topflitejr1

For what it's worth, I've got 1,100 Finds. Had a blast finding and logging them in 7 States. I'd hoped to find some in at least the 48 contiguous States after I officially retire.

Bill93, thanks for the heads up! This got me excited, but I noticed that they are asking professional grade equipment be used and that the Stations be occupied for at least 4 hours. I hope this doesn't discourage amateurs, like myself, from submitting official reports to the NGS, in the future. It won't discourage me! After all, the Big Boys gotta have their fun and I enjoy their stories and pictures when submitted on these Forums. I was looking at the NGS Priority List for my area (Southern Central Coast of California). Two of those Marks I had previously logged on Geocaching.com. A few others have been recovered by other local amateurs and appear easy enough to get to with a somewhat distant drive. The more difficult Marks to recover ( me being a Civilian) would be those located on the nearby Air Force Base, but probably a lot of fun while hiking to the Marks, the history and the incredible views of the Coastline. There has been a bit of a lull on recovering Marks in this area for quite a stretch of time and I have not seen a couple of the notable BM Hunters in the area for a long time. I really enjoyed their stories, photos and treks along the coast and up into the hills and mountains after submitting their finds.

I get the same message. Looks like the Benchmark Viewer Server is down.

Thanks 68-eldo. The Facilities Office will be my first check.

mloser, They even escorted you around the Base, that is awesome! I shouldn't be so shy to ask for permission next time I want to go looking for Marks on a Military Base. After all, the worst they can do is say no. I have worked at Edwards AFB in construction, but that was before I got into Benchmarking. What a kick it would be to look for BM's, out there. I live near MCAS Miramar now, and have been to a couple of Airshows, but did't feel very comfortable walking around with a GPSr and lots of MP's and other Boots making sure that the Civilians don't get too nosy.

Have any of you Forum frequenters asked for and received permission to hunt for Marks on a Military Installation? Of course, I'm asking any non-government employees, but then again, a government employee or a Surveyor could have an interesting story to tell.

All, DO5552 may have been monumented in 1991, but I don't think that MNDOT submitted it to NGS until their 2012 recovery. The GSAK file that I built for Minnesota in I think the spring of 2011 does not have any DOXXXX PID's. kayakbird Thanks Kayakbird and Tillamurphs for the info. I plan to make it out there to do some more serious Benchmarking in the future. Seems they do things a little differently out there.

Tillamurphs, I gave the wrong PID. It's actually DO5552, not DO5522. DO5552 was monumented in 1991.

I was in the Minneapolis/St.Paul area over the weekend. I wasn't there to Benchmark, but made mental notes of possible Intersection Stations to log when I got back. I noticed that many of the Survey Marks in the Ramsey and Washington County areas were not loggable on the Geocaching site and the message given was "No Benchmark was found with that Point ID (PID)". When you bring up the NGS datasheet on the particular Mark, everything about the Mark is listed with them being logged FOUND in all recoveries. In other words, no Marks that I looked up on the NGS Datasheets were listed as NOT FOUND or DESTROYED. Does the Geocac site randomly Archive some Marks for no reason? IE. DO5522 WESTOVER.

If you check the current Datasheets, you may find that some Geocac'rs are logging their recoveries there and not on the Geocaching site. Google Earth is a good source for current recoveries using the Datasheets.

I think a little more info is needed here. The way I see it, the Mark is shown atop a boulder in Pic# 2. IMO, That would make it L0706 CAMP 1948 RM 1 USGS. Yes, the Designation says for RM1 "CAMP 1948 RM 1 USGS", but the description for the Station Mark (LT0708) says that RM1 is stamped "CAMPBELLVILLE NO 1 1948". Now....does pic #3 show a Mark under the sunglasses? Most likely not, because if that is a Mark on top of the boulder in Pic #2, another Mark would most likely, not be placed that close to a Sister Mark. Just my 2 cents.

The Mark that you found at the NE corner of N. 3rd and Arch St. is a Tidal Mark JU0725 dated 1922. Quite a few others have found it as well and logged it on the website. You can read the "Me First" thread to get a good idea on how to log your finds. Philadelphia should be a great place to find many old and historic Marks. Good luck and welcome to Benchmarking!

Thurston and Lovey Tillamurph... I love it! Any benchmark's on the "Isle"?

Silly me! I re-read it and discovered that Levi Noble was Mapping the Mojave Desert, not surveying it. ........Never Mind!!!!

Great stuff billwallace! I scrolled down to "Heritage Assets" and enjoyed reading about the Ford Model A purchased by the NGS in 1930 and used by several NGS employees through the years up until 1974. Turns out that it was used by Levi Noble to map the Mojave desert. I'm guessing that he worked the area that I live in the Antelope Valley and would bet that I have found some of the Marks that he may have set. Thanks!

Don't believe that those tabs lasted into the 30's. Page 16 of 25 at the below link shows a nice diagram of a rock set. You are placing the disk stem into fresh cementing material of some sort. kayakbird http://www.mdt.mt.gov/other/survey/external/survey/manual_guides_forms/bench_mark_reset_procedures.pdf Ah! It's all clear to me now! Thanks Kayakbird.

Nice ... but that's not how they used to do it. Observe the following illustration from an early CGS publication: Notice the wedge in the end of the split shaft. The whole thing was driven into a pre-drilled hole. When the wedge hit the bottom, it got driven up into the shaft, spreading the two sides and forming a very tight fit. Obviously this would work in rock and in hardened concrete which would allow the hole to be drilled the right width and depth (and at the right location). Not so wet concrete. But wet concrete would also not provide a carefully predetermined location. So you couldn't use it for example if you were resetting a surface mark from the underground mark or from the reference marks. Always nice to see how things were done in the "good old days". The picture is from Special Publication 76 (1922). That makes perfect sense to me Papa Bear, but what about the two stand-offs under the bottom of the Disk? Wouldn't they leave a gap between the bottom of the Disk and the substrate?

I know I've been Benchmarking too long when ..... 1) I go to a store that's several blocks further away than the closest one, in the hopes that I can spot another Mark. 2) I spend a long time looking at Google Earth to figure a way to get to a particular Mark that sits high on a ridge and hasn't been recovered since Monumented. 3) I want to cry when I see a Mark completely pulled from the ground, laying on it's side next to the road. 4) I've attempted to locate every Mark within a ten mile radius of my house. 5) I've walked or biked over 30 miles to locate every Mark along a stretch of the California Aqueduct.

Oh crap! I better have my Doctor check me out......Now if only I could remember who my Doctor is......

My wife always says that I must have early stages of Alzheimers...Is this proof?!

My wife always says that I must have early stages of Alzheimers...Is this proof?!

Congratulations, Ham What AM! Sounds like you really do your homework before you go out and "bag some brass". I too enjoy exploring the Historical and significant places that Benchmarking takes me. There are quite a few old runways here in the Antelope Valley as well, with Benchmarks and an occasional Airport Beacon as an added bonus. Happy Hunting!

Thanks BD Trackers. It so happens that I live right next to the San Andreas Fault. I was able to dodge the '94 quake AND the recent wildfires.

BD Trackers, What would be the correct 2 letter code for California? I don't see a CA.ZIP.

Chickahominy- It appears to me that you have logged the only Mark that is loggable in that general vicinity (Governor's Plaza), on GC.com. The two that you have mentioned above can be logged on Waymarking.com.