Another land dispute, Farmer vs State

[Panik]

I’d also say they own the ground by adverse possession. There seems to be a mistaken belief that you can’t get adverse possession against the government but it’s not true. What happens is regular people can’t afford to fight it through the court system so the government wins by default.

^ This... even setting aside the idea of adverse possession. It can take a lot of time and also money to resolve property disputes... especially if you have to start hiring experienced folks to physically obtain and review documents - there are plenty of counties and municipalities that have yet to digitize those records.... ** Edit - and make publicly available the original documents

I whited out the parcel numbers as I didn't want to be accused of doxxing. You can see they ignored the northern border or assumed way too much. they own three parcels which all have been red lined by me.

From the image it would appear that they have ignored the northern border, but also maybe not.... depending on how those maps (and the relevant GIS database supporting it) were created they too are subject to error in interpreting/transforming surveys and legal descriptions into digital maps.

 

[caver]

the barbe wire fence was at the south border do you know ? or it was the north border and they removed it to built their green house?

The south border (bottom of picture) looks pretty open. This was all from the Benewah county GIS website. The one parcel in the upper right hand side they do not own.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I can see a discrepancy of 100ft or so sure but 300ft ??? they pushed their luck...

 

[Jstpssng]

When I was with Maine's BPL they said that they owned part of a farmer's field. He had a deed going back 40 years, which the state said was no good. 10 years later when I contracted to do boundary maintenance for them it still was unresolved. I was supposed to set a post of the middle of the field but declined on the grounds that my contract didn't include getting into the middle of a land dispute. I don't know what ever came out of it, that abutter died a few years ago and his heirs took over.

 

[dodge man]

Just an opinion based on past experience on how people think.

1. They accidentally on purpose went over the boundary line. They deep down inside knew they were building over the line but on the surface said to themselves they weren’t.

2. They truly thought they owned the ground and built where they thought they owned.

3. They very intentionally built over the line and knew it.

There is a chance the GIS is way off, not usually that much but it happens.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

As a land surveyor I’d like to know what a surveyor found and if there is a differing opinion. It shoukd be a black and white issue where the boundary line is but often it’s not.

I’d also say they own the ground by adverse possession. There seems to be a mistaken belief that you can’t get adverse possession against the government but it’s not true. What happens is regular people can’t afford to fight it through the court system so the government wins by default.

The section pins were set by surveyors using 19th century equipment, with no references. Errors add up. Bad weather or bad booze could have been a factor. Terrain can be a real problem. It's rare that the original survey was accurate, so surveyors have to locate multiple hubs and do their best to tie them together.

 

[dodge man]

Once the section corners were set they are considered correct. In Illinois the original surveyors standard was around 1 in 100. In other words they would often have a foot of error when they measured 100 feet. Original corners hold unless gross error or fraud was committed.

What I’m trying to say is modern surveyors shouldn’t be trying to correct past errors but located the line where it was originally set.

 

[319Quahog]

There is a chance the GIS is way off, not usually that much but it happens.

GIS gets it close.

Always worth it to turn that GIS into Get It Surveyed if there are any questions.

My lot is blissfully simple with rock walls on the left/right and road in the front. Even with those old boundaries the survey tracks the lot line varying off the wall a few feet at the back left corner.

 

[LouNY]

This is simply a state getting pushy to small land owners. When I lived there in the late 70's Idaho was a fantastic place to live. Now the Californicators who have been invading the area for 50 years have aquired the power position in the state and they are playing all kinds of games to the farmers and ranchers both small and even large.
It is very difficult for individuals to take on the state with it's deep pockets which are funded by the very people that they are snuffing out.
Old surveys in that rough country are very inaccurate and those inaccuracies carry though to the wondrous GIS systems in use today.
Nothing in that article has them proceeding past what was assumed by many for several decades to be a boundary fence.

 

[dodge man]

In most cases GIS boundaries are not based on actual field data. The boundaries are just placed based on the visual boundaries from the aerial photos. We helped put together our counties GIS boundary map and we had all the deeds but just picked out fences and other cues from the aerials.

It’s in a nearby county their assessor was trying to get people to “fix” the boundary problems showing up on the GIS. I had a lady call and the assessor was going to start billing her for a house she didn’t own because the GIS showed it that way. I called the assessor on her behalf and I started out being nice but finally told him he didn’t have the authority to do that. It didn’t go well.