The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1917-01-30
rrrE COUNTY SURVEY.


csntiy completed by Edmund Ross
marks the fulflIment OF n ~ the
most practical projects ever attempted
here, and II the commissioners are =,
liberty to buy the field notes. data and
everything connected with the survey.
II win Undoubtedly prove 10 be one
Of the heh investments B%ernaiillo
county has ever made. District Attor-
ncy craie IL looking up the law In TIE
cn-e and as soon az nc renders an
opinion the commissioers will act.
Several years sso IN, board OF
county commissioner Their In office.
realizing necessity for having an
ur-to-date survey made OF the counts.
advertised for bids. Several surveyors
submitted figures for doing the work.
hut the contract was awarded TO John
l. Zimmerman. whose bid was $1,000.
about half Of what any Of the others
had offered TO do the work Tor. After
starting ON the Job Il became necessary
for Zimmerman 20 borrow money 10
carry on the work. He obtained loans
At various times from the First Ma
tional Bank, which institution required
him to assign his field notes and data
pertaining . the survey. 70 Il a. So
curity. he being unable TO put up any
thing else. Il is stated. on which mones
would be loaned him. Finally zim-
norman threw up the job entirely.
The work done up until h q inns was
practically useless in its Incomplete
state. so the hank obtained the services
OF Edmund Ross TO finish the survey.
Few people-perhaps none outside
Of the county offices and those whose
huainess requires them TO handle and
tltles-reaiize the great handicap
under which the county assessors and
connty clerks ave iatored In d past
BernaiilIo county like many others IN
this part OF the state. contains raanV
ola spaish land arants Surveying was
not one Of the accomplishments at the
time these grants were made. conse-
q~uentiy no effort was made 10 ailot 'he
land according TO corners or anything
else. One grant would begin. for To-
stance. at a certain cottonwood. cedar
or some other kind Of a tree. run 20
many feet In a certain direction to
the river bank. thence IN sother di-
rection 10 the horizon. A. other grants
were made. land purchased or home
steads were taken up the boundaries
nave In most cases been no more az
curaie or ~up-to-date than those 81 the
old Spanish grants The result has
been that practically every piece Of
land In the county outside Of Albu-
ouerque was described on the records
in that way OF in some manner equally
as antiquated.
This has made Il impossible for the
assessors IN the past TO check up In
diligently and determine when all
property had been listed en- the tax
rolls. IL h claimed that many tracts
of land have been omitted from the
lax rolls entirely In the years gone
by because there was no way to de
tect omissions. Then. in addition 20
tracts that were left OF h rolls many
pieces OF lard have been under a.
seAsed. Fol instance. . piece OF prop
efty would be described by metes and
hounds by the owner when II was list
I'd for taxation purposes end he
would say u contained Approximately
SO many acres. II has been found
in computing M acreage contained
In many Of these tracts tina, the fig
ures were too low by from 200 10 500
per cent. In other words, n man
would list his property and say 'he
tract contained Approximately so
acres but when computations were
made q would he found that the traai
contained $50 acres. or probably more.
SO the owner would be paying taxes
on considerably less acreage than
should have been the case. The as
SCISSOR. Of course. could not be ex-
pected 90 figure out the exact acreage
contained in each one Of these irregr
lar tracts. II Is estimated b. those
who are In a position 10 know that
the cost Of the surveyors data nov
held By the bank, $4,000 In round
numbers. viii be more than returned
10 the county the first year In tie
a Of taxes on property which has
IN the past escaped taxation.
Aside from the additional reyenue
that would accrue 20 the county by
reason Of having the surveyors data.
u would simplify the work in the
assessors and the Treasurer offices.
and make the handling Of land titles
much more convenient than has been
possible heretofore.
In cas there II No legal obstacle 10
prevent tito county buying ms data. z
d hoped that the commissioners viii
go ahead and acquire il for the benent
OF the county.