SIY13.TXT      Self Defense Against Surveyors                               59

                                  Chapter 13

                        Self Defense Against Surveyors

This surveying method does not use bulky instruments on tripods, nor does it
require three assistants waving flags.  It is very easy to survey
surreptitiously.  Use this ability wisely.

Some other surveyors are not quite so discrete.  When the government wants to
take your land by eminent domain, it first sends out a team of surveyors.  You
can rest assured that they won't be using any "poor man's method", either.  If
you ever see uninvited surveyors on your property, invite them to leave.  At
gunpoint, if necessary.  Tell them to bring a court order when they return.

It is much easier to stop the theft of your land before it has been measured
and entered onto the government's maps.  You can't stop the surveyors
permanently, but you can make them show you a court order.  This will warn you
what new grandiose project you are soon to be a part of.  There are many sad
stories of residents learning too little and too late that their home was a
part of some new toxic waste disposal site or missile silo.  Don't let it
happen to you.  And you can even use your poor man's method to keep the
government surveyors almost honest.

If you have understood how a land description is generated from a actual
survey, and how a lost line may be found from a land description, then you will
notice that it is not necessary to actually survey the boundary.  Preliminary
civil engineering surveys are usually done from aerial photography.  It is
quite simple, given the proper equipment and mentality, to conjure a land
description which is not what it purports to be.  Without ever setting foot
near the property.  Forewarned.

When your poor man's survey is not good enuf for your purposes, then you will
have to call in a professional surveyor.  Most of these folks are quite honest,
and do a quick and efficient job.  You should read "A Layman's Guide to Land
Surveying" (see Sources, Chapter 14) before surveyor shopping.

As with any bunch, there are a few shysters and quacks hiding behind a
professional demeanor.  You should be able to smoke out these charlatans
masquerading as surveyors by doing your own preliminary survey.

Any professional surveyor should agree with you to within your limit of error.
If he doesn't, then don't stop asking questions until you get a good answer.
Accept no magic.  If your "professional surveyor" insists that you are too
stupid to understand what he is doing, then get a real professional.  You might
even report the quack to the state surveyors' licensing board.