Inventory of the County Archives of Washington

[Paul]

Hi There:

Have any of you ever heard of a WPA project from 1935-1942 to inventory government records?  I stumbled across the Washington portion last week, and it appears to me to be a treasure trove of information about the County Surveyor/Engineer/Road Engineers' Office and what records were/are there.  I've attached a couple of documents.  The full version of the one for Spokane County is online at the Secretary of State's Office.  The local museum had several others in hard copy.  It appears that not every County had a book (the program ended before they were all completed).  I photographed the pages regarding the history of the County Surveyor's Office in the books that our museum had (later renamed County Engineer, then County Road Engineer).  Each County had a slightly different take on the office, which I found interesting.  They also referenced the applicable laws of the time, which is helpful. 

Paul Galli

Cowlitz County

[ken paul]

Fantastic Work Paul! No I had not heard of this.

[Paul]

Thanks. It indicates (along with the law references) that the County Surveyor/Engineer/Road Engineer was always required to be a competent surveyor, which makes all the survey items of the office make sense. You wouldn't ask incompetent surveyors do survey work.

Today "competent" means licensed by the state. Not that any non surveyor county engineer should ever want to be in responsible charge of work outside their ability, but I've heard rumors... :)

This would also seem to indicate to me that a PLS is required in every county road engineer's office across the state (either as employee or consultant). They can't do what the law requires them to do without one (the way I read the history anyway).

Again, based on this history, and the laws cited therein, when the 1936 and before laws were written, no one contemplated that the County Surveyor/Engineer/Road Engineer wouldn't be a "competent surveyor".

[Paul]

Also, it appears that there was a predecessor to the 1947 survey and engineering licensing law. In 1935, WA passed a law to license engineers and surveyors. Best I can tell from reading it, an engineer could survey (any kind) on his own projects, and field surveying was considered experience to get a PE in 1935. No wonder why they didn't say anything about needing a PLS to be a County Road Engineer in the 1937 law. All county Engineers at the time already were "competent surveyors" due to the 1907 law, and PEs were surveyors in the eyes of the 1935 licensing law, until 1947. By then, everyone probably either forgot to fix it or decided it wasn't necessary because PLSs would naturally perform the surveying duties of the county road engineer, as still spelled out by the 1895 law, which indicated that surveys by the county surveyor were primary evidence of location. In 1963, the 1895 law was moved to 36.something under the authority of the county commissioners. I would say they are required to have all surveying performer by a PLS. Or else why bring that law forward?