Blog · September 30, 2026
What Is an Obliterated Corner?
An obliterated corner is a corner whose monument is gone, but whose position can still be recovered from evidence of where the monument stood. It is not a lost corner. The evidence, not a new calculation from distant corners, fixes it.
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Gone, but not lost
Surveyors use obliterated in a specific way on public-land corners and, by the same idea, on private corners. The monument is missing. Witness trees, bearing stumps, reference marks, a found depression, a record tie from a later local survey, or other reliable traces still show where the monument was. Because that evidence exists, the corner is restored at the point the evidence supports. It is not re-proportioned along the line as if nobody had ever marked it. Calling it lost too quickly throws away local evidence and slides the corner to a mathematical spot the original surveyor may never have occupied.
What counts as traces
The notes you hope to find are the original accessories and later recoveries that say the monument was still there. A fence corner built to the old stake while the stake was standing can matter. A gravel pile the neighbor likes does not. The quality of the evidence is the whole question, and it is why obliterated-versus-lost opinions belong in a surveyor’s narrative. County GIS will not label a corner obliterated. Platbookmapper will not either. It only links to the county assessment map. The GLO plat, the field notes, and later corner records are where the words and the accessories live.
What you should not do in the field
Do not set a new rod at a spot you computed from two phone waypoints and call the corner restored. Restoration of a public-land corner follows the rules for that survey system, and restoration of a private lot corner follows the deed and the plat. Both are professional work. Digging a wide hole to search for scraps can destroy the very traces that prove the position. If you are only trying to understand a note that says the corner is obliterated and restored from the stump of the original bearing tree, your job is to read the tie. The surveyor’s job is to say whether the stump is that tree.
What to do next
- Read the word obliterated as missing monument, surviving evidence.
- List the accessories or ties the notes still rely on.
- Do not switch to proportionate measurement while those ties remain.
- Leave stumps, pits, and mounds in place for a surveyor to judge.
The mix-up to avoid
Treating every missing pin as a lost corner and leaping to a calculator. If evidence of the old position exists, proportion can put the corner in the wrong place with very neat numbers.
Questions people ask
Who decides that a corner is obliterated rather than lost?
A licensed surveyor, working from the notes, the accessories, and the rules that apply to that kind of corner. The label is a professional conclusion. It is not a box you check because the pin is hard to find in the leaves.
Does an obliterated corner change my deed?
No. The corner is the same corner the deed already called. Restoring it is about finding where it was established, not about writing a new description. A new deed is a different act, done with the right formalities, not with a shovel.
Find the county map
Start at Platbookmapper, search the county, and open the local GIS link. Write down the parcel number before you compare the screen to a paper plat.
Not a survey. County GIS and tax parcel maps are assessment and planning layers. They are not a substitute for a recorded plat, deed, or licensed survey.