Border Vista & Boundary Vista (Survey Evidence)

PSLS Office
Sep 23
7 min read

1.1 Border Vista – Boundary Vista

A border vista and boundary vista is any defined cleared space between two areas of foliage intended to provide a clear demarcation line between the two areas. (1) These vistas have been written about primarily with surveys associated with state and international boundaries, however; nationally recognized survey text and publications have been relatively silent on this subject for private boundary surveys Perhaps this lack of writing or acknowledgement of vistas is due to the fact that they are not common with private property surveys due to work involved and associated cost. A Border Vista is most often associated with an international or state boundary line and a Boundary Vista is most often associated with a private property boundary line.

1.2 State Boundary Line Vista (Pennsylvania/Delaware/Maryland)

Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon wrote and reported in their journal that in the middle of March 1764 their survey party was enlarged with the employment of axmen to cut out a “vista”. In September 1767 they wrote that on the 29^th of the month the party was badly depleted when 26 members deserted, however; 15 axmen agreed to remain on duty to extend the line (vista) to the end of the great circle. Several times throughout their journal they wrote the “Vista” was cut about 8 yards wide. (2)

Mason and Dixon on several occasions climbed to the summit of a mountain and observed the vistas made by the line cutting crew which had cleared an eight-yard wide corridor through the endless forest. It was rare that a surveyor has the satisfaction of seeing the results of his skill drawn visibly across the landscape and whereas they used the line inspections as a visible check on their work. (3)

1.3 International Boundary Line Vista (United States/Canada)

A Treaty in 1925 between the United States and Canada set out that “in order to provide for the maintenance of an effective boundary line,” the International Boundary Commission (IBC) was directed “to keep the boundary vistas open.” This appears to be the first reference to a vista in a treaty, although the concept of establishing a cleared vista between the two countries predates the June 4, 1908 Treaty. During the era of ad hoc commissions, after a boundary was defined by the two countries Commissioners were empowered to cut a vista along the boundary.

Vistas were cut through the trees to “allow sight-lines” and to “provide notice to the public of the boundary”. Vistas were cut at various widths from 16 feet to 45 feet in 1817 (4); 30 feet in 1843 (5) and 20 feet in 1859 along the British Columbia – Washington boundary (6) Three Commissioners met in March 1904 and agreed that “a vista extending at least 10 feet on either side of the line shall be cut through the forest where it exists”, along the 49^th parallel. (7) This appears to be the first reference to a 20 foot wide vista. This practice was followed for the 141^st meridian when two Commissioners met in November 1906 and agreed “that a vista with a 20 foot skyline should be opened along the boundary through all timber encountered.” (8) The 1906 Convention and the 1908 treaty are silent about a vista. (9) However, the commissioners met in December 1908 and at subsequent conferences and agreed: “That the boundary through timbered areas should have further marked by a vista along the line of sufficient width to giveaway cleared 20-foot wide skyline.” (10)

1.4 Private Property Boundary Line Vista

For an official survey along a state boundary line or international boundary line it does appear that the practice would be to cut trees and brush on each side of the line at equal distance to the line, thus, approximately centering the boundary line on the cutting. The practice of creating boundary vistas for private properties differs due to the fact that more often than not only one of two or more adjoining property owners would be interested in cutting a swat of trees along the boundary line to create a boundary vista or in some instances they were referred to as fire breaks in large heavily wooded parcels of land.

While not the norm for private property surveys boundary vistas do exist along boundary lines on large wooded or forested parcels of land. When researching the history of these boundary vistas and while speaking with some elders of various geographic areas, they were typically known to exist and traverse along and near the boundary line as opposed to an arbitrarily made corridor cut. Some property owners reported that existing vistas were cuts for firebreaks to limit or restrict the spread of a forest fire. Vista clear cuts along international boundary lines were reported to be 16 feet to 45 feet wide. When planning to make a firebreak in a wooded area today’s planners take into consider type of vegetation, slope, annual rainfall, existing man-made and natural firebreaks, i.e., roads, ridge lines, etc. (11) Immaterial of the intended purpose of the cut, when it is found along and near an existing property line it would suggest that the intent, at least in part, is to assist the property owners, surveyors and all others having a need to call upon and locate the boundary line between two or more parcels of land. A clearly visible demarcation upon the land, such as a Vista, cannot be ignored by the land surveyor.

Most often boundary vistas along private property lines were cut entirely on one side of the line or the other. In other words if a private property owners were interested in establishing a vista along their boundary line or lines it would have to be cut entirely on or within the property of the interested party. This is contrary to and unlike the boundary and borders vistas made along state and international boundary lines for purposes of official surveys. The clear cut corridors made for official survey vistas were typically centered on the boundary line and equal distance thereto. This similar cut and position would be the same only in cases where adjoining property owners agree to jointly establish the vista. It is incumbent upon the surveyor to make inquiry of local land owners as to the history of the vista.

1.5 Private Boundary Lines Vistas as Evidence to the Property Lines

Boundary vistas along private properties are typically clear cut along known existing property lines and most often subsequent to the creation of the boundary line. In other words, in order to cut a line through the woods at, along or parallel to a boundary line, the

location of the boundary line must be known. In the absence of a boundary vista being called for in a deed creating the conveyance of land along the vista, the vista will be weighed in the same light as all other physical evidence found on the survey. Similar to a fence line, tree row, stone row, etc. the boundary line vista will need to be measured and compared to other evidence in the field and relative to the deeds and other documents that establish the boundaries of adjoining parcels of land.

If the vista or some other name for the clearing is called for in the deed then the vista is an artificial monument and what remains to be determined is the defined location of the boundary line relative to the artificial monument that has no defined centering point or no defined location within the monument. In one particular encounter the deed called for a set stone on the north bank of a creek which when found happened to be located along the easterly edge of the vista. The location or physical position of the found monument as called for in the deed which was found on the north bank of the creek did suggest that the boundary line is the east side of the vista, although the east side was not specifically called for in the deed. The deed continued to read thence in a northerly direction along “a cleared field”. This cleared field was determined to be the 40 foot wide vista. When the easterly side of the cleared field or vista was followed from the set stone for about one thousand feet north additional physical evidence was found at the end of the vista. The boundary line continued in the same straight line as indicated by the direction of the vista cut and beyond the vista through a wooded area along a wire fence line also marked by “no trespassing posters” placed by two different adjoining property owners and terminating at a witnessed, painted stone pile at the north end of the line which was not called for in the original 150 year old deed. However, the stone pile gained recognition by the property owner’s continuous maintenance of painting and flagging the stone pile for in excess of 40 years. 27 years earlier this same, previously undocumented stone pile had been survey located and the call for it was inserted into a deed of subdivision of land. All of this evidence along this single boundary line and vista was documented and reduced to writing in a deed and also shown on a plan of survey. The deed was placed on record in the courthouse and subsequently all of this 150 year old and 27 year new documented evidence was ignored by another surveyor for unknown reasons. (12)

References

1. Wikipedia

2. The Journal of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon Transcribed from the original in the United States National Archives With and Introduction by A. Hughlett Mason.

3. Drawing the Line – How Mason and Dixon Surveyed the Most Famous Border in America by Edwin Danson.

4. IBC Report. Source of the St. Croix River to the St. Lawrence. P285.1924

5. DFAIT memorandum p8. October 10, 1956.

6. IBC Report. Gulf of Georgia to Lake of the Woods. P198. 1937

7. Memorandum relating to the us and Canada boundary, along the 49^th parallel

West of the summit of the rocky mountain 5pp. March18, 1904

8. IBC report Article Ocean to Mount St. Elias p23. 1918

9. Treaty signed April 11, 1908; ratifications exchange June 4, 1908

10. This shows up in three IBC reports: source of the St. Croix River to the St

Lawrence River p18.1924

http://www.dfes.wa.gov.au/safetyinformation/fire/bushfire/BushfireProtectionPlanningPublications

12. Livziey v. Johnson Civil Action – Law No. 08-272 Union County, PA

1.6 Pictures

The pictures shown herein represent examples of Boundary Vistas encountered in Pennsylvania and New York. These vistas show clear cuts through wooded areas ranging from 8 feet wide to 40 feet wide. The pictures were taken at various seasons and in every instance, monuments were found at the ends of these clear cut lines. The GPS antennas shown with summer foliage creating a partial canopy cover were 6 to 8 hour static occupation points and were all GPS static loops, closed to check the individual Error of Closures and also represent either the beginning or end of 3 separate sets of complete static loops. In other words, all corner points or control points were occupied 3 times due to field conditions. 3 sets of State Plane Coordinates were compared with each corner marker and control point after calculating long static sessions at each point. Additionally, conventional traverse loops were tied into the control points and corner monuments.