Is This A Benchmark?

[lordleiter]

Yesterday I was in the Santa Monica Mountains NRA (in the Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa) area and I came across this. I have been searching like mad on the geocache site to find it, but to no avail. I took a picture but did not mark the coordinates (my downfall).

 

However, I did mark the Satwiwa Native American Indian Cultural Center. The Cultural Center's coords are N 34 deg 09.021', W 118 deg 57.679'. The marker was about a quarter mile south east of that.

 

Anyone else come across this and know what I found? Does it exist in the geocache database?

 

Thanks,

 

Jeffrey

[Z15]

No, it marking a land boundary of some sort. I can't decipher the stamping. Maybe someone familar with BLM in this area has a clue.

 

Bureau of Land Management deals with land boundaries of gov't lands like cattle grazing land, Indian lands, streams and rivers etc.

[+BuckBrooke]

From the FAQ,

 

Q. I happened upon a benchmark, but it isn't listed on Geocaching.com. Can I report it to the NGS?

 

A. The Geocaching.com database is not the same as the NGS database. If you are going to be submitting recoveries, please use the NGS database to check the most up to date datasheet before you submit a recovery.

Not all marks in the NGS database are in the Geocaching.com database. If you do find a mark, and can’t find it on Geocaching.com, use whatever information you have about the mark (such as its coordinates, station name, or county) to look for it in the NGS datasheet database. The NGS database can be found at http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/datasheet.prl. If the mark is not in the NGS database, it won’t have a PID and you will not be able to submit a recovery.

 

Paraphrasing one of the many earlier conversations,

 

Q: I ran across one of the zillion disks out there that aren't in the Geocaching or NGS database.  Can my recovery count for something?

 

A: Hmm.  That's a good question.  If it's a USGS disc, contact their office.  If not, particularly a Bureau of Land Management (BLM), you won't have much luck.

Edited June 28, 2005 by BuckBrooke

[lordleiter]

Bummer. Thanks for the info.

[+jwahl]

Yes, probably a boundary

 

AP4 meaning angle point number 4 (metes and bounds survey)

TR101-102 a little odd, but possibly Tract 101 and 102 or between them.

REC SMM NRA Guessing NRA is National Resource Area

so abbrev for where you were Santa Monica Mountains NRA

It was set in 1995, so I could probably track down the record if someone was desperate for it call CA BLM Cadastral Survey.

 

- jerry wahl

[+Pioneer 'n' Tiff]

My turn to pester the more informed.

 

Whilst out today Tiff literally fell over a benchmark. The benchmark is labelled "California State Lands Commission Benchmark Radio 3 RM2 1959."

 

I had a look at their website to see if they have a facility to log, I couldn't even see a way to search for them.

 

However, when checking the benchmark through Geocahce I discovered DC1655 in the specified site. Of interest is that DC1655 mentions Radio in the description.

 

What I was looking at resembles a benchmark (sorry I can't post the image) it is not as described. Also recorded as being nearby is this reference to DC1654 which I did not find.

 

Looking for some guidence here.

[mloser]

Pioneer and clumsy Tiff,

 

I am not sure what you found, but it was neither of the marks you listed. Both were on top of a Navy building of some sort and were tacks in the roof. They were both considered lost a long time ago, as one might think would happen to a tack on a roof since 1921 and 1933. Making them even tougher to find is that the building was torn down. A 1963 note on both of the stations you reference says the building was destroyed.

 

What you seem to have found is reference mark 2 of station RADIO 3, which logically followed RADIO and RADIO 2 after they were not recovered. Possibly in 1959 the CA State Lands Comm put in a triangulation station to replace the two previous stations but never submitted it to the NGS. You seem to have found one of the thousands (millions?) of benchmarks that exist but are not in the NGS database. The CA Land Comm might have information on it.

Edited July 2, 2005 by mloser

[+Pioneer 'n' Tiff]

Thank you kindly.

 

We noted that the original reference was to buildings and tacks etc, I probably should have reworded my phrasing. I'll take the last part though as Tiff is still smirking this morning about "I don't even need the GPS to find them."