The San Francisco call., 1910-01-08
FIXES BOUNDARIES
CHANGED BY QUAKE
Resurvey Will Prove of Great
est Importance to All Own
ers of Property

has been undertaken in this city since
the conhag grafton of 1906. is making
good progress. according to a report
that has been prepared by Charles H.
Hoicomb who is in charge of the d.
vision OF surveys
The city and county have now the
same extent, which is. according to the
report of the surveyor general, $4,000
acres. or 1913 square miles. The re-
survey is a matter of the highest inn
portance TO owners of property. The
following extracts from the Hoicomb
report show the necessity for a definite
fixing of street and other boundaries
The city is divided into eight dis
trlcts OF sections, known respectively
as the 50 Vara survey, the 100
Vara survey, the Western addition,
the Mission and 1orners addition, the
Potrero. outside lands (known now as
Richmond and Sunset), South san Fran
cisco and homesteads. These are the
names generally applied TO the main
subdivisions.
The SO vara. I0C vara and Mission
districts suffered the most from the
effect of the earthquake and fire IN
p, The street lines of the old part of the
city, known as the 50 Vara district,
was in a deplOrable condition before
the earthquake and FIRE, the board OF
engineers of 1866 having failed 10 fix
the street lines in a majority of the
blocks between Powell street Market
street and the bay. Hence, the street
lines were never legally fixed or den-
nitely known in a district covering the
most valuable property of the city.
The city engineers and county sur
veyors of the past flNed the street lines
Is best they could, taking into con-
sideration private property holdings
and Improvements. This caused. IN
number of cases. several different
street lines fer the same block front
sge. In nlany instances, the street line
distances nXed by the board OF en-
gineers in other blocks Of the same
street have been used for the block or
blocks where the street line distances
This system of fixing the street
lines caused surplus of land in the
block and confusion of titles, much
so that for years before the FIRE and
earthquake in making surveys N this
district the deed descriptions of prop
ertv We're of but little. If any. value as
a guide TO the surveyor in making
survey Of private property, and con-
fused the assessor instead OF aiding
aim in preparing the assessment roll.
The earthquake of 1906 added to the
confusion and made IL still more diff
cult as the value Of many known points
fixing the street and monument lines
were destroyed.
The 100 vara district was almost as
bad as the 50 Kara and surveys could
not be made by any surveyor fno mat
ter how efficient or skilled he might
be- unless he was familiar with the
local conditions.
The Mission district before the earth
quake. was in excellent condition.. the
alignment Of the streets was true and
uniform and all the blocks were per-
fectly rectangular in form, but the
earthquake caused great damage TO the
alignment of streets, as defined by inn
proVements.
The Mission district has been rebuilt:
very little evidence of the fire remains,
and but few vacant lots can be found.
There are many blocks or squares upon
which every foot of land has been re-
built A. the buildings have been re-
constructed on the old foundation
walls. which were shifted by the earth
quake. varying from three inches TO
Two feet or more from their original
Por4ttoltr 70 libLn i-ei"tE " - Siu
original street lines would compel the
property owners TO move III their
buildings or Improvements in many
blocks from three inches TO two feet
or more. This would cause damages
covering many millions of dollars and
endless litigation
The only equitable way 10 remedy
this was for the city officials to estab-
lfsh new street lines for the Mission
district lines that would cause the
least possible dana ge TO private prop
critics and make the lines official With
this object in view the board Of super
visors. October 16. 1908. passed resolu-
tion No. 2T68 fneW series) ordering the
surveying. monumenting and mapping
Of the 50 vars. 100 vara and Mission
districts and University Mound tract.
in conformity with section 365SA of
the political code of the state of Cal
ifOrnia- They have from time 10 time
appropriated money for this work
DESCRIBES PROGRESS OF SURVEY
The progress that has been made on
the resurvey is described by Holcomb
as follows:
The University Mound tract survey is
completed and was made official by the
board OF supervisors under ordinance
No. So tnew series), september 20
The survey fixing the street and
monument lines OF the 50 vara dis
trict, which is bounded by Market
street on the south. Larkin street on
the west and the bay Of san Francisco
on the north and east, has been fin
ished and a mar of the same compared
by the board Of supervisors. Three
exact duplicates are TO be made, one for
the bureau Of engineering, one for the
hali Of records and one to be filed with
the secretary OF state at Sacramento
10 secure its safety against any con-
1lagration similar 10 that of April. 1906.
a large map OF the 80 Nara district
for public use has been made on a scale
of 40 feet 10 the inch. 1t is about Il
feet vide by 25 feet in length. IT pos
sibiy Is the largest, and gives more
detail and desired Information than any
map ever compiled from actual surveys
Showing the exact position and align
ment of the street lines of each block
the monument lines, monuments. monu-
ment location Tor ues), all city prop
erty and approximate position of all
improvements, buildings old walls. Ctc.
IN each block as they existed on tine day
Of completion OF the survey of said
block fthe date Of the completion of the
field survey appears on each block) it
shows sll usurp8tion or encroachments
on streets or city property. and is. in
fsct. tie only complete survey and map
Of this district ever made. Ii has been
placed in one Of the committee rooms
OF the board OF supervisors.
The field work in this district was
carried on with the greatest possible
precision A selected Lufkin's 100 foot
steel tape was forwarded TO :. w
Stratton director bureau of standards
Washington, ID. g, which was returned
by him with a certificate showing its
true value or length 10 be 190.005S feet
Al 81 degrees Fahrenheit. with ten
sion Of 10 pounds aVoirdupoids. This
standard Of measure was transferred to
fixed points al Turk and Mason streets
and also at McAllister and Leaven-
worth streets. Ii was tested not less
than once week and sometimes daily.
while the measuring poles were tested
with these standard measures twice a
day.
The resurvey fixing the street lines
Of the 100 vara and Mission district
is under way. Two hundred and forty
one block frontages in the Mission
district and about half of the block
frontages in the 100 vara district have
been. completed, but il will be some
ready for the supervisors to confirm.
HISTORY OF WORK
Holpou1b incidenrails- oiuac ,ietorx-