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What does this mean and should I go for it?


BlueMoth

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I would like to start hunting benchmarks and just found out that there is one (maybe) in the condo complex where I live in Las Vegas. The PID is GR1943 and it was last found in 2006. So I have two questions. In the description and also on the topo map it says "Designation DODO". What does that mean? I feel like one asking this question. I looked all over the web, and all I come up with is references to the dead bird, lol. Second question is about accessing. It might not be there anymore. The photos of the power stations are different than what is there now. In the pictures it shows a tower structure, now there is just one huge pole. Is it likely that the benchmark was destroyed when they changed structures? Also, accessing it is going to be hard. The pole sits on top of a concrete mound about 20-30 feet (maybe more) tall inside the walled complex. The south side of the pole is next to Harmon ave, the north, west and east sides are open to the complex. There are signs on the mound that says not to climb on it and there are, get this, security guards in the complex that troll around on segways. The only way I can see getting this is to walk over to Harmon ave and jump the concrete wall from there. If I try from the inside I have to scale a 20-30 foot tall cement hill. Any guesses as to whether it is still there? Should I go for it or let it go?

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Often the station names were assigned based upon nearby geographic features, towns, waterways, or landowners. Finding the reason for the name DODO would be interesting but it probably would not help you to find the mark.

 

I would suggest talking to the property owners to get access to the site. Often they can help with your search. Breaking the law to look for a benchmark is not a good idea.

 

Good luck!

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Well, thanks for the first part of your reply. As to the second: I AM a property owner here. I CAN legally be in here where the bench mark may or may not be. I am just trying to figure out the best way to go about it and get any opinions as to whether or not the mark is still there. The mound on which the mark sits is so high I am sure they posted the signs to keep the kids from climbing it. Not that that stops kids anyway. The signs were posted by the condo association, not the county.

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BlueMoth -

 

There was no find of GR1943 in 2006. What's pictured in that log is Reference Mark number 4 for GR1943 and that does not count as a find.

 

In the 2/1/2004 log, there is a picture that I assume is the actual mark GR1943, which is inside the electric company's easement fence.

 

There are 3 reference marks listed in the description. They will all say "REFERENCE MARK" on their disks with an arrow pointing to the actual station GR1943. Finding any of them does not constitute a find.

 

The actual station GR1943 will have a triangle in the center.

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Ok, I see what you are saying now. I had to go back to the listing and re-read everthing again. Here is what I can figure; there should be three survey marks up on that mound, two reference marks and one station/bench mark, (what you just said, lol). The fourth one, reference mark #5, would be or have been to the south, across Harmon street.

 

The steel towers shown in the photos no longer exist, nor does the chain link fence. Except for the concrete wall that runs along Harmon, there is no fence around the existing single tower or mound at all. After studying the photo, it appears that it was taken from the NE corner, because the photo is looking to the southwest. You can clearly see the cement wall that separates the property from Harmon St. and the roofs of the trailor park buildings on the other side. Harmon runs east to west.

 

This property is dropped down from the Harmon St. level. The top of the mound is not. I went out and really looked at it again this afternoon and the top of the street and the mound are level with the tops of the two story roofs here. I am wondering if the power company took out everything when they replaced the steel tower. It says in the survey description that the reference marks were set in concrete next to the footings. If those are gone, would they have saved the markers?

 

I got interested in finding this because at first I was looking for nearby geocaches, then I started studying the topographic map for interesting terrain features. (if you do a geocache search on harmon and decatur las vegas, pull down the terrain map and look to the left, you will see the mark) I noticed a triangular mark on the map that said DODO 2278. I first thought that it was just an elevation mark and then wondered what the DODO thing was, and after some searching, I figured out it was a benchmark. All that led me here.

 

My crew has just shown up and we are going to discuss whether or not to somehow see if the marker is still there. I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow and post them, whatever we decide to do. BTW, in logging a bench mark, I am assuming that it it proper to take a close up and a landscape shot of the mark?

 

And thanks again for making clear what the difference between a reference mark and a benchmark is.

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BlueMoth -

 

Since GR1943 is an adjusted station (note the line on the datasheet: "Altitude is VERTCON and location is ADJUSTED"), its coordinates are extremely exact, much more so than your GPS receiver can measure.

So, your GPS receiver should bring you within 10-15 feet of where the station mark is (or was). If you hang around with the GPS receiver for a while more as it jumps around, you will probably get an idea within 5-10 feet of where the disk should be.

 

Generally when stuff is re-landscaped as much as you indicate may have happened there, the station mark and the 2 local reference marks are likely buried deep in a landfill somewhere by now; i.e. not saved.

 

Benchmark hunting can be quite an interesting challenge sometimes!

Edited by Black Dog Trackers
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More news to report. I had to entertain the muggles in my group today and didn't have time to get the benchmark yet. However, I took one of them to the Gold Coast to play bingo tonight, lol, and when we were coming home, in the parking lot and almost to the condo, I pointed out where I was going to look tomorrow. My companion is a rock climber and she had me pull up to the mound. She was up it in a flash and down again, and reported that the benchmark and at least one of the reference markers is still there. I am guessing that it is marker number 3. She said that the benchmark was set in concrete, which was about as high as her knee. The top of the mound is not covered in coarse gravel as shown in the photo, but a fine sandy gravel. She also said that there is a gate on the Harmon St. (south) side of the wall (and mound) and the marker can easily be accessed from there if you don't want to climb up from the condo side. So I am going up either tonight or tomorrow and will take my camera with me.

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