ranch. The last four are of a vat I found on Curry Island in Lake Okeechobee (see Map). (We have talked about Curry Island several time before.) Remember, these were utilized at a time before fences were common and the "Open Range" was used by all cattlemen.

Any rate, you will notice that the vat is constructed with one end a sheer drop (Cattle enter here) while the other has steps cast in the bottom for the cattle to climb out. The sheer drop was to ensure that when the cattle entered, they would go under and be covered completely by the dip. All that remains of these vats are the concrete drip apron and the pitcher pump well pipe.

The vat had a coral and a series of "Pinch Fencing" on the entry end of the vat. This is where the cowboys would drive the herd into the open end of the "Pinch Fences" that would slowly constrict them into a holding pen. Once there, they would close a gate behind them and force them into and through the vat, one at a time, until a small group was collected and dripped semi dry to reclaim any excess dip that would drain back into the vat. You will notice a concrete apron deck built adjacent to the exit end of the vat. That is where the cattle would stand to drip off excess dip. It was built to slope back to the vat for drainage. After the cattle drained the excess dip off of them, they were branded (if not previously branded), treated for wounds and other ailments (if they had the medicines) and then were released back into the open range to roam again until the next time they were gathered. Usually, after dipping the herd, the cowboys made camp and spend the night before moving onward the nest day to herd more cattle toward the next vat.

You should also notice the pipe seen at both vats. The pipe was the well that, with the aid of a pitcher pump, would be used to refill the vat and for any other campground need. The State furnished the Arsenic laden dip. Unfortunately, it is said (I don't know how true) that some cowboys drank from the well that was tainted with the arsenic.

Dipping Vat.jpg
Dip Vat 1.jpg
Dip Vat 2.jpg
Curry Isl Dip Vat.jpg
Cattle Vat at Lake O.jpg
Cattle Vat at Lake O-2.jpg
Cattle Vat at Lake O-3.jpg
Cattle Vat at Lake O-4.jpg

Undocumented Corners - Part 1

SCS in Hendry County, Florida

Quads In Google Earth

Deer Fence

125 Years of Topographic Mapping

How to Guide to Successful Surface Modeling

New BLM Manual

Optech User Conference

How-To Guide for Successful Surface Modeling

1856 Ive’s Military Map - Memoirs

The 1856 Ive’s Military Map was posted, a while back, attached are the memoirs that go with it.

1856 Ives Military Map.pdf

Memoir To 1856 Map.pdf

Southern Colonization Company

Louisiana

excerpt from surveyor magazine.pdf (thanks to Steve Brickley of Culpepper and Terpening, Inc.)

Why do the Research?

Measuring Granite Peak

NGVD 29 or NAVD 88

The Drainage of the Everglades

Mt. Rushmore

How cool is your job?  Check out this site and the methods that they are using to complete their work.  How would you go about surveying Mt. Rushmore?  What do you think of the kite photography?

http://archive.cyark.org/mt-rushmore-selected-to-be-first-international-project-in-scotland-10-blog

Thanks to Mary Hanna Clodfelter, Mock Roos & Associates, Inc.

Also check out
http://archive.cyark.org/
http://archive.cyark.org/surveying-technology
http://archive.cyark.org/community-knowledgebase
http://archive.cyark.org/project-world
http://archive.cyark.org/about

USA v. Paradise Prairie Land Company

In India, Old Land Records Go Digital

Rapid Fire Surveying

BIM and Scanning

Suprise, Arizona CAD & GIS

Watch your Language

Civilian Conservation Corps and Surveyors

Mobile Scanning

GIS Data Integration with the GCDB

The Unlicensed Land Surveyor

Why you dial before you dig?

Dial Before You Dig.pps

Provided by Jorge Alonso with FDEP.

What is a posted benchmark?

Marker Off, But Four Corners Monument Legit

http://www.fox5vegas.com/travelgetaways/19255047/detail.html

Provided by Adam Dao with Creech Engineers, Inc.

A Land Remembered

“A Land Remembered” by Patrick D. Smith published in the mid 80’s (I’d guess ’84 maybe).  It is really a thinly veiled  story of John MacArthur’s family.  It describes in detail the cattle drives to Tampa and the gold payments and how that gold turned into the South Florida empire of the MacArthur Estates.

Recommended by Mike Joiner, FL DOT

'Lady Sabal Palm': A witness to history

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/apr/07/lady-sabal-palm-a-witness-to-history/

by Chappy Young, owner of the Palm City-based surveying and mapping firm GCY, been surveying in South Florida for 43 years.

Traversing the Law: Ambiguity is the key.

Datum Shifts and Geoid Height Models

Mapping the World

Traversing the Law

NGS and Google Earth

Hidden Point Offset

Biscayne Engineering - Celebrates 110 Years

The Greatest Milestone: Biscayne Engineering Company in Miami Celebrates 110 Years.

http://www.amerisurv.com/content/view/5552/

NGS and Google Earth

Traversing the Law

How to Prepare a Survey Report?

The American Surveyor RTN - 101 Part 15

Can Retracements Be Confidential

The Marriage of GIS and Land Surveying

Preparing a Survey Report - Part 4

Machine Control Redux

American Surveyor Article

Test yourself (skip the first one)
http://www.amerisurv.com/content/view/3883/150/

Hermansen Survey Report - Part 4

The Digital Divide

Micro Survey CAD 2008

Preparing a Survey Report

UF Subsidence Report

Reference Systems

Leica ADE Enhances Florida Turnpike's Mobile Asset Management Solution

Everglades Restoration by Tisher

Use of Tidal Datum's in the Law by Brisco

What did they do after lunch?

What did they do after lunch.pdf

From Mr. Tom Whidden PSM

Four seeking surveyor post in Hancock County

Jenkins-Woolpert Best Practices

Wayne County Surveyor

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/78501

From Mr. Steven J. Hyde Surveyor (FL,OH,KY,WV,TN,ID,AL,SD,ND,NC,SC,WY & USVI)

Pioneer Families of the Kissimme River Valley

Fort Kissimmee

Lyme Disease - U of F Report