square nail

I know that CallawayMT and myself have photos in the book. Did any of the rest of you that frequent this forum submit photos and or stories? The slide show on Berntsen's web site looks like some of the photos that we see in our forum. The U.S. C.B. squared stone is one of CallawayMT's photos. Check it out at http://www.berntsen.com/ Squarenail

Here is an aluminum disk from 1901. A lot of them were set in the late 1890's and early 1900's. http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=RX1031

Nice job CallawayMT! We should have a marathon category for accomplishments of this magnitude. You would be in the lead I'm sure. Keep up the good work. Square nail

kc2ixe, I have a Garmin GBR23 (http://www.garmin.com/products/gbr23/) that I have mounted on an old pack frame. I power it with 2, 7.2 volt radio controlled car batteries and it plugs into my Garmin Map 76s I know the plug on your unit is the same as mine so this system would work for you also. Most of the time I can't receive Wass signals here in the mountains of Montana. There is a Coast Guard transmission station about 75 miles north of my location and I pick up their signal very good, even in the canyon bottoms and some tree cover. Today I was out locating monuments for a friend on a 20 acre piece of ground and my accuracy level was between 3.9 and 5.1 feet while my friends unit without DGPS said 21 to 35 feet. This works great for me and I haven't spent the big bucks. It really helps to narrow the search area for an "adjusted" benchmark or tri station also. I think there is a photo of this set up at RX1040. Square nail

I contacted the BLM office in Oregon as CallawayMT suggested and found that I could order the book from them for $54.00. So I did. Here is their phone # 503 808 6001

Any good metal detector will pick up a strong signal from the metal eyelets of your shoes. I don't see how this could work very efficiently. (just my oppinion)

I have posted more pictures of USLM's athttp://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.asp?PID=RX0513 These are all that I have found so far.

I like your idea. I have given my business card to concerened property owners and shown them the data sheet to help make them believe I am not crazey. Most people are helpful after they know what your up to.

I FOUND SOME PHOTOS OF "USLM 3554" I POSTED THEM AThttp://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.asp?PID=RX0513 I WILL POST MORE LATER AS I RE PHOTOGRAPH THEM.

In the previous paragraph I offered to post some photos when I got my laptop back from the repair shop. I am disapointed to have to say that the hard drive is bad and I can't recover any info. I will revisit these USLM's this fall while hunting and post the photos at that time.---- sorry!

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As it turns out, all of my USLM photos are on my laptop which is in the shop getting fixed. I should have it back in a day or so. I'll pick a BM close to the area and post photos to that site with explanations for each picture. Then I'll post a note here with the PID number.You will be suprized to see how difficult they are to recognize even though you know you are within a few feet.

One of my obsessions is finding mineral location monuments. While researching location information I will quite often come across a mining claim that was established using a USLM as a starting point. These are common in Montana where early surveys were done before the GLO surveyors got here. It is a real thrill to find one of these. Some of them promably have not been seen since they were monumented. There is another monument that was used in the late 1800's around areas of multiple mineral claims called INITIAL POINT. This was a point that all surveys were tied to. Some areas had so many claims that multiple INITIAL POINTS were established. I would be glad to post some photos if someone would be so kind as to tell me how.

It has been suggested to me that a "camera point" or a "picture point" is an exact spot that someone might return to from time to time to photograph changes in the environment. Such as forest growth, glacier movement, construction projects etc. The "camera points" that I encountered didn't have a point or indent on the disc and the discs were not plumb which leads me to believe they are not precise survey benchmarks.See

Great job Rogbarn. I live in Montana where I love to find the more challenging benchmarks that are on mountain tops. I am trying to get to RX0975 to see if it is still there. I've had to back off on the searching because of the forest fires circling our valley. I'll check out some of your other airway beacons in Montana as fall approches and the fires dimminish. THANKS again.

Black Dog Trackers; I don't know how to add arrows to a photo but I put some colored dots on instead. Photo 'SOUTH PROM A' has a pink dot for the south prominence and a yellow dot for the north prominence. Photo 'BEACON ROCK B' has a red dot for camera point 1. A green dot for camera point 2 and a yellow dot for the Washington State disc. I added these photos to the PID page. I hope the photos are of some help.

The words CAMERA POINT 1 and CAMERA POINT 2 are inscribed on the discs that are on Beacon Rock.(see pics)

I would like an oppinion from a professional about whether I logged this BM correctly and what is a CAMERA POINT? http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.asp?PID=RD2118 [This message was edited by SQUARE NAIL on July 23, 2003 at 09:37 PM.]

I'll bet you've seen some spectacular views. Is that you in the picture? It's nice to be able to put a face on someone.

I found this BM yesterday and noticed that it did not have the same numbers stamped on it that the data sheet said it should. There is no "1911 42". The data sheet doesn't list any RM's so I would assume this is the correct monument. The coordinants were perfect. I also found evidence of an old wood/wire monument about 50 feet north of of the BM on the actual peak and most visable point of the mountain top. It appears to me that the BM was mounted where it supposedly would not move even though the viewing station was in a different spot. The ground was not solid on the very peak. It seems sad to see that the mounment was mounted so close to a tree that it was disturbed when the tree fell over. Can a person get more information as to the reason for the number 42 on the BM? See pics http://geocaching.com/marm/details.asp?PID=RY0904 [This message was edited by SQUARE NAIL on July 01, 2003 at 08:06 PM.]

ACCORDING TO THE MAP A PERSON COULD DRIVE TO WITHIN A THOUSAND FEET. SOUNDS LIKE IT WILL GO TOWARD THE TOP OF MY SEARCH LIST.

THANKS YOU GUYS! YOUR HELP IS VERY MUCH APPRECIATED THIS WILL REALLY HELP IN FUTURE SITUATIONS.(AND I THOUGHT I KNEW IT ALL.) SQUARE NAIL

WHAT SHOULD I DO ABOUT A BM I FOUND THAT HAS INCORRECT SURVEY INFORMATION? I FOUND IT 3 INCHES BELOW THE SURFACE WITH A METAL DETECTOR.AFTER THINKING THE BT MIGHT BE 180 DEGREES OF.THE DESCRIPTION STATED "60'4 ft. from station mark in true bearing 173 degrees 04 minutes." I FOUND IT TO BE 60.4 ft at 353 degrees. PID RX1040. THANKS, SQUARE NAIL

Thanks to everybody for their amazing response! This is a "US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BM" with elevation but no personal ID number. And yes, it was located with the help of a NAD27 topo map. I drove over 200 miles today just to photograph this BM. I don't know how to post a photo of the BM and the map,but that is probable not needed now. Thanks again! Square Nail

I have five BMs located on topo maps that don't come in the system when I type in the lat lons.What am I doing wrong?