page 52 		Stewart's SEA-Horse Corral
Lambert Creek
Curlew Rim Ranches
Since Google abandoned the GMap service, I have now converted the property lines and survey monuments into the format for Google Earth.
Download this file: [KMZ]CRR Divisions 1 2 and 3 or [KML]

This is the Supplement and Legend for the 173 survey monuments and official markers that I have personally geo-located.

Legend for symbols on map
Cadastral Survey metal cap
Brass coin in cement square top, usually a pyramid buried 2 ft. deep. Official key marker from 1969-1970 survey of development.
Rebar. Official marker from 1969-1970 survey for property line corners of development.
Cadastral Survey metal cap, blank or not stamped, usually a BLM marker
2x2 stake, painted white when new. Sometimes this is all that remains of survey done long ago for property corners and lines. May also be on rock face where rebar could not be buried. Finding the stake without being able to find the rebar is typical, so a metal detector will be necessary to locate the rebar. I had to find something here to be marked as blue.

Black lines are calculated from the official survey documents, AFN (Auditors File Number) 154986 and 159926 for Division 1, AFN 157150 for Division 2, AFN 159130 for Division 3
I created a huge spreadsheet to calculate distances and bearings based on the section corners and recorded surveys (which have the measurements). The section corners are the anchors. All lines inside the section are floating independant from any physical locating of said corners (except for key corners of the development that do not measure out farther to the nearest section outside the development), thus intending to make it clear where the differences exist between calculated corners based on the 1969 survey (black lines), and actual placement of survey markers (as found today, although considering I am using consumer grade equipment, I took extra care to mitigate that issue by measuring multiple times with averaged waypoints. Results from a professional surveyor will probably differ, but that last meter of accuracy will cost a thousand.)
I visited nearly all of the key corners to help determine where to place this grid. The only incomplete gaps are to the west of section 27.

Comparing the black lines to the public GIS databases that went into making all the Topo maps, Section line overlays, and similar public land boundary maps, reveals a consistant deviation from reality to ancient maps. And not always in the same direction. Some property line corners are also skewed or offset, sometimes in a consistant line (Sec 26 center top) that indicates one mismeasurement shifted the entire line (to the south) to be placed with a consistant deviation. The south line of lot 35 in division 1 is also one we found to be short by 7 ft from the brass coin to our rebar corner, measured with fiberglass tape.
So I had a good reason to start this project in 2004. Also when a Spokane surveyor hired me to find a corner he couldn't find, I started to realize why the courthouse and auditors office said CRR was messed up. This kind of detail shows up when fully Zoomed in, showing all markers I have found.

Red solid lines highlight the ACTUAL location for Section boundaries, where the CRR grid overlaps with the black lines. White and brass markers are the correct corners to match physically on the ground. From these markers, a grid of red lines could be drawn across the remaining sections if one wishes it. But that would no longer intersect the CRR black lines. The west line of Section 27 clearly shows a 100 ft difference between the public maps and the actual (fencelines) on the ground. The section line does not go right through that house. Thereby proving the old maps do not take precident over physical surveying.

In checking the accuracy of online databases for converting PLSS (Public Land Survey System) to GPS coordinates, I found earthpoint.us to have the highest accuracy. Yellow dashed lines are added straight from this database, and these line up with the various topos and overlays, mostly. There are some glaring inconsistancies: in T37N R34E, the line between sections 6 and 5 differs. Section 4, NW corner. There are two official Cadastral survey caps about 220 ft apart, proving the section lines here are not supposed to meet at One point, as many maps indicate. For this section, I've added an Aqua line to show the correct section line location.
A couple Orange dashed lines are from geocommunicator.gov and differ from the earthpoint.us lines because they include a point at the 1/2 section line. I only did the one section at this time, since this direction of study looked to add nothing useful to my map.

Several useful overlays are available with Gmap.
  • Contour lines
  • Federal ownership —
  • DNR ownership — (see Public_lands now) Legend - All WA state links are 404.
  • Geology Hazardous Minerals - Radon — 404
  • USFS trails and roads
  • Section lines and numbers (transparent) — Legend
  • Township/Range/Sections (solid) — Legend not as nice as transparent, but it works.
  • Zip codes,
  • Weather: lightning,
  • precipitation,
  • wildfire perimeters, thermal detection,
  • wind direction requires zoom out to 5km shown on the scale bar,
  • snow cover, seems pretty close to reality for 2015-2016, — Legend — 404
  • PLS = Public Land Survey
  • (If the layer is blank, check the Legend link to verify if the link is not broken. I see several have moved or been removed... and it is a huge challenge to keep my links working...)
Also note that there are several aerial maps, topo maps, and Open Street Map layers available, representing different points in time (and accuracy).
  • m - Street Map Google - A few road locations represent 20 year old ideas.
  • s - Aerial Google Satellite (Aerial) - photos updated 2016.Aug.23
  • naip - Aerial USA low-res - photo date is 2011.Jul.28 and only visible when zoomed out.
  • 2009 aerial was removed
  • t1 - Terrain - Same road version as street Map and Hybrid. Virtually none of the forest roads are shown.
  • t2 - MyTopo USA - 25-40 year old road locations slightly older than Hybrid and t1. Shows a few road locations that are abandoned or no longer active. Also USGS boundaries reflect before CRR was established in Division 2 (1971), but the roads show first use circa 1980, and adds National Forest roads.
  • t4 - CalTopo Hi-res USA - same roads as t2.
  • t6 - Topo ESRI USA - same roads as t2,t4.
  • t7 - Topo ESRI World - Road version differs from both Hybrid and t2. Some inaccuracies seem like intentional mistakes (roads that don't exist), and some newer additions are shown. Overall this one is the least accurate, but does add National Forest road names, some of which do not appear on any other maps.
  • t8 - Topo World OSM Cycle - Same road version as OSM. Features overemphasized (oversized) roadways for mobile devices.
  • osm - Open Street Map - The most accurate and newest version of road locations and names for this area because somebody (hint hint) reviewed and adjusted the roadways. The rest of the county is not so good.
Unfortunately Google has stopped offering un-paid service for GMap, which provided this level of aerial mapping, in browser. The broken link was Gmap of property lines

Another service to mapping Washington State Lands [Here]
Notes
1/37 scale thumbnail enlarge to 2048x1427
On the Div.3 survey, there are 33 lots that do not exist, as the land was already surveyed and recorded as Division 1 lots. Plus 3 lots, highlighted in orange, that partially overlap Division 1 lots are not officially recorded as the size shown on this AFN. The Division 3 AFN has other errors also, like drawing an easement across private property the original developers were unable to purchase. Now the too-steep road has been there too long to undo. And too few routes to egress in case of fire. Like Judge Monasmith said in 2013, many requirements for modern developments, were not met here, and if they had been met, the kind of conflicts he had to preside over would never have happened. Sadly the judge's orders continue to be ignored, as some people gate and block the easement roads illegally, others just yelling at people to not drive across their yard, which is still a form of blocking.

Zooming in to several corners reveals many abnormalities, and this is the reason for all the work I have done mapping my neighborhood. The observant reader will question why I geo-located only some of the many corners, and the answer is that I simply avoided occupied properties where I might not be welcome. There is plenty to access freely by open range and adjacent public lands. There are also many corners where I could not physically locate the rebar marker. I am not including those on this map.

My preferred way to walk the property lines, is by loading my Garmin with the property lines. You can do the same with these GPX files:
1. [GPX]Section monuments only, for all of Lambert drainage
includes key section corners (1 mile squares) not included in the other files on next lines:

2. [GPX]CRR Div 1 & 3 property line grid
3. [GPX]CRR Div 2 property line grid

4. [GPX]CRR Div 1 monuments, property corners
5. [GPX]CRR Div 2 monuments, property corners
6. [GPX]CRR Div 3 monuments
So if you are in division 1, you will need # 1, 2, and 4.
The same can also be done on android with a mapping app like OsmAnd.


Many photos of Okanogan Highlands 2002-2013

Easements described on AFN 154986 [JPG] that include 60 ft. right of ways, and riding trails. A point of dispute with some unfriendly people who did not first read the covenants before signing to the title.
1/37 scale thumbnail enlarge to 2048x1073
This map I last updated in 2011 with 2005 aerial photos, shows the easements in blue.
Few of these lines match up with actual roadways (white for primary and yellow for secondary), so while some roads may be newer than the survey date, since even the ones that were here in 1969 are off by hundreds of feet, I question how drunk the surveyors were back then.
No! Seriously!
In a careful analysis of their suggested location for easements and future roadways, I can show 4 locations that go (nearly) vertical up or down the side of the mountain. Digitizing these blue lines to add to the Gmap4 project, would be a lot of work...but in practical terms, the blue lines don't really matter, as they only suggest where roads might be placed. Actual and existing roads take precedence, and since the blue lines were never surveyed, they have little value today.
It's easier to conclude they were just rushed and unprofessional.
Even today there is no money to go out and professionally survey any of these rural lands, to bring any of the old maps into the 21st century, and get them digitally accurate.

My riding log (separate from my geo-locating activities) shows how far I rode here:
[monthly animation: 10 years in 39 seconds with elevation and snow cover MPEG4 1024x768 5.9Mb AVI]
or [animation without elevation and snow cover: MPEG4 1024x768 5.0Mb AVI]
This is the map (mentioned in the court hearing after the 2013 dog attack) that my 82 pages of detailed logs and barn records made possible because I did record our hours, and miles, and paths taken, by each horse, making it possible to reconstruct my travels over the years here. 97 percent of my riding was on roadways and easements. I never rode cross-country on private property, as a point of honor that I refused to travel illegally.
Legend for my travel maps
Map of Lambert Creek area is 8 miles wide by 6 miles high.
Each square separated by a white line is one section, one square mile.
The two red lines separate Township and Range on the PLSS map system.

HOURS: Total time in the saddle, does not include ground training,
or prior years before moving here.
Unique MILES: As measured on a flat map, the extent and distance
of roads and trails seen, and not measured more than Once.
Calorie MILES: The colored thin lines are roads, the thick fat
lines show my travels by month.
The first frame shows the horse's color. The last frame for each month
shows the cumulative accomplishment as of month's end. Each color
bar makes a gradient for equal calorie-distance miles, 3/4 each way
for 1.5 mile round trip. Also roughly 10 minutes walking each way.
    AVI only: One pass starts dim with 38% opacity, each additional pass
    makes the line brighter, so that after 5 passes, the line is 90% opaque,
    and after 10 passes it is solid.

Calorie miles. Also known as Indexed Miles, and popular with long
distance bicycle riders, this takes into consideration the hills, as
for each 232 feet of elevation that is climbed, the same energy is
burned, or consumed, as equal to one flat mile.

How did I accomplish this mapping with my health limitations?
Remember, I do have a technical background, and while I am very
against Electrosmog, I did not use wireless emitting equipment to
accomplish this map. This map is the culmination of 6 years work.

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Stewart Andreason
Republic, Washington 99166
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lambert_CRR.html   Updated 2022.Feb.06