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Klemmer

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Everything posted by Klemmer

  1. You gents are absolutely correct! That's what I'll do when I can get a picture of my own, unless cinderbike is up to reporting to NGS. I wouldn't base a report on someone else's picture (that's just me, no reflection on cinderbike). Thanks!
  2. Hi Bill: In addition to the very nice Wild Pansies , I think you've also got a Wild Hyacinth (aka "Blue Dick"). At least we call them Wild Hyacinth out here (maybe because of the real name....). This is one for sure, from last spring. Looks the same? Hurry up Spring!
  3. Well, since I'm the guy that couldn't find the station mark where it was supposed to be, I guess I should get picture of it in the museum, and send it to Deb Brown so she can mark it destroyed. There seems to me no doubt that is the right mark, although the crew that reset it in 1957 must have had older file data about the original UNION from 1938 (nothing in the NGS Database about that one, even the destroyed UNION marks). Obviously it's destroyed if it's sitting in the museum. The main problem is finding the museum open. It's very understaffed. I hike their trail at least once a month, and I haven't seen them open in a long time, so I guess cinderbike was lucky. I'll keep trying....
  4. That depends. Back in the early programming days (like FORTRAN), you used to have to enter two codes, one for a CARRIAGE RETURN and one for a LINE FEED! So, actually, I think and ENTER key is more like both codes together in one key. Klemmer (parent) P.S. Ask a 12 year old what a carriage is. Horses?
  5. LSUfan: Our sympathies. Now the fun starts. Been through it twice. Successfully, so far, we think. Klemmer
  6. Neat photos. I may have to try that sometime. I have seen the same thing done out her in Orange County CA, in the county Geomatic department database. The database itself is a little clunky, but the data is there. Some marks (newer ones) have similar style pictures. Might be something NGS should consider in the future.
  7. Hey F-X: It just hangs, never completes upload to the iPhone, even when up on wireless (as opposed to 3G cell coverage). The phone is flawless otherwise (browsing internet, etc). The iPhone geocaching app is the latest version 3). BUT: after my above post, I decided to try a small .gpx file of 100 caches, right from a PQ, filtered & exported by GSAK. No go. I let it run all night (on AC power, of course), but it still didn't work. So - I guess there is a problem other than the benchmarks. I searched the whole forum for any relevant info - but none found. I guess I'll bug geocaching. Is is possible it only works for bare waypoints, with no cache or benchmark description data included? That would be soooo.... silly? Klemmer
  8. Hey, that's one good thing about this hobby / sport / avocation: You've got to think! If only more things make us think carefully, we'd be better off. Good, educational thread. Thanks all!
  9. Yeah, I'll second Ashallond - the iphone geocaching App works well for geocaches, but not at all for benchmarks (so far). There is a fairly new geocaching feature, called "Saved GPX Files" under Premium Features on your My Profile" page (member only feature, it seems). It allows you to upload a .gpx file to geocaching, and then you can download it to you iphone (like a pocket query). Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get it to work for any benchmark .gpx file I have tried. Too bad. Anybody else try it yet and get it to work?
  10. Hi John: Good thought. Sometimes that will help. Take a look at my example linked above. Unless I'm foolishly blind( ), I don't see a marker type specified. The line is supposed to be there, but sometimes isn't. Klemmer
  11. Hi TillaMurphs: Good question. In my experience, it's sometimes tricky to tell. One sure way is in the History section (where the dates are listed), it may say "First Observed". Then I went to find one like that and couldn't! All the ones around here seem to say "Monumented" in the History section. So, the next clue seems to be the designation, like DX4823 - LA HABRA CH OF OUR LADY CROSS The clue is "CROSS". Then there is the actual description. It may say something like: "...THE CROSS WAS INTERSECTED..." Sometimes, I've actual had to go there & look at it. If there is a foolproof way, I'm not enough of a fool to have found it yet. Klemmer
  12. Ha! I have a business trip planned to Las Vegas the week after Laughlin. Really! It's a training course I need to go to. Really. I'm considering making it one long trip. It will make sense. Really.
  13. I'll see if I can beat Shirley to the draw with a couple we found together (Klemmer and the other two oldfarts) in the Laughlin NV / CA area almost two years ago: FS1137 chiseled cross, from 1899, including the broken chisel tip used to carve it. I'm looking at the chisel tip here next to my computer. Neat souvenir! Lots more pics and write-up in the GC log. We also found a broken shovel near the site. Wicked rocky area! FS1138 drill hole nearby (also from 1899), with dueling Magellans. More pics and write up in the GC logs. FS1142, another 1899 drill hole in the same area. First found by 2oldfarts and Me & Buckey several years before I did. Lots more pics on GC. Now you see some of the reasons we want to get back to the Laughlin area in April (plug for our planned event). The are more old marks out there waiting for us.....
  14. BDT: Thanks for a nice wrap to 2009. I do like your taste in pictures! And, Happy New Year to all! Now, time to go to the party - out west.
  15. Hi Ashallond: It looks to me like that southern arc eventually goes across southern Louisiana. That was inherent in one of the purposes of the arcs, namely to complete a "loop" back to the starting point, as a means of checking the work. Hard to say when that might have happened. Here are the two National Geodetic Survey (NGS) - previously Coast & Geodetic Survey (C&GS) resources that some of use use to research these older (and very interesting) projects: C&GS Annual Reports (1837 - 1965) C&GS Special Publications (1898 - 1969) There are some indexes & bibliographies on those pages that are searchable (on-line or in Acrobat) that make finding things a little easier. At a quick glance, I did see a number of surveys in Louisiana, but didn't see the completion of the arc. I didn't check Arkansas. Good luck! --Klemmer
  16. Here's a flat "B.M." one from 1924 (DX2221). I guess the surveyors kept them in the bag for a while after they were "officially" no longer in use (1920?). Yes, I know that the description is "J1 Reset", but the location is right, and the stamping called out on the datasheet matches. There used to be a J1 1906 (DX2220), but the whole building was moved (!), and the surveyor (a Mr. Floyd Hough) kept the same designation at the new building location, but with a new date. A bit unusual, I suppose. One wonders if Floyd (or his descendents) have the "J1 1906" disc. Perhaps DX2220 should be declared destroyed. I guess I knew it was unusual to be flat, so I took this pic also. It really is flat. I'll also look for more in my database.
  17. OK, Southpawas: Since you say "Texas to California arc of Primary Triangulation", lets take it a bit further into California! The Primary Triangulation map below picks up where Southpawas left off, and covers Southern California. It took some serious searching on the NOAA / NGS website, and it turns out there is not an NGS Special Publication for the area, but rather it is covered in Appendix 9 of the USC&GS 1904 annual report from here: USC&GS 1904 Annual Report It is 65MB of download, but Appendix 9 runs only 16MB. I have Appendix 9 separately, and will be happy to email it, if anyone is intersted and can handle the 16MB email attachment. The document also covers the offshore Channel Islands (San Clemente, Catalina, etc.) very well, and goes as far north as San Fransisco (Mt. Diablo) to tie in to the first Tanscontinental Primary Triangulation Arc. There is lots more detail, many more stations in the report. I know I have found and documented several of the pre-1904 marks (some much older!), including the key San Juan and Santiago peaks, and I'll add them in here as I have time. I'm planning to go after all the ones I can out here. Come on, SoCal folks, lets get these old Triangulation Stations! What cool history. P.S. Thanks NOAA folks for scanning & making these available. P.P.S. Sorry for the size, but any smaller and it isn't readable.
  18. Hey Southpawaz: Thanks for starting this thread! Hope to be able to contribute to it some. For starters, San Jacinto - 1989 - 1923 (DX5119) is well documented on the geocaching benchmarks page including all four existing marks (Azimuth mark first recovery - by Rumpled - since set in 1954). My NGS recovery log from 2003 needs an update for my recovery of the Azimuth mark this last July. Will do ASAP. At over 10,000 feet and a serious all day trek, all those recoveries were a multi-year task for me. I would still like to spend more time on the peak some day, trying to recover all the old drill holes (if they still exist). There are also various bolts and holes that were possibly used to mount or guy various non-survey related signs, poles, etc (see Rumpled and Vader GC logs). I have a feeling that unfortunately some of the old (1898?) drill-hole RM's have been used for other purposes over the years. I'll be needing a very light tape measure, or a Sherpa. The peak is anything but flat, with rock scrambling needed to get anywhere. Sure is fun, though!
  19. Slightly related to my previous post. Below might be of some interest. This is an email to me (and others!) from Jeremy at Geocaching.com, announcing the start of the new geocaching.com Benchmarks Hunting section. I don't think Jeremy will mind my posting a copy of this for historical purposes: 5/15/2002 Greetings from Geocaching.com - We're introducing a variation of Geocaching called Benchmark Hunting! (US Only, unfortunately) Initially we're making it only available to subscribers in order to give you the first look at it and offer any suggestions you have. After logging into the geocaching site, go to this URL: http://www.geocaching.com/mark <A HREF="http://www.geocaching.com/mark">For URL Challenged Browsers</A> In many cases a GPS unit isn't required, but can be quite helpful to find these markers. We've been waiting for a while to launch this, and now that we have the capacity to store the 700,000 benchmarks in the US we can finally let folks play with it. We're testing a new image upload feature that allows you to upload images of many different formats which will be automatically converted to JPG on the site. We've also upped the image size to around 4 megs, though it will be shrunk down after the upload. In addition you can apply coordinates to the image. We've also created a hidden forum for subscribers to discuss the new section. The link is on the front page of the Benchmark Hunting page. Feel free to start a topic there if you have any questions about the new section. Hope you enjoy it! I'd also like to introduce Elias who was able to sort through the USGS documentation to convert the data into something useful. Elias is the "wizard behind the curtain" in many aspects of the Geocaching.com site. Cheers, Jeremy Irish President, Groundspeak [Notice the mention in the last paragraph of the "USGS documentation". Oops! -- Klemmer]
  20. I'm not a surveyor, but my first find of a benchmark was well before the benchmark section on geocaching.com existed. One of my semi-regular hiking routes happened to go right over ROSE (DX4677) a couple miles from our house. It took some poking around on the Orange County and NOAA/NGS websites to figure out what it was, but I did. I thought it was such fun, I made it into a virtual geoache (a type no longer allowed for new geocaches). Some searching on geocaching located more around the country that had been made into virtual geocaches, so over the next months I found another one (DX4264), and submitted it as another virtial geocache. I got a note from an admin (Jeremy, I believe), saying basically "we're not approving this, just hold the phone, we're working on something related". Soon, along came the benchmarking section on geocaching.com. I was then "requested" to archive my virtual goecache of ROSE, and it has since been completely scrubbed (no history of it even). So, I guess my (and others) idea of making benchmarks into virtual gecaches might have "nudged" Jeremy & folks into creating the bechmarking section of geocaching!
  21. I assume you're talking about a Lat/Long search on the Geocahing.com benchmark section? I just did search from a set of coordinates I had handy (destination tomorrow). I didn't have any trouble. Had many pages (32), that I could page back & forth using the arrows. Uhhhh... woops! Went back a few minutes later, and had the same problem you did. Not working right. Re-did the search, and it was OK again. It seems to time out after a while, or something. You should shoot them an email. Seems like a bug. Or, maybe intentional after a couple minutes (not nice, if so).
  22. For Benchmark hunting, the USGS Topos are great. We like old stuff for that.
  23. Well, we do get SOME rain out here (yesterday & last night, an inch or so here). But at least in the "flatlands" by the coast, I can't say hypothermia is a problem. Of course, I can be in lots of snow in the mountains in an hour or so, which is a different story.
  24. Hi doxietrekker: Welcome to Benchmark Hunting! Looks like you're off to a good start. Keep it up! Well, benchmarks just are different animals (so to speak), so the folks that run Geocaching.com just never counted them in the geocaches total found. If you look at your geocaches tab on your profile, you'll see the asterisks (or lack of) shows what types are in the total (or not). You'll find lots of friendly & helpful folks on the benchmark forum. Stop in again! P.S. I grew up in Buffalo NY, not too far from Fairport, but we're out in nice warm Southern California now.
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