Joe wrote:
On Mar 19, 4:06 am, mm wrote:
How big are surveyor pegs?

snip

Old surveyors pegs in our (central Illinois) area were 2' long 1"
galvanized pipe. A problem that is common in our locale is that the
early surveyors were evidently sloppy with their magnetic North
settings. When I wanted a precise location for a fence around the
first house I bought, the surveyors discovered that the east-west line
was nearly 2' off to the east.

I used to have high regard for surveyors. I have done some CAD drafting
of old commercial and industrial buildings and had the current surveys
of them - about 5 years ago.

One building had both property long dimensions about 5 FEET to far to
the west. One of the surveyed property lines went through a loading dock.

One building had a parcel included that was not part of the property.
The same building had a physical description of the building that had an
error (not major).

Another building had a major error in the description of the building
(number of floors). (Location on the survey was OK.)

Another building had a vacated street that had been added. Using the
description in the survey there was about a 5 foot closure error when
you drafted the street (about 450 feet long).

My lawyer advised that modern
technology trumps old, and that legal descriptions must be held
intact. My neighbor to the west was elated that his structures were
well placed and the neighbor to the east was rather upset at losing a
nice fruit tree that had been planted close to the old line and was
now in my yard. Fortunately we all got along.
Later, moving to a nearby town, the same errors arose, this time both
east-west and north-south locations off by about 1 1/2' from 1890 or
so surveys. One result was when a neighbor sold her house, it was
necessary for her to have the swimming pool privacy fence moved to the
newer lot line. Encroachment rules did not permit leaving it there
since formal notification and permission had been granted and
relawyering the deal would cost more than moving the fence.
Like they say in cow country, 'good fences make good neighbors', and
that applies to valid lot lines.

If someone uses your property as their own for a period of time you can
loose it through "adverse possession". Would think you might be able to
avoid that by renting the property for $1 a year, with paperwork. Moving
the fence is a cleaner fix.