Riggs & Associates, Inc. Land Surveyors

Eastern Mississippi...100, mosquitos, swamp...fun!

Our West Plains crew working on 40 miles of digital leveling near San Juan, Puerto Rico a couple of weeks ago.

Working in cities or small towns would seem to be "no-brainer" surveying. Many times however, it is just as challenging as rural cadastral surveying. Sifting through the old lot surveys, trying to reconstruct old platted "paper" subdivisions and deciphering hand-drawn plats is not for the faint of heart. This old stone, set on the bank of a rural county road, was the only link that was found to the "West line of Oak Street". Using it and MODoT right-of-way information, the 60' street positioned. The "Oak Street" postion was confirmed by an old street "road-bed", old fence corners along a railroad and ties to old sidewalks east in the subdivision. The survey in the picture, showing the "stone" which was "set years ago", is dated 1962.

Barrett Estes putting the finishing touches on the remonumentation of the 1/4 cor. to Secs. 21 & 22, T24N R8W. This is 1 of 20 installed in a cooperative contract between Howell County and the State Land Survey.

Today Ray & I attended the memorial service of a fellow surveyor and friend, and one of the most influential men in our profession, former State Land Surveyor Robert E. (Bob) Myers. (1930-2019)

One of the advantages of traveling and working across the great state of Missouri is.... Eating! Not the big, fancy, name-brand restaurants - but the small, out of the way places with great food and friendly people! So... In answer to Ralph's challenge, I present to you MO EATS! ray

In my career I’ve been fortunate to work in the less traveled areas of Missouri and several southern states. Restaurants are few and far between and sometimes lunch is at a grocery store, gas station, some small mom & pop eatery or a food trailer set up for farm hands during harvest time. I enjoy traveling rural America and have met some very interesting people and made quite a few friends. Here are a few eatin’ places that I would recommend...

Sometimes property corners land in peculiar places...

Career Expo - State Technical College, Linn, Mo. , Impressive tech school...

When the corner you’re looking for is in the river...take off your boots, roll up your pants and go for it...

FGS/RAI has openings for CAD Draftsman, Survey Party Chief and Survey Technician. Visit the employment section of our website for online application. https://florabama-gs.com/employment

I am standing at the southwest corner of the State of Missouri. If I could have stretched or stood on top of this monument, I would be standing in three states at one time! This monument is at the intersection of the south line of Missouri, known as the "Commissioners Line" surveyed in 1845 AND the western boundary of Missouri, a line surveyed south from "the mouth of the Kansas River" in 1823. I have attached the GLO plat that shows this corner. The south line of Missouri is... supposed to be on the 3630' Parallel of Latitude. In 1823, Joseph Brown ran this parallel east from a point 4.83 chains (318.8’) north of this monument. After surveying approximately 250 miles he found himself at the St. Francis River on the west edge of the bootheel. This Old State Line or Brown’s Line was suspected to be and later found to be, in error. In the 1840’s the State Commissioners approved a new state line to be ran and thus, it was dubbed The Commissioners Line. In 1845, The surveyors began this line on the 3630’ Parallel at the St. Francis River, and ran west to the point shown in these pictures. This line was approved as the official state line between Missouri and Arkansas (excluding the Bootheel which is a whole nuther story!) Brown’s Line was north of the Commissioners Line and varied in distance from the 318’ on the west, to 1000’ here in Howell county, to 50 feet near the St. Francis River. If any of my surveyor friends see any glaring mistakes in this narrative, please comment and I will correct (and even promise not to call you a smart-alack!)