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Boundary Problems
Boundary Problems
Boundary problems caused many challenges. On one occasion, we could not come up with a
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definitive position of the boundary line. Using my smart-alecky ways, I would get both owners
to sign an affidavit on the plan that they accepted. At least they did not fight with each other
because they had both agreed on the boundary.
Subsequent owners had to abide by the boundary decision. I did a survey in Lardeau country on
that basis and have done quite a few others since. Having both parties sign an affidavit was a Ray
Johnson innovation. I was talking to one of my articling pupils, who is now a professional
surveyor. He told me that affidavits are now signed regularly. I was the first one to do it, but
other people have done it, too.
I had an interesting project that involved working for the people who ran the Second Century
Fund, a BC trust fund set up in the early 1970s to preserve nature. People would establish
ownership of land and hold it in trust for the maintenance of natural habitat. Some people paid
top dollar for a very large piece of land. They did not check the boundary lines as it was just a
mountainside, with a total of several thousand acres. After the fact, they decided that they should
know the boundary line.
The previous owner was one of these chaps who logged properties for profit. It turns out that he
had logged a couple of hundred feet over onto Crown land. The new owners did not know that
there was a penalty for having done that. I spent several days doing a large survey to establish
the boundary line. It was all for nothing in the end.
