Should I report as a possible destruction?

[rescueseven]

Last Sunday on my second day of benchmarking, I was looking for LL0996. Well I didn't find LL0996 but I did find this piece of cement at the base of milepost 38, some 3 feet from where LL0996 was supposed to be. The data sheet states that

ACCESS TO THE DATUM POINT IS THROUGH A 5-INCH LOGO CAP. I think the piece of cement looks like it may have been around the top of the pipe that held the logo cap. There was no other cement in the area, I didn't see the witness post (no surprise there) but there were some new looking "don't dig: buried fiber optic cable" posts in the area. I suspect when the fiber was laid in the railroad right-of-way the datum point was destroyed or at least the survey box and logo cap were destroyed.

 

Now my question: Should I report this to NGS as a possible destruction?

 

Looking forward to your thoughts,

R7

 

[+raouljan]

The datasheet says this is a "Vert" so you can't go off what your GPS tells you.

 

The datasheet also gives a pretty good description and the area does not look like one that you might have a hard time locating the mark.

 

The photo sure looks like an ex-benchmark.

 

Any sign of the witness post?

 

I think you might want to report this as destroyed. You have to ask yourself, "Is anyone going to come out looking for this again?" If yes, then an updated description is in order.

 

IMHO

 

>Personally Responsible for the Recovery of .00217% of the Benchmark Database!<--watch this number!

[+Dawgies]

I've gone back as many three times and finally found the metal rod. Reporting them destroyed on Geocaching.com is one thing, but to do to NGS... not yet anyway.

 

I'm not sure what info you took with you to the site, but get as much as you can and go back at least once more to be sure.

 

Go to Lostoutdoors.com and get the sat picture with the coordinates. Take a metal detector and check the area. Leave no stone unturned, then if it's still a no-find, and you know without a doubt that it just ain't there, then report that sucker to NGS as destroyed. You'll need proof so hang on to your pictures.

 

Best of luck!

 

~Honest Value Never Fails~

[+Dawgies]

I've gone back as many three times and finally found the metal rod. Reporting them destroyed on Geocaching.com is one thing, but to do to NGS... not yet anyway.

 

I'm not sure what info you took with you to the site, but get as much as you can and go back at least once more to be sure.

 

Go to Lostoutdoors.com and get the sat picture with the coordinates. Take a metal detector and check the area. Leave no stone unturned, then if it's still a no-find, and you know without a doubt that it just ain't there, then report that sucker to NGS as destroyed. You'll need proof so hang on to your pictures.

 

Best of luck!

 

~Honest Value Never Fails~

[Jeremy]

It seems obvious, even as a non-expert, that this benchmark has been destroyed. Since you can report in the NGS as an amateur anyway I don't see any harm in it. I'm sure survey tech will have something to add

 

Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

[Jeremy]

It seems obvious, even as a non-expert, that this benchmark has been destroyed. Since you can report in the NGS as an amateur anyway I don't see any harm in it. I'm sure survey tech will have something to add

 

Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

[+Black Dog Trackers]

The description of the benchmark is a metal rod. A few weeks ago, I was looking at a PID description of a metal rod benchmark and the description clearly said the rod was driven 38 feet deep!

 

Your cement is about 95% likely to be part of the view casing described, but it ain't the rod!

 

The rod is likely to still be there, just very hard to find.

 

It would likely be out of position, of course, but not necessarily.

[survey tech]

I agree, use the term destroyed only if you are looking at the marker and it has been completely extirpated. Countless markers remain around the country, buried and invisible but not gone. You may choose to report what you have found, indicating that you made the measurements given in the description and this is what you discovered at that spot. It is likely that the cable trenching got it, but you cannot be 100% sure.

[rescueseven]

First of all, a big thanks to those of you that replied!

 

Second, after taking a closer look at the data sheet I noted that it said:

 

LL0996_MARKER: I = METAL ROD

LL0996_SETTING: 49 = STAINLESS STEEL ROD W/O SLEEVE (10 FT.+)

LL0996_STAMPING: H 391 1983

LL0996_PROJECTION: FLUSH

LL0996_STABILITY: B = PROBABLY HOLD POSITION/ELEVATION WELL

LL0996_ROD/PIPE-DEPTH: 11.0 meters

 

meaning that there is probably still a thirty something foot steel rod driven to refusal (embedded in bedrock). Soooo with that in mind I'm going to borrow a metal detector and go back and poke around a bit. I'm not going to get to carried away, as the last thing I want to do is whack a fiber optic line in half. If I don't find any thing I may then decide to file a

"possible destruction .... Not recovered, not found"

report. I will only report it as destroyed if I find the actual mark removed from it's setting, as stated on the Mark Recovery web page.

 

Thanks again,

 

R7

 

[This message was edited by rescueseven on October 03, 2002 at 10:50 PM.]