[Chiseled Marks and old Drill Holes - I love to see these, also.]

Edit note:  My last is S0260  Pigeon.  The rock outcrop shows up nicely on the current Google Earth photo.  MEL

SG0260  HISTORY     - 1911     MONUMENTED       GSC

[Chiseled Marks and old Drill Holes - I love to see these, also.]

Hi All,   I remembered doing this short (489 Smoots) hike,  but just not when/where.  Finally found it in the field book covering my first benchmarking trip to the Minnesota Arrowhead after a kayak race out of  Two Harbors.  And saw my first Broad-winged Hawk on the hike back the Mt Maude fire tower.  Leaded bolts, chiseled triangle & arrow; with extra credit for being set by the Geodetic Service of Canada.  Please overlook my HH2 blunder - should read:  HH2 475833.4 894453.7.  kayakbird (MEL)

[Proper Use of an Intersection - AKA 'My Favorite Movie Star']

Bill & All, 

2009 was with a Nikon D40, manual 55-200 zoom.   Upgraded in 2013 to a Canon Power Shot A-1200 (for birds ).   2015 & 16 was with a Canon SX50 HS. On a tripod, with a remote shutter release,  for the long shot.  And  a handheld   Canon SX70 HS in 2020.

Raised on a ranch in Montana, I tend to 'chat' with locals (drives one of my birding companions crazy).   Got the 2016 location info from a rancher working cattle after the 2015 observation, and checked it out on the way to camp at the BLM Moorhead.  Can't resist putting a history link up for that location  - there are PID's associated  MEL. 

 

https://www.powderriverexaminer.com/story/2022/06/30/news/moorhead-a-struggle-by-a-dam-site/3796.html 

 

 

 

[Proper Use of an Intersection - AKA 'My Favorite Movie Star']

Had to crop the 2020 photos.  MEL

[Proper Use of an Intersection - AKA 'My Favorite Movie Star']

Distant Observations of our first national monument:  Devils Tower, Wyoming

20 MAY 2009  45.04131  -104.76122  176° 31 MI   P3110

20 OCT 2010  44.15206  -104.71869  360° 30 MI   NO PHOTO

22 AUG 2011  45.08108  -104.17656  218° 43 MI   NO PHOTO

01 AUG 2013  45.04813  -105.00083  SSE  34 MI   P0778

01 MAY 2015  45.03947  -104.75469  176° 31 MI   P0490 (2)

15 AUG 2016  45.10028  -105.49863  132° 52 MI   P0490 (2)

06 JUL 2020    45.03797 -104.81472   171° 31 MI  P4306

 

Deliberately drove Ridge Road moving between two SE Montana birding Hot Spots.  A local rancher put me onto the 52 mile point.  Summer time haze required a very early  departure from the BLM Moorhead CG to get there by civil twilight.   Hope that everyone gets the Hollywood connection.  kayak bird 

 

[Benchmark Picture Contest (2023)]

Thanks, JASTA 11.  Those MORC marks gave me several more great kayak camping trips.  Would really like to post several views of an intersection station; but might just start another thread titled  'Used by Hollywood"  kayakbird

[Benchmark Picture Contest (2023)]

MORC Citadel  SS1486, named after a prominent rock feature that Lewis & Clark passed going westbound on 31 July 1805.  Wooden instrument stand was used during the 1949 re-survey.  Bears Paw Mountains to the NNE.  Found during a three day kayak trip in May 2009.  Several of the NONPID river terrace elevation benchmarks were also found.  kayakbird

[Benchmark Picture Contest (2023)]

All,  Interesting history that was chanced upon was a large part of my enjoyment while Benchmarking.  The Missouri River Commission (MORC) string led into working on the Mississippi River Commission (MCR or MiRC) string.  Looked a few places for evidence of King's 40th Parallel Survey; and then had to re-read Angle of Repose, which was plagiarized from letters of Mary Hallock Foote who had spent time around King's camps in the Rockies.

 

Last, for now, the 'And State Surveys' was a grand idea, but not well planned by the politicians in the early 1930's.  Found a few SS in Montana & Wyoming.  Nebraska set hundreds but very few were surveyed in.  kayakbird

 

[Benchmark Picture Contest (2023)]

Fairly unique flared stem with a magic landmark.  Brown CG1130

[Benchmark Picture Contest (2023)]

Ernmark,  Mining photos for biological items to send to iNaturalist.  Did a two night kayak camping trip up reservoir from Hell Creek Marina on Fort Peck Reservoir, Missouri River, Montana.  Tried to do SQ0601 Rock Peak also, but maxed out file limit.  kayakbird

[Numeric Conversion Help Needed]

frex3wv

There are online conversion applications, but only do one at a time.  I wrote an Excel to simplify my Missouri River Commission quest that will do as many as you want ; but it will not attach here.   Is there a secure way to trade emails?  kayakbird

[Users with the most benchmark logs]

TillaMurphs had some of the best photo spreads.  kayakbird (MEL on NGS recoveries)

[Users with the most benchmark logs]

chapterbook & all,

 

My Excel tabulation (which I would share with direct e-mail contact) has just over 4400 PID's logged to Geocache through 25 July 2014; with maybe another 20 in field books.    4376 recovered to NGS.  kayakbird

[Groundspeak is removing Benchmarking and the logs/photos]

Shirley & all,

I have not been active in the '2oldfarts' area for several years, but always enjoyed reading their founds.  Sorry that John is gone. 

 

Have fond memories of spending a delightful day, 18 November 2011, with him at the Lees Ferry historic landing.  Ran levels from GP0234 down to the rivers edge, trying to get an elevation correlation to assist in locating GP0236.  Not found that day, nor on later visits by me.  The campground host gave us a boat ride four miles up river and put us on a rock shelf that had marginal potential for GP0237, which also remains Not Found.

USGS photos taken 24-29 Sept 1921 pinpoints the 'large rock in the river with a vertical staff'; but I don't believe the slopping shoreline rock ever had a disk in it.  This is the only BM that I will bother to salvage from Groundspeak.  kayakbird

[How long until someone logs this destroyed BM as Found it!?]

to edit above PID typo:  PV0523.  MEL

[How long until someone logs this destroyed BM as Found it!?]

Oops! All,  I woke up in the middle of the night knowing that I had used the wrong term.  And I still Geocache PV05235 every chance I get, but do not recover to NOAA this best ever intersection station.  kayakbird

[How long until someone logs this destroyed BM as Found it!?]

All,

 

The original post should have use 'benchmark' instead of' landmark'.

 

A landmark may be, or have an official NOAA benchmark (sometimes two words) associated with it.  Please save the snide comments for other social media.  MEL

 

From the 'net':  "

Semantics! "bench mark" associated with surveying can be referred to a permanent mark created at a recognized height which is used as the basis for measuring different altitude of topographical point.

 

 

2 : general semantics

3a : the meaning or relationship of meanings of a sign or set of signs especially : connotative meaning

b : the language used (as in advertising or political propaganda) to achieve a desired effect on an audience especially through the use of words with novel or dual meanings

 

 

noun

noun: landmark; plural noun: landmarks

1.

an object or feature of a landscape or town that is easily seen and recognized from a distance, especially one that enables someone to establish their location.

"the spire was once a landmark for ships sailing up the river"

"

[Found a Strange Bench Mark]

foxtrot_xray & all,

Many of the Geocache one time snapshot Datasheets monument-ed dates have been changed.  Quite a few, I think, because of information  in all the Precise Level Net documents that floated to the surface with internet searches.  I believe that PLN-18 was one that I used extensively a dozen years ago, but can't pull it up right now.  MEL

[Found a Strange Bench Mark]

Datasheet history for EE0017 has been updated; but not EE0061.  

EE0017  HISTORY     - Date     Condition        Report By
 EE0017  HISTORY     - 1900     MONUMENTED       CGS

My all time favorite - a recessed square; which took a rod with a special end.   History also now updated.  Sorry for the repeat reference from several threads ago. 

EV0852  HISTORY     - Date     Condition        Report By
 EV0852  HISTORY     - 1907     MONUMENTED       CGS

MEL

https://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=ev0852

[Found a Strange Bench Mark]

Thanks, Bill.  Attached is an old thread of mine on these points:

https://forums.geocaching.com/GC/index.php?/topic/262734-1930s-state-survey-benchmark-motherlode/

 

[Found a Strange Bench Mark]

Albany County, Wyo is a hotspot for a sub-set of very interesting marks.  The 'and State Survey' series from a special, but very short lived, Depression Era program.  Tried, but failed, to find a link to one of Jerry Penry's write up on these.  The linked PDF covers everything.  kayakbird

 

Bottles, Pots, & Pans?-Marking the surveys of the U.S. Coast ...

https://www.ngs.noaa.gov › Survey_Mark_Art

 

 

[Found a Strange Bench Mark]

All,  Most of my found chiseled marks  are in the southwest with a few northeast of Duluth.  Remembered that there was one somewhere in ND, and it took awhile to dredge TG0045 out of my transit book for August 2009.  Was interesting to see that the 'Unknown by CGS (MONUMENTED)' has been updated to 'TG0045 HISTORY - 1913 MONUMENTED CGS' in the current  DATASHEET.   MEL

Photos  in link: 

https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=TG0045

 

[Found a Strange Bench Mark]

ItsDiamondWolf,  Do a search for 'settings'  in this forum.  Many, many possibilities - I particularly liked the 'chiseled square' in rocks or concrete.  kayakbird

[A useful digging tool]

Bill93 @ all,

A search for 'Garden Hoe Rake Hand Tools 15 Inch Gardening Cultivator' brings up several $20.00+/- options for one similar to the one I found near EV0852 6Mar2010.  The hoe end has been welded back on a couple of times.

 

 

https://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=EV0852

[Gauge Station Ref Mark - does it have a PID?]

Stumbled upon this tidbit of history on the word 'gage'.  MEL 

https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/why-does-usgs-use-spelling-gage-instead-gauge?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products