LSUFan

Hey everyone, I just want to share our good fortune down here in Louisiana, and tell a story that most benchmarkers can relate to. We have been researching some of the oldest marks in the NGS database, and after looking at several aerial photos, decided there was one from 1878 that may be intact. The datasheet says it is a copper bolt set in a limestone monument, with the inscription of USCS and 1878 on it. We have never found one like that before in this area. One of our geocaching group stopped by it on his way to meet us back in July, and was able to confirm it was indeed there. He didn't have time to do a full recovery, which we were able to do yesterday. We are just as happy as all get out, that the mark was there. Being a history buff, I like the fact that it referenced a civil war project that was undertaken during the siege of Vicksburg, and is located very near this mark. Anyway, as you may tell, we are quite proud of this recovery, and hope you enjoy reading/seeing it. http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=CP2772

Bill, I enjoyed that link immensely. Thanks for sharing it.

Howdy TheDiver, this may help explain the situation you are describing a little better http://www.geocaching.com/mark/#notin

Welcome Bergie Bunch. The NGS changed up their download by county capabilities not too long ago. You can download an entire state there. However, Jim(Holograph) does maintain on his site an updated county download option for each state. You can find it here: http://www.holoscenes.com/special/geocac/ds_archive.html

Tillamurphs, I saw this on the NOAA website. Maybe it can help some. U.S. Historic Declination calculator. This calculator uses the US declination models to compute declination only for the conterminous US from 1750 - present. Due to differences in data availability (recorded observations of the magnetic field), the western part of the US may not have values until the early 1800's. http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomagmodels/USHistoric.jsp

Oh Yeah. We ended up getting 7 of the state park challenge caches that weekend. Our mission was to, in order of importance 1. See this Louisiana Purchase monument/site 2. Do the state park challenge caches in the southeast portion of Arkansas 3. Collect walking stick medallions from each park that has them. FYI, the Delta Heritage Trail park sells the medallions for the Louisiana Purchase, since there is no facilities at Louisiana Purchase. We had a couple of unplanned, but great detours on this trip. We went to the Arkansas Post National Park (which is just down the road from the Arkansas Post State Park). This national park is the site of the first European settlement west of the MS River. A lot of history here. I recommend everyone who can, to visit there. While we were leaving this national park, I was looking out the window and saw what I thought was a benchmark concrete setting projecting out of the ground. We stopped and looked, and sure enough it was a reference mark to the triangulation station Arkansas Post. It pointed right at the station mark, which was also projecting above the ground. So we got to find a triangulation station that hasn't had a NGS recovery report since the 60's, just by luck. http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=EH2967 We also got to eat at a still operating Bonanza Steakhouse in Pine Bluff. We haven't had any of these in Louisiana in awhile. I think this may have been the best part of the whole trip.

Hey Everyone, we just got back from a great weekend, where we went to the Louisiana Purchase State Park in Arkansas. I had read about the stone memorial there (which is also benchmark EH2910) in the Berntsen International Book of Survey Markers. After reading about it there and perusing GEO*Trailblazer 1's logs, I just HAD to go see it. This marker is the beginning point of the surveys for the Louisiana Purchase. I figured my fellow benchmark enthusiasts would appreciate the historical significance of it, and may want to stop by there on your travels. Here is the webpage for it, along with the information for it. http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/louisianapurchase/

Woetohice, when you say "it doesn't show up on your screen", do you mean it doesn't show up on your map screen when you are zoomed into the where the actual benchmark is located.....or do you mean it doesn't show up on your garmin at all....either in the waypoint files or anywhere on the unit. If it's just the mapscreen, while you are at the actual benchmark location....then you are most likely looking for a benchmark with "Scaled" coordinates.....which can be 600+ feet away. Check this part of the FAQ section about scaled vs adjusted coordinates for a benchmark. http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...p;#entry1811693 If you can't seem to find it on your unit at all, check your waypoint file and possibly (but not likely), your geocaching file on your 62 to see if it is there. Although I haven't ever loaded a benchmark as a .loc, it might be a problem since the benchmark doesn't have a unique identifier when downloaded that way, like a geocache does. Example GCXXXXX. Let us know the PID of the benchmark you downloaded and maybe we can help you out a little more.

Here is a list of the first 100 geocaches showing their status. I can't attest to it's accuracy. http://members.cox.net/pkpublic/

Here is a great compilation of many of the geocaching terms and abbreviations by Prime Suspect http://geolex.locusprime.net/

I know around here, we have to juggle vacation times during the summer, so we are usually short-handed (which makes everyone else have to work harder).

Welcome aboard Tycoon Otto. The benchmarks listed on gc.com are from the NGS database, which is just ones down here in the United States (or territory). However, there is a Waymarking category for Canadian benchmarks, that also includes a list of online Canadian databases that you can search thru, to find Canadian benchmarks/survey markers. These databases (with clickable links) are listed in the full description page of the Waymarking category below. After finding the survey markers, you can log them on the Waymarking site. It appears there are already over 1800 logs in the Waymarking category for Canadian benchmarks. If you are new to Waymarking, you can use your gc.com log-in information to post there too. http://www.Waymarking.com/cat/details.aspx...49&exp=True Hope this helps some.

Great report, Secondgunman. I appreciate you going to the trouble for this. Hope you had a good time. I had been thinking the same thing, about someone maybe vandalizing, or taking the real MAG benchmark. Since it is technically destroyed, and just laying there....I would hope the Arkansas State Parks (with NGS approval) would at least take the bm and it's setting down to their interpretive center (if they have one), or place it in a display case in the gift shop. This way it would be protected, but still viewable for the general public, since it is indeed part of the history of Magazine Mountain. What are other's opinions on this situation, and if we should suggest anything at all to the park? Maybe Dave or George have a recommendation. I am going to be up there Labor Day Weekend.

I just got a copy of this book last week, and thoroughly enjoy it. Thanks everyone for your contributions in it. I really like Dave Doyle's nod to geocachers in the foreward of the book.

Oh yeah, lot's of regulars on this forum report recoveries directly to the NGS. You might can do a search for "recovery report" to see other forum topics about it. Holograph/Jim tries to keep an updated statistic page with all the recovery reports submitted by geocachers to the NGS, as well as their gc.com benchmark log numbers. You can find it here. If Jim has been able to associate your initials from the recovery reports to your geocaching name, you might just see your efforts listed there too. He also shows the recoveries by state/counties. I for one, look forward to seeing his reports. http://www.holoscenes.com/special/geocac/n...tats_indiv.html http://www.holoscenes.com/special/geocac/map_index.html

LSUFan, Usually that doesn't mean your entire description is too long, but that you put it all on one line. Try pressing Enter once in a while to put a carriage return character in the description. Aaaahh. I just copied and pasted it over from the geocaching log, then changed the decimal minutes over to seconds. Didn't even think about it being on one line by doing it that way. (slaps forehead) Many many thanks for the advice, Mloser. I'll try to not let it happen again.

Thanks Mitch and Foxtrot. I do submit recoveries to the NGS and make sure to change the coordinate formats, which is a good reminder to everyone reading this. I just changed the information in the original description to match what is there now......like the school, fence, below ground, etc. Funny thing is, I actually had to shorten my description down for the NGS recovery report submittal. It had too many characters in it.

I found one today that the USGS guys reported as a "no joy" back in 1977. I think the fence is what may have threw them off. I don't think the fence there now was the one referenced to in the 1949 description, so they may have concentrated their efforts on the wrong side of it. The measurements from the road told the true story. http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=CQ0666

Man, I got to pay more attention. I guess it's sort of like not noticing witness posts, before I got into benchmarking...... even though they are all over the place. My wife says I do the same thing with her, especially when she changes her hairstyle

I don't want to sound like an idiot, but how long has this "adding a coordinate to a log" feature been showing? When I was logging CQ0662 today, it was the first time I saw it. It will let you add a coordinate in your logs, which works great for scaled benchmarks. When you post a log for a benchmark(or geocache) there is a checkbox near the bottom that allow you to add new coordinates to the log. Is this something that happened fairly recently, or do I need to adjust my meds some?

The show has been uploaded to youtube , divided into 10 ten-minute or less segments, as per youtube requirements. You can see our favorite chief geodetic surveyor, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blKfiUeXDYs...feature=related

Sounds great. If you will, try to take a lot of scale pictures trying to show where everything is located. Make sure to stop off at the gift shop there. They have a patch of the second benchmark, you can get. That's how this whole thing started for me. A friend was showing me the patch (pic below) he got when he visited, and I tried to look it up to see if it was in the NGS database. Picture of patch I had another bud tell me that they also sell a walking stick medallion, of the benchmark.

That's also what I was thinking, BDT. I'm trying to plan a trip that way in September to visit family who are all from Clarksville just north of here. I will try to stop by there and take some better reference pics, unless maybe Secondgunman or Asholland want to go by, since they live a lot closer. It's worth going, just to visit the highest point in Arkansas. I have a feeling, that no matter what you post on the gc.com page for this trying to explain the truth, that others are going to continue to log it as a find. As always, many thanks to everyone for their advice.

Now that's funny. I've got a good friend of mine who just so happens to have a lpc that I always give him a hard time about......who I just may have to use your log on. It's hilarious.

If you are a Firefox web browser user, try Xinha. It is a free FF add-on that easily opens up a 'what you see is what you get' (WYSIWYG) editor right in the cache description box....just by right-clicking your mouse inside the cache description box. You just type up everything you want, and use the buttons at top to adjust fonts, colors, add pictures, etc etc. Once you get everything looking like you want it to, hit the "apply" & "ok" button and it will change everything over to html code in the cache description box. You can also reopen Xinha (as many times as necessary) again while inside the description boxes and do more editing. No copying and pasting from another program. Just make sure you have the "description in html code" box checked on the cache submittal form. I seem to forget this a lot. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1449/