I came to work for Al Beeson in Nevada City in 1984.  Although it seems hard to believe, that has now been 25 years, and looking at the backward path of my profession, I realize that I can trace my local professional legacy at least as far into the past as my family history.  The hours spent practicing our craft binds us to our teachers in a unique way and even though our equipment has changed, I carry on traditions and language that originated with the old-time surveyors.  I know their handwriting and their methods, and I know that they were civil, hard-working and devoted.

A.W. Beeson, California Licensed Surveyor #3224, Settled in Nevada City in 1960 and surveyed out of the office on Church st. for 36 years.  He introduced me to the calm demeanor and the razor-sharp machete that you need to carry when you are marking property lines between warring parties with fierce dogs.  Al was a great mentor.  He allowed me a lot of freedom to make my own mistakes, but always demanded quality and documentation.  He taught me the value of a good lunch.

Jack Siegfried L.S. 2202, Came to Nevada City in the 1920's.  Jack was Al's boss from 1960 until Al bought him out in 1972.  Jack was still living in an apartment in back of the office when I went to work for Al.  He was geologist as well as a surveyor, with a collection of minerals and black tobacco pipes.  Jack was full of stories.  He buried a bottle of radioactive iodine in the Photinia bushes in front of the office to see what mutations might arise.  He told me abouth travelling to Mexico and India in 1905, working in the mines.  When he was a student in Utah, his pony was struck by lightning.

Jack was sponsored into the profession by Ed. Uren. There were at least two, and probably three Ed C. Urens because there was an Ed C. Uren that died in Auburn in 1899, This was probably the surveyor, L.S. 72, who platted the Townsite of Dutch Flat and later became the Placer County Surveyor. There was also an Ed C. Uren, R.C.E. #4167, still drawing maps at least until 1950.

We have been going over for the same ground for the last 100 years.

Ed Uren's Dutch Flat Mining
District Map

J.F. Siegfried 1949 Map - Leroy lettering and Pen and Ink R/S 1-125

You Bet Mines 1974 - Al Beeson - Hand Drawn

You Bet mine property Lot line adjustment 2008- CAD