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Triangulation in Hawaii


Shorelander

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Heya all. I've been inspired by the efforts of several people on this forum to look for information about historic stations of my new home state, Hawaii. I'm concentrating on Oahu right now because that's the island I'm on, but I'll probably extend that to the neighbor islands as well. I've begun my search at the Hawaii State Library and am currently working with the book "Triangulation in Hawaii" by Hugh C. Mitchell of the C&GS, published in 1930 (Special Publication 156). I've found that all but two of the stations are present in the NGS database (they all have the appropriate 1927 logs) - the other two, Mokapu and Punchbowl, were probably reset in the '60s and '40s, respectively, but I want to double-check with the descriptions and coordinates in the book. When I get that all straight I'll mock up the triangulation network for Oahu.

 

I'm also going to look at the works of the Hawaiian Government Survey from the 1890s, as many of the 1927 stations were formerly used then, and see if I can come up with a network for that as well. And last, I want to see if I can photograph the old topo maps they've got at the Library to put online - they have some from the US War Department c. WWII as well as old canvas USGS/C&GS ones from the 1920s. Not a complete set for Oahu, alas, but I can try the Manoa library later.

 

I was wondering what other things people on the forums might try to do? Obviously, at some point I'd like to recover as many of these historic stations as possible (I've "found" one - I say "found" because it has an issue I'd like your opinions on once the logging on GC.com is fixed). But are there any other resources you'd recommend? Networks I should look for? People I should ask for data?

 

Thanks, and if any of you come to Oahu, I'd love to go benchmarking with you!

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Heya all. I've been inspired by the efforts of several people on this forum to look for information about historic stations of my new home state, Hawaii. I'm concentrating on Oahu right now because that's the island I'm on, but I'll probably extend that to the neighbor islands as well. I've begun my search at the Hawaii State Library and am currently working with the book "Triangulation in Hawaii" by Hugh C. Mitchell of the C&GS, published in 1930 (Special Publication 156). I've found that all but two of the stations are present in the NGS database (they all have the appropriate 1927 logs) - the other two, Mokapu and Punchbowl, were probably reset in the '60s and '40s, respectively, but I want to double-check with the descriptions and coordinates in the book. When I get that all straight I'll mock up the triangulation network for Oahu.

 

I'm also going to look at the works of the Hawaiian Government Survey from the 1890s, as many of the 1927 stations were formerly used then, and see if I can come up with a network for that as well. And last, I want to see if I can photograph the old topo maps they've got at the Library to put online - they have some from the US War Department c. WWII as well as old canvas USGS/C&GS ones from the 1920s. Not a complete set for Oahu, alas, but I can try the Manoa library later.

 

I was wondering what other things people on the forums might try to do? Obviously, at some point I'd like to recover as many of these historic stations as possible (I've "found" one - I say "found" because it has an issue I'd like your opinions on once the logging on GC.com is fixed). But are there any other resources you'd recommend? Networks I should look for? People I should ask for data?

 

Thanks, and if any of you come to Oahu, I'd love to go benchmarking with you!

 

Hey! You’re horning in on my kuleana. :ph34r::cry:

 

Just kidding! I’ve been wanting to get to this project for a while now. Right now I am tied up with personal business that takes more time then a full time job. Hopefully I can finish it off soon and get to important stuff, like benchmark hunting.

 

Keep me posted about what you find in the libraries.

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I’ve been wanting to get to this project for a while now. Right now I am tied up with personal business that takes more time then a full time job. Hopefully I can finish it off soon and get to important stuff, like benchmark hunting.

There are benefits to being unemployed - like being able to spend time in libraries and on mountaintops while waiting for potential employers to get back to you. :ph34r::cry::o

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The report of the general survey of Hawaii referenced in SP156 is available on Google Books, and at least one of the beautiful maps is available on the David Rumsey map collection on line. Those mainly deal with cadastral surveys, but the first endeavor was to build up good maps and locations based on sound triangulation system. Much history is contained therein.

 

I can provide links to those later if anyone is curious.

 

- jlw

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I’m supposed to be retired, but this other thing came up and…..

 

There's actually a great series of three coffee-table sized books about the history of surveying and land division on the Hawaiian Islands called the Palapala'aina series by Moffat & Fitzpatrick. Vol 1 Vol 2 Vol 3

 

I have all three of those books. Interesting reading but not too much on the actual surveys as I recall. I’ll have to dig them out and reread them.

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I’m supposed to be retired, but this other thing came up and…..

 

There's actually a great series of three coffee-table sized books about the history of surveying and land division on the Hawaiian Islands called the Palapala'aina series by Moffat & Fitzpatrick. Vol 1 Vol 2 Vol 3

 

I have all three of those books. Interesting reading but not too much on the actual surveys as I recall. I’ll have to dig them out and reread them.

They're an interesting medium between information about the surveys and historical context. The source material for the nitty-gritty is really in the documents from the NOAA site.

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