Show AS TO CITY SURVEYS All Important Rung Made by Judge Anderson QUESTION OF BOUNDARIES BOUNDARIESC Value of the Orieinal Snrvcy It Cannot be L Changed to Suit n Whim or a Caprice S The decision arrived at by the court and I jury in the case of William G Odell vs George Rose Friday last in the Third district dis-trict court has an important bearing upon I 1 the question now much raised in this city 4 as to whether the city surveyor can change the lines of blocks and lots after they have been long established according to an original ginal city survey made many years ago This case was ably conducted on both sides and very numerous authorities and decisions in other states were quoted by I counsel The plaintiff was represented by Mr P E Barker and the defendant by Messrs Kai hn and Anderson We have been handed the following state ments made as to the law in that caso during 0 dur-ing the progress of the trial Judge T J Anderson was the trial Judge and took great interest in the whole case remarking remark-ing a number of times that ho had been a surveyor himsolfs had had quite an extensive exten-sive experience in surveying city lots etc 0 in his own state Iowa and had also tried a number of cases involving the same ques 0 tions tionshe The Court I will say t < counsel that Twill will instruct the jury as t the law in this case that the exterior boundaries of a tind or block are to be determined when want ing by ascertaining where the lines and corners were originally established when it was first surveyed i it can bo done and in order to do that they take into that may int consideration L con-sideration fences that were constructed about that time and any other instance that may tend to show that that was the original exterior of the lot or block Now then the interior lines of the block or any subdivision are to be ascertained from these old original lines Of course if orig inal monuments and boundaries are want ing and it cannot be ascertained where the line is then surveyors are to take such measurements and run from such neighbor ing monuments as will bring the line to I f conform as nearly as nearly a possible to the original survey as it was first made I That might consist resetting the corners as the city has authorized its engineers to do by monuments in the centre of the street hat in the absence of all old sur eVR mt h hn nHn But the city has W no authority UL to UlaILllulug take away from a mans lot or block or to add to it It can only provide for the survey or re f survey of lots and blocks according t the original survey The original survey which was fst made is the one which tie law recognizes and if other surveys are made they are resurveys and not original surveys and they cannot alter the survey first made and recognized Mr Barker If the court please suppose i appear that the corner of a block is es tablished on what purports to be the orig inal survey ahd what has been recognized as such as also its opposite corner on the other side of the street and it should be found that the street is less than its full or intended widt haccording to the city plat then must the corners so established A bo recognized or may a survey be made j drawing in the corners of the block so as to make the street full width The Court That is on the same principle as the other The corner as originally sur veyed is the ono which will originaly by the law whether the street be recognized too wide 2 or too narrow and i the line is placed as originally surveyed or has long been rec 0 ognized as the original survey it will not be changed I will state further my ideas on this sub ject Every one knows that surveys of land into what are called subdivisions sel cled subdvisions are 0 dom made with absolute accuracy they are only approximated as a rule That tey a reason or one reason and a good reason why the survey originally made should re main I it can be found where the line lne was originally made that is where it is to remain so long as it can be shown Wherever the boundaries of a street were made by an original survey it would be subject to the same rule if it was too large it would have to a remain so if it was too small it would have to remain so |