monuments

Ordinarily surveys are so loosely made, and so liable to be inaccurate, especially when made in rough or uneven land or forests, that the courses and distances given in the instrument are regarded as more or less uncertain, and always give place, in questions of doubt or discrepancy, to known monuments and boundaries referred to as identifying the land. Such monuments may be either natural or artificial objects, such as rivers, streams, springs, stakes, marked trees, fences, or buildings.

Permanent landmarks established for the purpose of indicating boundaries. Monuments may be either natural or artl flcial objects: as, rivers, known streams, springs, or marked trees; Preston v. Bowmar, 6 Wheat. (U. S.) 582, 5 L. Ed. 336; Rix v. Johnson, 5 N. H. 524, 22 Am. Dec. 472; Shepherd V. Nave, 125 Ind. 226, 25 N. E. 220. Even posts set up at the corners; Alshlre’s Lessee v. Hulse, 5 Ohio 534; and a clearing; Jackson v. Widger, 7 Cow. (N. Y.) 723; are considered as monuments. But see Reed v. Shenck, 14 N. C. 75. When monuments are established, they must govern, although neither courses nor distances nor computed contents correspond; Ely V. D. S., 171 U. S. 220, 18 Sup. Ct. 840, 43 L. Ed. 142; Preston v. Bowmar, 6 Wheat. (U. S.) 582, 5 L. Ed. 336; Watrous v. Morrison, 33 Fla. 261, 14 South. 805, 39 Am. St. Rep. 139; England v. Vandermark, 147 111. 76, 35 N. E. 465; Smith v. Improvement Co., 117 Mo. 438, 22 S. W. 1083; Anderson v. Richardson, 92 Cal. 623, 28 Pac. 679; Yanisli V. Tarbox, 49 Minn. 268, 61 N. W. 1051; Whitehead v. Ragan, 106 Mo. 231, 17 S. W. 807; Mc Cullough v. Iml)rovement Co., 48 N. J. Ed. 170, 21 Atl. 481; 1 Washb. R. P. 406. Their location may be proved where lost; Resurrection Gold Min. Co. v. Mining Co., 129 Fed. 668, 64 C. C. A. 180. A monument established by the government surveyors as the true corner of sections will control courses and distances; Brown v. Morrill, 91 Mich. 29, 51 N. W. 700; Ogilvie V. Copeland, 145 111. 98, 38 N. E. 1085. See • Boundary. In Mexican grants, while monuments control courses and distances, and courses and distances control quantity, yet where there is uncertainty in specidc description, the quantity named may be of decisive weight and necessarily is so if the intention to convey only so much and no more is plain; Ainsa v. U. S., 16l U. S. 208, 16 Sup. Ct. 544, 40 L. Ed. 673; Ely v. U. S., 171 U. S. 220, 18 Sup. Ct. 840, 43 L. Ed. 142. See Metes and Bounds.

Permanent landmarks established for the purpose of indicating boundaries.