Papa-Bear-NYC Posted November 18, 2010 Share Posted November 18, 2010 (edited) What is Sp Pub #18? The Special Publications in general are a series of reports that go back to then 19th Century which detail special accomplishments of the CGS formerly the CS. These supplement and go well beyond the Annual Reports published by the agency. For us they are nothing less than a Treasure Trove of historical information. SP 18, is entitled "FOURTH GENERAL ADJUSTMENT OF THE PRECISE LEVEL NET IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE RESULTING STANDARD ELEVATIONS" published in 1914. It is what it says and I suggest you take a look at it, The Special Publications have been digitized and are available Here The Annual Reports are Here Edited November 18, 2010 by Papa-Bear-NYC Quote Link to comment
kayakbird Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 This past Friday started out very frosty at the Pearce Ferry campground and an extra cup of coffee and a visit with the only neighbor I'd had in week put me two hours late at South Cove for a launch to the mouth of Hualapai Wash. By the end of a windless, 55 F day I had managed to log nine marks to close the gap left in the Wash last spring, observed the aftermath of a massive flash flood last summer and enjoyed a well after dark six mile paddle back to South Cove. And of course, came up with an unsolved mystery. This one FS0409 may have been uncovered this year, the upstream end shows a lot of abrading from bedload; but I don't think that it got moved 1000 ft upstream. It was found at the published L/L for FS0831, which remains NOT FOUND. But is B 129 on a rock or a post? FS0831'WASH, 38 FEET EAST OF THE CENTERLINE OF THE ROAD, IN TOP OF NORTH FS0831'ROCK OF TWO LARGE ROCKS ON EAST BANK OF WASH. A STANDARD DISK, FS0831'STAMPED B 129 1935 AND SET IN THE TOP OF A CONCRETE POST. I did not have time to carefully search all the pairs of of large rocks along several hundred yards here but I think that there is a good chance that this one and other NOT FOUND's along Hualapai Wash are still there. Several of the FOUNDS were hundreds of feet up wash from the published L/L. Generally the calls are very good. Trees have grown up after 75 years. FS0414 All in all a good day in the desert. kayakbird Quote Link to comment
+NorthWes Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 This past Friday started out very frosty... All in all a good day in the desert. kayakbird I really enjoy reading about these kinds of journeys & seeing the accompanying photos. A photo or two (or more) of the paddle approach to the Wash would be pretty fun to see... and not off topic! Quote Link to comment
kayakbird Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 A photo or two (or more) of the paddle approach to the Wash would be pretty fun to see... and not off topic! NorthWes & all, This shot was taken last February looking up reservoir (northeast). Hualapai Island - now a peninsula - is just across Hualapai Wash which now extends just over a mile southeast before it hits gravel. South Cove is on photo right in the distance, reservoir ends three miles north of there and there are now two Class IV rapids after the Colorado River exits Iceberg Canyon, the notch on the horizon. The reservoir was flat and all mine that night but I decided to keep the shore close to my right shoulder - must have gone in and out of 500 tiny coves. GR1549 From the Nevada side of the reservoir, again looking NE. Not always that tranquil! GR1641 kayakbird Quote Link to comment
NGS Surveyor Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Why do they only have up through 1965? In 1965 the US Coast & Geodetic Survey became part of the new ESSA (Environmental Science Services Administration), so I'm guessing that had something to do with the Annual Reports ending. Note, in 1970, ESSA and other organizations were combined to create NOAA. GeorgeL NGS Quote Link to comment
Okie'sKid Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Jealous, not angry Quote Link to comment
kayakbird Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Actually a good week once I finally gave up all hope of getting into the Missouri Breaks for a kayak camping, MORC hunting trip this monsoon season and decided that I may as well work on the multitude of Cold War era missile site associated bench marks in Fergus Co, Montana. Had a three day string where I found, in good condition, every one of the 54 that I looked for. A bit amazing considering that six are in the midst of a current road improvement project on MT 81. SR0694 MTDOT did help out quite a bit within the construction zone and another ten miles or so further west with lots of fresh lath and flagging. Even several with evidence of a recent tripod occupation. SR0710 Yes, Virginia, scaled bench marks are still important! It will be interesting to see if MTDOT submits HH1 or better Lat/Longs. kayakbird Quote Link to comment
+DragonsWest Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 As I've found most of the Geocaches around my area I've turned to finding benchmarks. I was quite surprised to have first log on a couple of finds yesterday evening. E 249 C 1237 Quote Link to comment
+billwallace Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 As I've found most of the Geocaches around my area I've turned to finding benchmarks. I was quite surprised to have first log on a couple of finds yesterday evening. E 249 ... C 1237 ... Welcome to benchmarking. I'm just down the road in San Luis Obispo county.. There are a few marks up there in your neck of the woods that I've been eye-ing but I haven't made it up there yet.... their orthometric height is within a meter of the geoid height. Quote Link to comment
+DragonsWest Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 Had my eye on Mulligan Hill at the mouth of the Salinas River for a while. Friday after work I hiked the 2 miles down the beach and up to the hill along the river. About 5 miles hiking in sand, which is great for the quads. Oooph. First found Reference Mark 2 Then MULLIGAN Then Reference Mark 1 All pretty easy, considering. Quote Link to comment
2oldfarts (the rockhounders) Posted November 3, 2022 Author Share Posted November 3, 2022 On 4/20/2010 at 8:19 PM, 2oldfarts (the rockhounders) said: John, the actual location of the granite post is about 338 feet southeast (bearing 124.3°) from the coordinates on the benchmark page. How good was the rest of the trip? Glad I asked. We recovered 6 1907 marks (granite posts and Pipe caps), 2 1912 marks, 2 1926 marks, 7 1935 marks, 2 1936 marks, 22 1944 marks, and only 3 marks from 1966 to 1982. We recovered 5 of the granite post, 1 set vertical in a rock wall, a 1907 pipe cap and a 1912 pipe cap. Now that the finding is over, I have about 170 pictures that need sized and adjusted before I get to the logging of over 40 benchmarks including a few destroyed and some not founds. And the beautiful scenery and flowers that were in bloom just add to pleasure of the trip. Good company, good finds, good scenery, wildlife, and more just can't be beat. John Now, this brings back so many memories that was searching for. If John was still alive, he would have known just where to look for this thread and which pids to pull up to look at before they are deleted!!! I am sitting here crying now just thinking how much will be lost to me - it's just one more piece of John that is being striped away from me... I never thought that GC could be so cruel to the people who have loved this site so much. May God Bless each and everyone who I have had contact with and come to call my friends... Peace, Love and the best of the rest of your lives... I will miss you all... Shirley~ 1 oldfart 2 Quote Link to comment
2oldfarts (the rockhounders) Posted November 3, 2022 Author Share Posted November 3, 2022 On 4/20/2010 at 10:40 AM, 2oldfarts (the rockhounders) said: YAHOO! We had a blast on Saturday and Sunday!! I am going to tell about just one of the special marks that we found. It is one of those white granite posts with the square surrounded by U S B M chiseled in the top of the post. O 5 FS0824 http://img.geocaching.com/benchmark/lg/9f222c85-1c36-48b6-ac11-f7ce2bd9c24b.jpg On Friday we met up with Klemmer and southpawaz at Laughlin to plan the next couple of days hunting and go get a bite to eat. (Sadly fossillady couldn't make this trip due to vehicle problems, bummer ) We started out on Saturday at the south end of Lanfair Road in SAN BERNARDINO county, CA. and worked our way north. We had recovered several 1944 disks before we came to the turn off that led us towards O 5. We used the 2 4X4 vehicles and went as far as the Guzzler shown on the Delorme Topo 8 map on our laptop. The 4 of us headed on foot the rest of the way, watching out for any signs of the description - copper rock monument, poles, abandoned RR bed or the reference post or the granite post itself. John and southpawaz stayed up high going different directions and Klemmer and I headed down towards a pole we spotted. John stayed in our view and had spotted several other poles. But, Bobby (southpawaz) hollered that he had found the copper rock monument! We all converged upon that. It had eroded quite a bit, but still there. John then started pacing off the distance and in the direction that was stated on the data sheet. He spotted the beautiful white granite post from about 30 feet away. YAHOO!!! We recovered a mark that had 2 DNFs for the last logs and had not been seen since 1944!! What a Good Day! The rest of the day went very well also. But, I will let the others tell you about some of the other marks - *4* more white granite posts and lots of disks and one 1907 pipe cap! Or maybe Klemmer will want to tell about one on Sunday, or some of his finds either before we met up or after we left. He was going to go try to find some of those OLD drill holes that had no description....wish we had had a little more time off to go with him on that quest.... Thank you Bobby and Klemmer for making this trip Extra Special for us. Shirley~ And here is my story for that GREAT Day 12 years ago so you don't have to go back page 2 to read it! 1 1 Quote Link to comment
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