Iron object.
The iron object turned out to be a survey pin or marker, square at one end with stamped numbers.
Eli cleaned dirt from it.
"These numbers match the map."
Ellis looked.
They did.
Margaret sat quietly.
Finally she said:
"Could this stop Calvin buying farms?"
Ellis answered carefully.
"No."
"But?"
"Could limit what he thinks buying them gives him."
"Water rights?"
"Maybe."
Margaret looked at the papers.
"Would these still matter legally?"
"I don't know."
That answer returned often during the following week.
Eli wanted immediate action.
Ellis refused.
"First we prove what we have."
The next morning they compared the 1928 map with a modern county plat.
The differences were subtle.
The old survey showed the water channel as a shared corridor crossing property boundaries.
The modern plat showed parcel lines but treated the channel mostly as a natural feature associated with the former Harland property.
No notation indicated a shared easement.
Eli pointed.
"It's gone."
Ellis corrected him.
"It's not printed."
"Same thing."
"No."
Ellis looked at him.
"Never confuse missing information with proof it stopped existing."
The old records were incomplete.
Several pages appeared missing.
Most importantly, they did not yet have the signed original agreement establishing the shared right.
The survey strongly implied it.
Maintenance records supported it.
But Ellis understood that a county office might require more.
They needed physical evidence.
Eli studied the survey.
Reference points were listed.
Large white oak.
Stone corner.
Sycamore.
Iron marker.
Creek bend.
Road line.
Some had certainly disappeared.
Others might remain.
They spent the next two days walking the valley.
Ellis carried a compass.
Eli carried the survey, protected inside a leather folder.
They started at the Mercer creek bend.
That still matched.
Then followed an old fence line.
Stone corner.
Gone.
Probably removed when fields were enlarged.
White oak.
Possible.
There were dozens.
Distances helped.
Eli measured.
Counted paces.
Corrected.
Started again.
The work was tedious.
That made Eli trust it more.
Important discoveries, he was learning, were often mostly measuring.
On the second afternoon, they crossed into an abandoned pasture north of the Mercer property with permission from its owner.
Blackberry bushes covered a collapsed fence.
Young maples grew between old posts.
Eli checked the survey.
"Marker should be somewhere here."
Ellis looked around.
"That's a lot of somewhere."
They searched.
An hour passed.
Nothing.
Then Eli saw a flat sandstone block barely visible beneath vines.
It was too square to be natural.
He pulled brush aside.
The top contained a square recess.
Eli stared.
"Bring the iron marker."
They returned to the truck.
The iron piece from the safe fit the recess almost perfectly.
Ellis's expression changed.
"This was meant to sit here."
They dug carefully.
Below the sandstone block, Eli's shovel struck metal.
Clang.
They cleared the soil.
A small rectangular box.
Metal.
Corroded but intact.
Protected by black waterproof coating.
Inside lay a brass plate.
Engraved measurements.
Bearings.
Distances.
Names.
SPRING WATER COURSE.
SHARED MAINTENANCE LINE.