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Water Table


Cholo

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Looking for NG0203 I came across 'water table' used in a context that I've never seen before. I paced off the site and have a feeling that it's under a sidewalk built in 1986. Any ideas?

 

pasted from 'official history':

 

DESCRIBED BY NATIONAL GEODETIC SURVEY 1973 AT WAUKEGAN. AT WAUKEGAN, 0.1 MILE NORTH ALONG THE CHICAGO AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY FROM THE STATION THENCE 0.15 MILE EAST ALONG MADISON STREET, 44 1/2 FEET SOUTH OF THE SOUTH CURB OF MADISON STREET, 78 1/2 FEET EAST OF THE CENTER LINE OF HARBOR PLACE, A CHISELED CROSS ON TOP OF THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF WATER TABLE FOR HOUSE NUMBER 103 WHICH IS THE MOST EASTERLY HOUSE ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF MADISON STREET, 10 INCHES ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE GROUND AND ABOUT 3 1/2 FEET ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE STREET. SECTION 22, T 45 N, R 12 E.

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Is a water table similar to a water bed? I don't understand this use of water table either.

 

quote:
I paced off the site and have a feeling that it's under a sidewalk built in 1986.

 

The description places it 10 inches above ground and 3.5 feet above street level. That must be one tall sidewalk.

 

I'm not lost!

I just don't know where I am.

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The ground rises about 3ft from the street. The building is about 30yds from the seawall of the harbor on Lake Michigan. There is a porch that wraps around the building, from the north to the east side. The porch is about 3ft off the ground and has lattice work from its floor to the ground. No, I didn't look under the porch. The building houses some sort of yacht club, no one was there. I asked two boaters if they knew what a water table was. They said it was a marker of some sort that is placed around the lake to show the lake level. They were trying to find where their boat was docked, not a good sign.

 

I was hoping that Survey Tech might pop in here with his expertise. I've done a search in all the forums, to no avail. I've just had an idea. This might be a nautical term, I'll check out the power squadron.

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It's an architectural term when the context is part of a building.

 

It's also a geophysical term when the context is the depth where you'll find water in soil. The water table is the level water settles to in the soil. When you dig down in soil and hit water, you've found the water table. Of course, if there's a lake or ocean around, its surface is the water table too, but people rarely call it a water table. Water tables in soil go up and down depending on how much rain has fallen recently but can't fall below the level of the nearest body of water.

 

You can chisel an X on an architectural water table, but you can't chisel an X on a geophysical water table

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I can't give you any textbook definitions of a water table, but I did find a marker on a water table yesterday!

The description for the marker I found says: "...SET VERTICALLY IN THE WEST FACE OF SANDSTONE WATER TABLE OF ONE-STORY BRICK SUGAR CREEK TWP BUILDING, 1.6 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND, 1 FOOT SOUTH OF THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF BUILDING, AND ABOUT 2 1/2 FEET ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE HIGHWAY."

 

The building had (at least what's now being used as) a flower bed in the front (can't remember if this wrapped all the way around or not). Anyway, there was a couple foot high outer "wall" which created the flower bed against the building's wall...and the bottom two feet of the main wall had this additional sandstone layer (kinda like a baseboard).

Did that make any sense at all? (I know I'm confused)

 

Sorry my pictures aren't any better..

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So, I guess if you have a thirst for answers, sometimes all it takes is to surf the virtual ocean of knowledge on the 'net.

 

Granted, you should drink with caution, lest you get carried away by the tide of information available.

 

But remember that you should think of descriptions in context. In most cases regarding benchmarks, think architecture.

 

Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

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Thanks for all the input. I searched for architectural, nautical, and surveying terms. I couldn't find anything...power squadron was no help either. If this water table was part of the foundation, it was probably removed during a renovation. I'll go back there and recheck my pacing. If this was at the north east corner of the building, it's now under the porch.

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Black Dog was right about a water table being an architectural term, in this context. The official history for ng0203 would have been much more helpful if it would have said north east corner of building, instead of this 'water table' stuff.

 

This 'water table' is actually the first 3 tiers of bricks on top of the concrete foundation. They protrude about one inch outward from the main brick wall. They are the same type and color as the main bricks, one will not see this unless one is right next to the wall and actually looking for this feature. The top of this one inch ledge appears to be the perfect place to chisel a cross or whatever, so that the property owner doesn't see that his brick wall has been hacked on. It doesn't seem to be the perfect place to put a permanent benchmark.

 

I think this 'water table' stuff being a way to protect the foundation from rain water is a bunch of hooey. It smells like a screw up by an architect or bricklayer, and a term to cover-up that screw up. I'm in the tool making trade, and it reminds me of this example, in a way. I've never done this, but I've heard of a machinist puting a gouge or digger in a machine table.Instead of getting chewed out for this mistake, he drills and taps the area, puts in a set screw and stamps "oil" next to it.

 

This ng0203 bm is now underneath a porch. There is no way that I'm going to crawl under that porch to see if someone scribbled an x on the corner of one of those bricks. There is also no way that I'm not going to log this as a find, the necessary spot is there, and I've put too much work into it.

 

This corner in the photo is where ng0203 is, it should also show what is a 'water table'.

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quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy Irish:

quote:
Originally posted by Cholo:

file:///c:/windows/desktop/benchmarks/dscf0006-a.jpg


 

You're pointing to your own machine. If you upload it to the web site you can point to that link. icon_smile.gif

 

Jeremy Irish

 

Groundspeak - The Language of Location


 

If anyone wants to see what a 'water table' looks like, go to the log site for ng0203.

 

I am an apprentice in this computer stuff. When I first started here in August, I posted a question about a bm that wasn't in the database and how to put a photo in the post. I received all kinds of info on why that bm couldn't be logged but nothing about the photo procedure. Ok, I figured it must be some kind of big secret. Hey, I like searching for stuff, that's why we look for bm's, I'll find out how to do the photo thing sooner or later. Last night I went into the "Getting Started" area, because I'd read elsewhere that's where all the testing should be done. I went into the "testing 2" site there and followed the UBB code instructions for 'image'(so I thought). Well, my photo showed up...that's great! Next I tried to get greedy and put one of those neat little words in blue so that when it got clicked a photo popped up. That didn't work so good, so I tried my first first experiment and the photo showed up. Good enough, I put that photo in my post here and it showed up just like in the test site. Today I get the red x's in both sites and your message.

 

In reply to your message: no, I wasn't pointing at anything and what web site? If that sounds dumb, refer to the first sentence in the previous paragraph. Yes, I do know where "a hole-in-the-ground" is, but maybe not computer-wise.

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quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy Irish:

quote:
Originally posted by Cholo:

file:///c:/windows/desktop/benchmarks/dscf0006-a.jpg


 

You're pointing to your own machine. If you upload it to the web site you can point to that link. icon_smile.gif

 

Jeremy Irish

 

Groundspeak - The Language of Location


 

If anyone wants to see what a 'water table' looks like, go to the log site for ng0203.

 

I am an apprentice in this computer stuff. When I first started here in August, I posted a question about a bm that wasn't in the database and how to put a photo in the post. I received all kinds of info on why that bm couldn't be logged but nothing about the photo procedure. Ok, I figured it must be some kind of big secret. Hey, I like searching for stuff, that's why we look for bm's, I'll find out how to do the photo thing sooner or later. Last night I went into the "Getting Started" area, because I'd read elsewhere that's where all the testing should be done. I went into the "testing 2" site there and followed the UBB code instructions for 'image'(so I thought). Well, my photo showed up...that's great! Next I tried to get greedy and put one of those neat little words in blue so that when it got clicked a photo popped up. That didn't work so good, so I tried my first first experiment and the photo showed up. Good enough, I put that photo in my post here and it showed up just like in the test site. Today I get the red x's in both sites and your message.

 

In reply to your message: no, I wasn't pointing at anything and what web site? If that sounds dumb, refer to the first sentence in the previous paragraph. Yes, I do know where "a hole-in-the-ground" is, but maybe not computer-wise.

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