The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-12-06
OFFICIALS ARE AGREED ON THAT
POINT.
DIFFICULTY OF MAKING 1T
SEVERAL ATTEMPTS HAVE BEEN
MADE TO PREPARE A MAP.

]
| dOncd.
| The County Commissioners are faced
| with problem that numbers of at
| tempts have been made to SETTLE and
! thousands of dollars have been paid
! out of the county treasury in an at
tempt to carry out plans made for it's
| final solution.
/ Never since Chatham county went
! beyond the boundary lines of settle
ment mapped out by Oglethorpe and
| his associates, has there been a map
| showing the property lines with any
degree of accuracy that could be de-
| pended on for the proper assessment
and location of property. That the
| needs of an accurate. official map of
| the county are urgent every one &C
| knowledges, but whether there is d
| practical way to provide one is a ques-
ton which has already had the atten-
| ton of numerous boards.
! The recommendations of the last
grand jury were not the first mention,
| officially, that has been made of the
| absence of an official map of the coun-
| ty, and its suggestions that one be
| made at once involves q. task requiring
| years Of hard. tedious labor and an
unknown amount of money.
Difficulties in Map Making.
The difficulty in the way of prepar
! ing an accurate map, showing the prop
/ erty lines in the county is one that is
! experienced in many of the counties
settled near the period of the Revolu
! tionary War If the plan of locating
! land mapped out by Oglethorpe and his
! associates had been followed out there
would be no difficulty now in locating
every foot of land i'll the county, and
! collecting taxes, which, in some in
stances have not even been returned in
| twelve years.
! Mr.. Francis Moore, who visited the
| American colony in 1885, in a letter to
friends in England, described the mode
of parceling out the land here in reg
ular order as follows:
| Each freeholder has a lot in town
60 foot by 80 foot besides which he
! has a lot beyond the common of five
| acres for a garden. Every ten houses
make a tithing, and to every tithing
! there is a square mile, which is divid-
| ed into twelve lots, besides roads; each
| freebooter of the tithing has a lot or
| farm of forty-fiVe acres there. and two
| lots are reserved by the trustees in
order to defray the charge of the pub
| lie. The town is laid out for 240 free
| holds the quantity of land necessary
| for that number is tWenty-four square
miles; every forty houses in town make
a ward, to which four square miles in
the country belong; each ward has a
| constable, and under him four tithing
| men.
Where the town land ends the viii
| lages begins; four villages makes a
ward out, which depends upon one of
the wards in town. The lots are laid
out in regular squares, the lines run
ming direct, and are so arranged as to
| be easily recorded and assessed"
No Record of Boundaries
When the confines of Chatham coun-
| ty were fixed it was found that there
were hundreds of lots of land owned by
individuals who fixed the lines in what
ever shapes suited them. They ran
at all kinds of angles. and it is found
now that there is no system of plat
ting, or dividing into sections that will
enable county officials to definitely dis
| tinguish certain property. The only
way the work can be done is to have
a careful survey made of every mans
property, and lines in accordance
drawn on a map with the name of
the owner corresponding to the num-
| Der of the lot, recorded in the books of
| the county tax receiver.
The only map that was any way cor
rect was lost when the new Court
House was being constructed. 1t was
in the clerks office, and when the fur
niture and records were stored in the
Whitfield building the map, with plats,
was lost and has never been found.
| There was also a map prepared by
| Mr.. H. G.. Platen that was of much
value, but it was not complete in de-
! tail.
There are tax fifas in the sherif's
office with full descriptions of proper
ty attached on which no levy can he
made because the land cannot be To-
Gated without a correct map Some of
these fifas are twelve years old.
Map Begun 20 Years Ago.
About twenty years ago the county
commissioners in Office at that time
undertook the work of preparing a
map showing the location, and exact
! shape of every mans property, the
! location of all creeks, roads, and
| forest. In order to facilitate the work,
! and lessen the expenses to the county
it was sought to have an act passed
| in the legislature making it compulsory
for every property owner to return an
exact description of his property. The
! measure was lost, however, and the
| commissioners finally gave up the work
! of completing the map after about
| $4,000 had been expended on it. The
results of their labors are now stored
away at the court house in immense
! sheets.
In Florida and a number of other
! states the counties are so cut up into
| sections, then townships and ranges
! that piece of property ten feet square
! can be located anywhere in the coun-
| ty. This is impracticable in this
| county, because there are pieces of
property that sharply project into the
property lines of others, making the
general outline so rugged that there
would be no way of fixing an exact
| line by squares.
1t is hardly probable, from what can
be learned, that the present County
! Commissioners will attempt this work
with all the difficulties attending it,
and the county will continue to lose
money from. the n-assessment of
taxes on property which is never re-
| turned.
County officers, while unanimous in
the opinion that the county should
have an official map, do not like to be
quoted on the matter, as it is not Just
clear to them whose fault it is, if
there be any one at fault that there
is not a map in existence.
Fine Ladies' shoes.