Determining the exact boundary lines of Cook County properties is an ongoing challenge. On Tuesday, February 8, 2011 surveyor Wayne Hensche reported to the county board that he had finished delineating the corners of the Judge Magney survey plat—to the centimeter. Some people lost acreage they thought they had, others gained it. Hensche figured one cabin would probably need to be moved, since it was not entirely on the owner’s own property.
Hensche showed old tree trunk segments that had survey inscriptions from decades past. One piece of bark had a reverse inscription on the inside since it had grown over an original inscription and then come off the tree. He said, “That’s why we do this— because it’s fun!”
Commissioner Fritz Sobanja asked if a person could land on “easy street” upon finding such pieces of history. “Actually,” Hensche responded, “there’s a fine for taking them!”
“Carrying equipment in there was kind of an eye-popper,” Hensche said. “I’m not getting any younger!” Fortunately, the state park system let him use an ATV to get around, and the U.S. Forest Service loaned him some GPS equipment.
Hensche has now mapped 125 square miles and 125 corners in the east Cook County area. The lots there can now have clear titles. He said he used to tell people that if they built in the middle of their 40-acre parcels, they might have a 50% chance of actually being on their own properties.
Hensche had estimated that the survey would cost property owners $30.85 an acre, but after 40 acres came up missing, the actual cost will be $32.97 an acre. “There was no way of knowing this ahead of time,” Hensche said. Some former surveys used on deeds had been done unofficially by timber cruisers, who counted vertical distances up and down hills, resulting in 40 acres showing up that really wasn’t there when the land was surveyed from a horizontal perspective. Hensche said some old documents constituted “extremely poor deed writing.”
Hensche supports the process of properly surveying Cook County land. “Everybody wants to do stuff cheap,” he said. “In a bad economy we have to hold to the highest standards.”
A public hearing regarding the new tax amounts property owners will be required to pay will be held at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, February 22 in the commissioners’ room at the Cook County Courthouse.
Sag Lake Trail discrepancies
Another area that could benefit from a new survey is the Sag Lake Trail peninsula near the end of the Gunflint Trail. Attorney Scott Smith, representing Prom Enterprises, spoke to the board about a need for the property owners on either side of one portion of Sag Lake Trail—Prom Enterprises and Cook County—to agree on a new legal description. The area was tax-forfeited land, and discrepancies exist in property boundary descriptions along the road.
Mike and Sue Prom hired an attorney to look into this in 2000, but the task was never completed. The last time a legal description of the peninsula was written was in 1919, Smith said, and the area has a lot of survey problems. Smith jokingly quoted attorney Dick Swanson as saying, “This whole peninsula should just be given to Canada!”
Commissioner Jim Johnson asked Wayne Hensche what he thought, and he recommended resurveying the whole area, eliminating the need for individual property owners to do what Proms are trying to do with the help of Scott Smith. “It’s really the only way to fix it all,” he said.
The board passed a motion authorizing a quitclaim deed for the property along the road west of the centerline, subject to resolution of any issues related to tax forfeiture and road access.
Leave a Reply