The ground rods usually get cut off after about half gets in and then pounded on to look like its in. But I lay them down in a trench now in hard stuff.
I think the county got its building department in 1978. Now its filled with Berkely educated idiots. The BEST part was the planning commission pre 1970's. If you wanted to subdivide your 400 acres into 25x75' lots - or anything - a ruler and a few dimensions on the county maps was just enough to make your city for free.
Once owned into a 1940's subdivision of 20x50 lots - hundreds on a hillside. You should see our Berkely planners now finding ways to make them worthless.
But there is hope: go to Dyer Nevada, Esmerelda county. Beautiful ranches surrounded by snow capped peaks and NO building dept. Just start hammering!