Amygdaloid

I've been working on them for about a year and a half I think. It's gotten much easier! I just sent in a flat top reference mark. I'd like to do the cap type that fit over the end of a big pipe next and a USGS benchmark that has a twisted stem. That has me puzzled so far. I bought a Wild T3 and tripod model from the guy that was mentioned. That was one of my inspirations to try Shapeways myself. I've made all the models in the picture available on Shapeways, so if anyone wants one you can get one there. They can be customized with stamped station names and years also. Not sure if I can post links here so just google Shapeways survey benchmark and you should find it.

The photo of my collection isn't exactly what it seems to be! Here is another... I'll take it as a compliment that the first photo passed as a photo of full size benchmarks Since it would be extremely difficult (and most likely very costly!) to find un-stamped examples of these without raiding the collections found in some NGS or USGS Office building, I've been recreating these in miniature myself. I a graphics package and 3D modeling software along with references such as George Leigh's document, historic USC&GS and USGS Publications and bulletins, measurements of actual benchmarks provided by some helpful contacts at NGS and USGS, photos found online, as well as my own photos, measurements and rubbings of benchmarks I have found. Once I have created a good 3D model I have bronze castings produced from the 3D Printing service provided by Shapeways.com. The end product are scaled down to roughly 1" diameter for the standard USC&GS disk. The USGS Benchmarks are slightly larger and the State Survey is significantly smaller. They arrive from Shapeways as bright and shiny bronze so I use various techniques to give them a more aged bronze patina like we find on benchmarks in the field. This also helps accentuate the very fine engraved text (The small letters in the inner ring of text are 1mm high!). 3D Printing really produces amazing results. I think Shapeways is even surprised by the small text that comes out readable -whenever I send them a new model to print they tell me it's to detailed, but I talk them into proceeding and you can see the results. My goal is to recreate all of what I think of as the "classic" Coast and Geodetic Survey marks used from 1900 to the early 1970's before the designs started to change under NOAA. I'm also planning on modeling several USGS benchmarks from the same era. I've also done some of these as keychains with the accurate stampings of specific benchmarks.

What do you think of my collection?

I went to this one last summer. Lots of recent logging in the area so we couldn't drive very close and had to walk in. Even that was tough - the loggers really leave a mess behind. Fortunately this is up on top of an elevated rock outcrop so its probably pretty safe from accidental destruction - if not vandalism.

There are tons of the USCGS & State Survey marks in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. I search mainly in Houghton and Keweenaw Counties, and have found around 20 of them. There are many more that I haven't bothered to look for. Here is one of my favorites: Someone tried hard to pry it out but this was one stubborn mark! Looks like that spike has been there for a few decades. "Bumbletown" is a pretty cool name as well - it's a nearby place name. Some of them are easy to find along roads and highways, but the better ones are in some pretty remote locations that require some good hikes.

A friend of mine visited the Geographic Center a number of years ago and snapped a photo of the US Coast and Geodetic Survey mark (Center 1962). I've been experimenting with 3D modeling software and 3D printing using Shapeways and thought I would try replicating a geodetic survey mark. It's to costly to do this full size, so I have scaled this down to a 1" diameter. I used the actual photo to replicate the uneven alignement of the stamping of the station name and date. I upload my model to Shapeways, they print it in wax at a high resolution, and then make a plaster mold and then cast the mark in bronze. The following photo shows the result as delivered in what Shapeways calls "Raw Bronze" meaning it is briefly tumbled but not polished. The smallest text is just under a millimeter tall, so the printing technology is pretty amazing I think. Let me know what you think.

The one in the snow was tall enough to stand under, so you could set up under it. The one in the other photo was much shorter so I doubt that would be possible. They are permanently attacthed to a concrete base, so they are stable (they have been around at least 50 years). I intend to look for more of these and get better photos, but with winter fast approaching that may not happen until next summer (they get LOTS of snow up there!)

I found the control point in the photo along the shore of Lake Superior in Keweenaw County, Mi. It is a Steel Bolt that has been cemented into a depression in the bedrock, about 10-15 feet from the lake. The letters USE 18 1905 and a triangle with a point in the middle are drawn into the cement around the bolt. Any idea what agency went by the initials "U S E" in 1905? I had been to this spot many times before finding it, as the cement blends in with the surrounding rock. If there are more in the area I haven't found them yet. The US Lake Survey was active in this area, but the marks they placed in this area where done in the 1860-70s and where either triangular copper bolts set in stone or traditional looking disks marked USLS. USE 18 1905

There are several strange tripod like stations along the Keweenaw Waterway in the Houghton/Hancock area of Michigan's UP. I first saw these when I was in college getting a degree in Surveying at Michigan Tech in the 80's, but even the Surveying Faculty did not know where they came from. I never found any identification marks on them, and I never found a benchmark disk below the center pipe, although there is sort of a pipe cap. I found about a half dozen in my college days, but several have been removed by road construction and development since then. They have been around for a long time, I saw pictures of them in an old Michigan Tech yearbook from the 30's or 40's. I always assumed they where used in a triangulation project given there locations in relatively high points that straddle both sides of the waterway, but who placed them, how they where used, and why they where made so robust and permanent has remained a mystery. Can anyone shed any light on them? Station 1 Station 2