Discarded Benchmark?

[SmallWorldTreks_Bee]

Found a benchmark face down in a stream. Pulled it out so it would not get swept away.

 

Wondering how to find information about it. Like where it was originally placed.

 

This is what is engraved into it:

 

US Department of Interior Geological Survey

Elev. 768 FT

Above Sea

 

36 AFK 1965

 

Unlawful to Disturb For information write Washington DC

 

Does anyone know what AFK means?

Or how to find who set it originally and/or where?

 

Thank you for any help or direction. I looked through the NOAA database using coordinates where it was found and elevation but could not find any mention of it.

Edited June 9, 2010 by SmallWorldTreks_Bee

[+kwcahart]

One is the "IATA" code for the Nebraska City municipal airport. ??? Could this be the one you found?

[SmallWorldTreks_Bee]

I should have mentioned, found it in Wilton, Maine.

 

A little far from Nebraska ()

[+kwcahart]

What?? You don't have a Nebraska City in Maine? ha ha ha . Maybe one of the pilots dropped it??

[Bill93]

This one was set in 1965 by a party led by someone with initials AFK and it was the 36th one in the series he set.

 

The US Geological Survey sets lots of monuments that are not measured to the standards needed for inclusion in the National Geodetic Survey data base. If it can't be found in the on-line data base within a few miles of your measured coordinates, then the data probably only exists in a file cabinet at USGS.

 

Look on a topographic map for an X and BM label with an elevation that matches, and you might be able to see if it got moved from somewhere in the neighborhood or just fell into the stream as the bank washed out.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Bill93

[Difficult Run]

Did it look like this one? - HV8111

 

 

If so, its' a traverse or triangulation station which would have been set on higher ground such as a mountain.

(Although this particular surveyor likes to set his very near to the side of the road).

Doubt it was set in the bank of the river, more than likely vandalism.

 

Here's another station set by the same "AFK". It's not in the NGS database. This one's is in Bentonville, Va.

 

Topozone Map

 

Post a photo of the one you found... Let's see how many AFK's we can dig up!

~ Mitch ~

 

EDIT: AFK appears to be Alfred F. Kupiszewski. He set at least 25+ marks in North Carolina, according to this North Carolina Survey Report.

Edited June 10, 2010 by Difficult Run