Pro tip: GPS said 20 minutes, took 3 hours to find that old well cap

I was trying to locate the buried well cap on my folks' property outside of Tulsa so I could get the pump serviced. The county records had an old sketch but no measurements, just a rough note that said 'near the big oak, about 40 feet from the barn.' I spent a whole Saturday pacing around with a metal detector and a probe rod, digging test holes in all the wrong spots. Finally called a retired well driller from the next town who asked if there was a rusty fence post nearby, and sure enough, the cap was 3 feet from it under a foot of packed clay. Has anyone else dealt with the county records being totally useless for old utility locations?

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kimr331mo ago

Is it just me, or do county records exist mainly to make us feel like we're bad at finding things? I spent a whole afternoon once looking for a septic tank lid on my own land, and the map they gave me had a drawing that looked like a five year old did it with a crayon. Turns out the lid was under a pile of old tires I'd been ignoring for years, so I guess the joke was on me. You'd think after a hundred years they'd update the system, but nope, it's still "good luck, check under the rusty stuff.