A milestone, an adventure and a really cool find

[mloser]

Three interesting benchmarking related things have happened to me in the last week or so and I thought I would share.

 

First, I passed benchmark find number 1,000 on GC.com. I have logged 1,700 or so marks, but since it is finds that count (he says, tongue in cheek), I consider this one a milestone of sorts. My goal was to make ELLENDALE, my nemisis benchmark from last September, my 1,000th, but the actual number 1,000 turned out to be JV3900, one of a series of marks set in 1979 on rods driven to refusal and encased in PVC pipes, which I despise. In general the settings are poorly thought out and they are often just as poorly described, using references to things that even a complete idiot would know are temporary and leaving out references that would be helpful. In retrospect having JV3900 as my 1,000th was somewhat of an omen to my PLANNED 1,000, which I searched for yesterday.

 

So that was the milestone.

 

On to the adventure: ELLENDALE.

The story of my trip is on the GC.com web page so you can read it there, and I was pretty happy with my adventure... until I got home and went to log it. Someone else had been there! The same day! And it was their FIRST benchmark. I had practically killed myself to look for this one a second time and they simply strolled up and grabbed a picture. And judging by the shadows, they beat me by a couple of hours. I had hiked 3.1 miles, up and down a .3 mile, 20 degree stone strewn slope, to be number 2. Sigh. I guess "personal best" will have to be what I settle for on this one. I can be somewhat proud though--the other finder, an experienced hiker according to her log, said that the trail she took was for experienced hikers only, and the path I took was "not advisable". So I guess for an old fart (no offense 2oldfarts--you are much older and fartier than I am!) I done good. At least I am not lying there on the hillside with a broken leg trying to get cell phone service. And I can still walk without too much pain.

 

As much as I was looking forward to finding ELLENDALE, it was more of a mission than a pleasure (and even less of a pleasure when I found out I was second!). The Really Cool Find (below) could again have been seen as an omen, as it was so cool as to be hard to top, so anything else I did this weekend would only pale beside it. And that turned out to be true.

 

Now the RCF (Really Cool Find)...

It started when I downloaded and printed the datasheets for Northumberland County. This rural county is north of Dauphin County (home of the state capital, Harrisburg, and my home town of Hershey). I was running low on Dauphin County marks to find so I figured I would get ready for some to the north. I checked the county for old marks, and lo and behold, there was one set in 1885, found in 1886, and no activity since. I scoped it out on Mapquest, USAPhotoMaps, and Topozone. Unlike many of these mountain top marks (cough cough Ellendale), this one looked very reachable. There was a straight path along the ridgeline that even had a road name. What could be better? Well, Saturday dawned sunny and warm and after making vain attempts at doing something around the house I escaped to drive the 1:40 north to MONTOUR. Again, the story of my hunt is on the page, but there is some backstory that I located since I got home.

 

First, I suspect that MONTOUR was actually set in 1886. The 1885 description says the sightings were made from a tree: "ANGLES AND BEARINGS WERE TAKEN FROM A PINE TREE STANDING NEAR THE NORTHEASTERN EDGE OF THE SUMMIT" but the 1886 recovery says "RECOVERY NOTE BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1886 (MM) STATION IS MARKED BY STONE AND TRIPOD". MONTOUR is not on the north edge of the mountain either--it is closer to the south edge. And although I didn't spend a lot of time at it, I didn't see a pine tree, much less one that had been around since 1885.

 

All this recent talk about Thompson Boundary Monuments got me thinking of those names in the recovery. Who was Tittman, and what about Merriman, and what the heck is a heliotroper? Didn't I just see a heliotroper that same day? No, that was a helicopter (but it was in someone's driveway!).

 

It turns out that Tittman ([sp.]--his name is Otto Tittmann) was a prominent surveyor, who became superintendent of the USCGS in 1899, as well as being a founder of the National Geographic Society. He died in 1938 at the age of 88. Could I have the wrong Tittmann? I hope not. At least I am chosing to think that the future head of the CGS surveyed from that stone.

 

Merriman seems to be Mansfield Merriman, a civil engineer, professor at Lehigh University, and CGS assistant in 1885 (and perhaps into 1886?). He wrote at least 8 textbooks, only one of which was about surveying. This is also borne out by the use of "(MM)" in the 1886 recovery. This (MM) notation exists in other nearby stations, some of which are mentioned in Merriman's book. It is so cool to put a human connection to these marks and to learn a little something about some of the people who were there.

 

I am not at all sure who Mr. Richards is, but in the history of Lehigh University's Physics Department a Joseph Richards is listed as the first graduate with a PhD in metallurgy. Maybe he was working with Merriman while getting his degree. There is more info on him here, but nothing saying he surveyed.

 

A heliotrope? That's pretty much just a mirror used to reflect sunlight. In surveying it was used to reflect the beam to the next station as a target. There is a drawing of one in Merriman's book in the chapter on Triangulation Stations. And of course a heliotroper was one who set up and moved the heliotroper so the beam stayed focused on the distant station's viewing instrument.

 

And a helicopter in someone's driveway too!

Edited April 24, 2007 by mloser

[+shorbird]

Congratulations for finding 1,000 marks! True, the rods don't have the aesthetic appeal of the disks, but they are still benchmarks. At least your 1,000th wasn't a water tower, right?

ELLENDALE sounds like it takes quite a hike to reach it. Even though you weren't FTF, you still had the pleasure of the hike! Funny, though--I had a similar experience this weekend with KX1487. The mark was monumented in 1941 with no logs since. When I got home to log it, someone else had been there the same day!

Sounds as if you learned a bit of history with MONTOUR. Benchmarking just gets better, eh?

[+Harry Dolphin]

Congrats, Matt! Impressive finds! I remember those mountains with the 1000' climbs from when I backpacked the AT across Pennsylvania. Even with maintained trails, they're tough! (And Dolphin was impressed that Pennsylvania named a coounty after him!)

[+PFF]

For shorbird and mloser:

 

Wait! This is even MORE mysterious. Both of those folks who found the marks on the same day as you were "benchmark novices". That is the only mark they have found--before or since.

 

***CONSPIRACY THEORY ACTIVATED***

 

Are your computers "bugged"? Was someone lying in wait to steal your glory?

 

-Paul-

[mloser]

shorbird,

These are rods with disks on top. Around here they were all set in 1979, are very hard to find, and I think the casuality rate is much higher than older disks. I attribute this to the poor choices made in setting them, often in obscure spots that are almost guaranteed to change in the future--for instance, one was set a foot from a fence corner, about 28 feet from a road centerline, across from a farm path. What could POSSIBLY change? Hmm, the road width for one, the fence, although it looked old, may have been moved, and it is even possible that the farm road was shifted a bit. Then they are often set deep in the PVC sleeves so a metal detector doesn't even get a decent hit. I hate 'em!

 

Pleasure of the hike? Nah. The first time I looked for ELLENDALE I thought I was going to pass out. This time was better but it was still a tiring and painful climb up the mountain side, a mountain side full of rocks. Did you see the profile of my GPS track?? The AVERAGE slope for the last .3 miles was 20% and at times it approached 30% I am sure. Twarn't fun, going up OR down. Once I was on top though, it was a beautiful day and the success of the find lifted my spirits.

 

PFF, I too thought there was some sort of joke afoot, perhaps one of you guys playing with me since I had made such a big deal out of my ELLENDALE hunt last fall. But no, I was upstaged by a lady with a dog. I am pretty certain she got there a couple of hours ahead of me too. I emailed her and she is simply a person who loves camping and day hiking, and finding ELLENDALE was a whim. She has been on that mountain before and knows a lot about it. Had I known there were abandoned towns at the top I might have changed my approach and attempted to walk by some of them. But then again, nah. I am too obsessive about benchmark hunting to take much of a sidetrip.

 

Harry, Dauphin County was named for the eldest son of Louis XVI, who was known as "The Dauphin". But of course we all know that! Why it was named after him is a mystery I haven't bothered delving into.

 

I only wish I had known the history of MONTOUR before I went. It was great finding that mark but knowing some of the people behind it would have been even better. It is a mark I may revisit when I am in the area, now that I know I can essentially drive to it.

[+Holtie22]

Congrats on some great finds! Speaking of Otto Tittman, check out this article in this months issue of The American Surveyor magazine: Woodward's Ice Bar

[+Harry Dolphin]

Harry, Dauphin County was named for the eldest son of Louis XVI, who was known as "The Dauphin". But of course we all know that! Why it was named after him is a mystery I haven't bothered delving into.

 

Boo hoo!

Dolphin in Dauphin See. Harry has been to Dauphin County!

[+Klemmer]

Very cool adventures, Matt. I'm envious. I've got to get out and do some more mountain top ones this spring.

 

Minor clarification: Out here in CA, a heliotrope is a very common wildflower:

 

Of course, we all know it just means "turns toward the sun", so a heliotrope could be many things. Especially out here near Hollyweird.

 

P.S. Sorry about that log on Ellendale.........

[Bill93]

Holtie, thanks for the link. I always enjoy reading about the challenges of metrology, and how hard people sometimes work to get accuracy. I'm usually a 1:3000 guy myself but I admire 1:30,000 and 1,000,000 work and currently am working on an amateur project that aspires to higher than my usual precision, as discussed in a post on the other (NGS) forum.