(2024-03-25, 10:25 PM)wyethia Wrote: Everyone appears to have pointed in the correct direction. PLSS is still in use especially on public lands. Even lots in town reference back to it if you are willing to read through the survey data long enough, unless you are in a part of the US that was settled before 1785.
Yes the 36 refers to section 36, probably for Township 19N Range 1E San Bernardino Meridian. The 1/4 stands for quarter section corner - usually halfway along the boundary of the section. The horizontal line with the section number below it means it is the line between sections 36 (to the south) and 25 (to the north). Looking at my copy of Quail Springs Quad and Edward's clip, there is a jog in the how the corners line up between the townships, plus a township 18 1/2 ! what that means is that due to the curvature of the earth, or poor initial surveys, or both, the square grids don't line up perfectly in this area. Also interesting is that the map only shows some of the sections, which probably means that the PLSS was incomplete, not surprising if most of the land was still in government hands (why pay for surveying something that will never be transferred?) San Bernardino meridian starts on the top of Mount San Benardino and given the bonus township 18 1/2, at 6 miles per township (roughly) that is about 115 miles distant. I am not going to bother measuring that on Google Earth to check my guess.
Anyway, even though I probably have completely bored all of you, corner markers and associated signs are still useful and often historic. I will always stop to look at them.
This is all great information. I was wondering why the grid was not complete and why it did not line up perfectly. I found a Google Earth measured distance of 108.75 linear miles from the marker to where I understand Mount San Bernardino (San Berardino Peak?) to be. On their respective quad maps, that marker does appear to be on the exact longitudinal line of San Gorgonio Mountain (which I understand to be east/southeast of the initial point) with a Google Earth measured distance of 110.25 linear miles.
Edit: As you noted, the southern boundary of section 36 in Township 19 N does not line up with the northern boundary of section 36 in Township 18 1/2 N. I measured this jog to be about 900 feet. If this marker was found at the midpoint of the norther boundary of section 36 in Township 18 1/2 N, does that mean it is likely there is another marker 900 feet to the west of it at the midpoint of the southern boundary of section 36 in Township 19 N? It's probably been obscured by the environment since 1955, so I'm not sure I will put that on my bucket list to try to find out.