The morning call., 1894-11-18

man pulled it down and went on with his
macadamiZing. Joost put the fence up
again and swore great penalties of the
law if it was again disturbed. Mayor
Ebert and City Surveyor FitZhugh were
appealed to. They went out aud looked
the ground over, and called meetings and
secured truce under which Buchanan be-
gan work again, but only to find new
fences in his way and threats of law and
long perspective of war ahead of him
until, although $500 out of pocket, he saw
it would be saving of money for him to
quit. So he wiped his brow. withdrew
his machinery and literally shook the dust
of the place from MS shoes.
THAT whole district out there is In an
almost nextricable tangle," said City and
County Surveyor Firzhugh yesterday,
speaking of this case. THE man who
owns property in that labyrinth of streets
and roads does not know where his own
land ends ana that of his neighbor begins.
The fact is there is not land enough to go
round. Behrend Joost contends thatthere
is only twenty five feet in Corbett road in
front of his property, while the map and
requirements of Buckman's contract made
it much wider. But the whole district, rs
| say, is in a hopeless tangle and has been
the terror of every County Surveyor that
has every held the Office. No surveyor
will attempt to locate a lot out there for
less than what appears to be an exUrbi-
tant price, because of the risk that he has
to take. | was caught only few weeks
ago and had 10 pay 1926 for moving house
off lot. / got it on the wrong mans
property. Mr.. Tilton had 10 pay 5000 o
one contractor TO correct an error in the
line of a street, and Harrison Smith had
to buy.a house and lot because he got lost
in the distrci.
1.-The tract was surveyed originally way
back in the sos. and l doubt If at that
time it was really surveyed. think it
was all done on paper. with dim notion
of having the crooked streets conform to
the lay of the land. Lots were then sold
from this paper, plan subsequently sur
yeyed in piecemeal, and the result is that
there are more lot-owners than there are
lots. No stakes or monuments can be
found and no lines can be defined now so
that surveyor can locate them with any
certainty, except 10 about one-third CT the
tract, which has been carefully gone over.
The balance are in perfectly chaotic
STATE. j lie u@lu uutcs. II tUtI6 ever were
any. have been lost for fifteen years. The
tract was originally plated by the Market
street Homestead Company. who bought it
from the Phoebe estate, which formerly
owned the San Miguel rancho. of which
it was part.
"The result of this uncertainty is that
the property is not worth half of its real
value. Surveyors not only refuse 10 guar
antee locations, but contractors refuse to
make street improvements; builders are
charv about putting money on the doub'-
full land, amt real estate men are as care
full about purchasing there as the savings
banks are in putting loans on property In
Mexico. And this is the very geograph-
ical center of San Francisco"
The Illustration presented herewith
might easily be taken for careful dia-
gram of current case ofdelirium tremens,
but it is really an exact REPRODUCTION from
map in the Surveyors office, showing the
heart of the CITY of San Francisco. and is
the district Mr.. Filzhugh refers to.
"And what is to be done in such case %
"DoneP The whole tract should be gone
over by direction of the city in locating
and absolutely fixing the lines of the
Streets, anu tIcu pTDD6TCy-OWD6TS
would know what they have TO expect, and
could go into court. if need be. and have
their titles cleared.
sBut this tract is not the only one that
troubles property-owners. Surveyors and
real estate men, and delights the lawyers
of San Francisco" continued Mr.. Fitz-
hugh "The very same state OF things ex-
lists, although to q limited extent, in what
is known as the gift maps. tracts /. ., 8
and 4, and known as Bernal Heights dis
trict, east of Mission road, and in the land
included in the Beideman estate. as well
as many other parts OF the city.
"Now, considering the fact that | am
about to leave this office l cannot be &C
cused of any selfish or personal motive In
declaring the great need of the city hav-
Ing complete overhauling of its surveys
and the production of new official map ~
continued Mr.. Fitzhugh.
ANY lawyer who deals in land titles. as
we'll as the vast number Of property-own.
ers, will bear me out when say that the