Los Angeles herald., 1890-06-13
An Opinion From One Who
Has Studied Them.
An Infinite Number of IncOr-
rect Lines.
Surveyors Who Used Gas Pipe and
Buggy Wheels.
The City Has Already Sold Eighty Thou
sand Acres, and Has More Left.
A Much Mixed Matter.


north boundaries are in the same condi
ton. The city, in fact, does not know
her exact limits, nor can she guess
within many feet where the lines ought
to be. How many boundaries have been
declared to be official ones the good Lord
only knows. To relocate the various
ones that man does know of is simply
folly. 1t would be pitch and toss as to
which was right and which was wrong,
and the odds in favor of wrong every
time.
From several years OF careful study OF
the city's methods, and compilation OF
all the data obtainable in regard to the
situation. the cause becomes tolerably
clear The average reader, who has not
studied the subject carefully-and many
OF our attorneys have fallen into the
same way of thinking-has pooh
poohed the idea, and endeavored to
ignore the facts as much as possible, but
is now brought face to face with the
facts.
The causes that led to the present
state of affairs are numerous. In the
first place, the city contracted with E.
0. G. Ord to survey the then settled
portion of the city, in 1S49. The work
was done and map made and adopted as
official, and, possibly, with field notes
lost. Henry Hancock, in 1928, laid
out what are known as Hancock's 35-acre
donation lots. An elaborate map was
made and, as the custom seems to have
been in those days, lost and mutilated,
but is now in the city engineers office
but should be recorded, as all of our IL
ties are based upon it. Subsequently
Henry Hancock received the appoint
ment of United States deputy to survey
thee xterior boundary OF the pueblo of
Los Angeles and right here the first COM
pllcatlon OF serious nature occurred.
The decree of confirmation was for four
leagues square, or four leagues to be
bounded by lines drawn toward the
four cardinal points of the compass, each
one league due east, west, north and
south of the center of the plaza He
was instructed by the surveyor-general
to make his survey in conformity with
the decree, which he failed to do. His
return shows that he began at the center
of the plaza and ran due south one
league, thence east one league, north
two leagues, thence west to the Arroyo
Seco, down the Arroyo Seco to the Los
Angeles river, up the Los Angeles to
point in a line one league from the
center of the plaza, west to point in
line one league from the center of the
plaza, south two leagues and east one
league to beginning, running by this
survey several hundred acres less than
was required in the decree. A patent,
however, was issued under this survey
and accepted by the city. Now as to
the facts of this survey:
He did not commence at the center of
the plaza, as he was instructed. Neither
did he survey upon the ground and
place monuments, by the bearings and
distances, as called for in his field notes.
The confusion then Immediately began.
Other surveys OF more or less incompe-
tency used the distances, direction and
monuments for subsequent surveys. We
are assured upon competent authority
and have reason to believe to be fact,
that one surveyor used piece of gas
pipe as a make-believe instrument by
which he made surveys. AS an actual
TACT we do know surveyors have used
buggy wheel as basis of measurements
in surveys, and that within the past
three years.
As soon as the pueblo lines were es-
tablished by Hancock, the adjoining
section lands were surveyed and thrown
open to settlement. A new surveyor
had come into the field, and retraced
the lines of the patent to the city. He
found the reputed monuments set by
Hancock to be in an entirely different
position, and returned these new loca-
tions to the surveyor-general, and they
were approved and patents issued ac-
cordingly. This survey extended en-
tirely around the city except that por-
tion included within the confirmed line
already patented to the Ro San Rafael,
and made what is termed and not gen.
orally understood the amended patent
lines of the city, which in no instance
agree with the calls in the original pat
ent; and here | desire to make myself
clearly understood. The lines as called
for in the patent are not the official
boundaries OF the city, but new and en-
tirely different ones subsequently
adopted and approved by the general
government are the actual exterior
tempt to re-establish the boundaries ac-
fSOiOAiiS w papOhU % lCNOluCu VIC
entirely erroneous.
Upon the west boundary of the city,
according to Reynolds's survey of the
sections between the west boundary and
the range line, he found certain monu-
ments which the government recognized
as official, and which were several
chains to the eastward of where Han
cock reported he had placed them.
Upon the discovery of this by the city
authorities Lecouvreur, one of the most
competent and careful engineers the
city has ever had, was ordered to estab-
lish the west boundary, which he did by
running a chain due west from the
center of the plaza one league; and he
drew line north and south
in conformity with the decree,
and placed monuments upon the line,
all Of which was declared official by the
city. This line neither agreed with
Reynolds nor Hancock. Subsequent
gas-pipe surveyors have used the monu
ments upon these various lines as 6
basis to subdivide location of property
and set monuments to its corners
These in turn were used by Other sur
veyors, some using one, some another
and consequently the lines are infinite
and meander to all points of the com
pass.
As the city and her engineers seen