3–11 The survey must be made in person by the mineral surveyor. This does not mean that every physical act of survey must be performed by him, but it must be performed under his direct supervision in the field. The mineral surveyor is prohibited from delegating such supervision to employees. In other words, the mineral surveyor cannot send a field party out to do the work under his authority without being on the ground himself. There is no objection to having more than one survey crew perform the field work as long as the mineral surveyor can give each crew adequate supervision. The same rule applies to office work in connection with the survey.
There is nothing that prohibits a mineral surveyor from being a part of an engineering and/or surveying firm, but he should be a principal of that firm. If he works as an employee of such a firm, he is compromising his appointment, for as a mineral surveyor he is an employee of the Bureau of Land Management.
He cannot be an employee of the claimant, nor can he employ the claimant, his attorney or parties in interest as assistants in making surveys of mineral claims (43 C.F.R. 3861.3–2).
3–12 The survey must be an actual survey on the ground. This precludes the calculation of ties and other lines through prior surveys. (See 6 L.D. 718 which disallowed a section corner tie calculated from another survey and required an amended survey to run the section tie on the ground.)
3–13 The mineral surveyor should bear in mind that his field work is subject to spot checks by cadastral surveyors of the Bureau of Land Management for sufficiency and accuracy; also, if his returns of a survey indicate irregularities, a complete examination by the Bureau of Land Management may be made. Such field checks will normally be made when a field party is in the area during the normal course of a field season. Irregularities that cannot be resolved with the mineral surveyor may call for a special field examination.
Contract for Surveys
3–14 43 C.F.R. 3861.4–1 Payment: (a) The claimant is required in all cases to make satisfactory arrangements with the surveyor for the payment for his services and those of his assistants in making the survey, as the United States will not be held responsible for the same. (b) The State Director has no jurisdiction to settle differences relative to the payment of charges for field work between mineral surveyors and claimants. These are matters of private contract and must be enforced in the ordinary manner, i.e., in the local courts. The Department has, however, authority to investigate charges affecting the official actions of mineral surveyors, and will, on sufficient cause shown, suspend or revoke their appointment. (See 3–1 above.)
3–15 30 U.S.C. 39 states in part: “The Director of the Bureau of Land Management shall also have the power to establish the maximum charges for surveys ...; and to the end that the Director may be fully informed on the subject, each applicant (for patent) shall file with the Manager (of the land office) a sworn statement of all charges and fees paid by such applicant for ... surveys....”
3–16 Many factors enter into the ultimate cost of a mineral survey, such as the terrain, distance from centers of population, condition of the public land survey, number of conflicts with prior surveys and patents, the age of conflicting surveys, variable weather conditions, and inflation.
Cost should be a secondary consideration in selecting a mineral surveyor and the remuneration should be such as to assure an adequate job. Many of the early day surveys of the public lands resulted in poor or even fraudulent work because of the low contract price.