Found un-documented benchmark

[LLWSUncleRick]

While I was out setting up a new geocache I noticed a benchmark on a bridge. I stopped got out the camera a took a picture so i could record my find when I got home. Much to my surprise the bench mark doesn't exist. I did a search by the letters stamped into it and found nothing. I also searched by the cords and the nearest mark is 3 miles away. Has anyone run into this before? What should I do next?

 

54RJN is stamped on the top

[Keystone]

Moving from the Geocaching Topics forum to the benchmarking forum, where capable experts will be delighted to help you with your question.

[+Holtie22]

Tell us more about what you found and where you found it. Coordinates? Picture of disk?

Meanwhile, look here for answers to your questions.

[+PFF]

Your cache is 0.6 miles from MA1048 and 0.9 miles from MA1049, both of which were found in good condition by the highway department, earlier this year. They would be interesting to check out--especially the one by the cemetery.

 

The mark you mentioned is not in the NGS database. Check the FAQ for more info. You can log it on Waymarking.COM.

 

-Paul-

[LLWSUncleRick]

the cords are 41 12.031N and 076 39.542W, and I'm still trying to figure out how to upload a picture. The bench mark is a U.S. department of the Interior geological survey marker marking the height at 706 feet.

[DaveD]

The mark you found is one of the hundreds of thousands of U.S. Geological Survey marks that were never submitted to C&GS/NGS for inclusion in the National Spatial Reference System. The designation RJN are the initials of the USGS Chief of Party in charge of the survey work.

[+Black Dog Trackers]

St.George Crew -

 

If it's not in the database, you can log it at US Benchmarks. Then, if you want, you can linclude a link here to your picture from that log.

 

Here is the section in the Benchmark FAQ about benchmarks not in the database.

Edited September 27, 2007 by Black Dog Trackers

[+genegene]

i found one also

[+Rockin Roddy]

Yes, I found one of these as well. It's at the edge of our golf course property about 15' from the road. Looks much like OP described

[+seventhings]

RE: Finding "un-documented" marks -

 

This for the benefit of those who are relatively new to the benchmark hunting community: I think most benchmark hunters who have been at this for a few years have stumbled on, found or otherwise come across dozens (if not hundreds) of marks that are not in the Geocaching database. Occasionally, a benchmark hunter will find a mark that is not in the Geocaching database, but is in the NGS database. (In fact, most experienced benchmark hunters consult (via radial search or search by county) the NGS database to see if there are additional marks in their geographic area of interest.) (Some benchmark hunters use the NGS database as their primary reference database.)

 

Usually, however, the accidental mark is in neither database. I call these "no-PIDs". There are approximately six gozillion of them out there.

 

Experienced benchmark hunters have learned to examine found marks very carefully because marks in Geocaching are often destroyed and replaced by no-PIDs. For example, when a state's DOT or contractors replace or upgrade a bridge, they often destroy the documented mark(s) mounted on the bridge and replace them with new marks. The new marks may show up (often as "RESETS") in the Geocaching database if they were set and documented before 2000. They may show up in the NGS database. Often (usually?), however, they don't show up in either database.

 

In the past four years (and not counting Lewis and Clark commemorative disks), I have found 55 marks that are in the NGS database but not in the Geocaching database, and 126 marks that are in neither database. I suspect that those numbers are not out of line with those of many other benchmark hunters.

 

Will

 

Edited in a vain attempt to comply with the rules of Standard English.

Edited September 27, 2007 by seventhings

[+trainlove]

Most bridges have benchmarks.

Most old New England libraries have benchmarks.

Most water monitoring stations have benchmarks.

None of them are listed as they are not location based benchmarks that NGS cares about.

 

I have listed a few benchmark databases in my log http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...03-48aa9a35faf1 for GCR49K i hate micros [part iii] by srt4guy. Listed in a link of caches in my profile.

 

P.S. After a recent event I have met a NGS employee who once hiked from Albany New York to Portland Maine along a railroad to recover ALL the benchmarks. All those, and they are listed on geocaching.com, that are along railroads are mostly underground. Unless they are on bridge abutments, they get slowly buried over time as the gravel settles and the tracks get built up. Well that's how I think he put it.

Edited September 27, 2007 by trainlove

[+Harry Dolphin]

I agree that "un-documented" is not the proper term to use. Gc.com is a subset of NGS, and it's not the only game in town; merely one government entity that maintains benchmark data. I've found about ten non-NGS benchmarks, and that's only because they were near where NGS benchmarks were supposed to be. Then again, I've found a few Letterboxes that I wasn't looking for, because they were near geocaches.