There is a circular in the National Archives that most rural landowners have never heard of. Dated June 1, 1909, filed under the General Land Office, it's titled 'Restoration of Lost or Obliterated Corners'. County surveyors were reporting something chilling: the original boundary monuments were gone. Not weathered. Not misplaced. Destroyed. The federal response was not to investigate who removed them. It was to authorize replacement surveys.
