kayakbird Posted July 22, 2010 Share Posted July 22, 2010 I departed Jordan, Montana at 1300 last Monday for the 55 mile drive out to Haxby Point to see if there really was a MORC (Missouri River Commission) triangulation station there. My home made target list of Montana MORC's had an 1889 NONPID LAST PINE there at the same location as 1934 C&GS STAKER SQ0478. Just recently I had read the fine print and noticed mention of a MORC cap. SQ0478'ROAD. STATION MARK IS A STANDARD TRIANGULATION STATION MARK SQ0478'OF THE MISSOURI RIVER COMMISSION AND CONSISTS OF A 4-INCH SQ0478'CAST-IRON PIPE WITH A CAST-IRON CAP BEARING THE INSCRIPTION SQ0478'MISSOURI RIVER COMMISSION IN RAISED LETTERS This piqued my interest. There may be numerous (road has been changed) 1934 BM's on the way out but rain showers were coming in for the west and I didn't want another lengthy mud delay, so settled for just a couple of quick, but certain, NOT FOUNDS and one FOUND. I did have some road information from local ranchers and the first thing that you need to know if you go is that what is shown on the Geocache page as MT 341 is not graveled for the last several miles and becomes just a maze of field 2-tracks which cross private property and is officially closed at the CMR NWR boundary. At the L/L for STAKER a MORC Cap with securing bolt missing was wired to what appears to be the original iron (not cast iron) standpipe with no evidence of a repair. SQ0478 So why the name and date change? It's AZ is in a neat rock outcrop on the second step down of a finger ridge tending west along the CMR fence but the cap is a modified RM disk. A very nice five mile round trip hike took me past the 1937 COE MOSS and its two 1948 RM's. SQ0479 The old jeep road leads right by the AZ for 1934 C&GS CEDAR which happens to be a very neatly field modified Triangulation Disk, as are both of its RM's'. SQ0476 I actually found the STAKE/LAST PINE AZ just before sunset on the hike out as I was becoming concerned about thunderstorms cooking up near Fort Peck dam but figured that the recovery of this batch of cast iron and brass would be worth a few extra hours. My luck held and I made it west to Sand Springs before I had to pull off the road and sleep. kayakbird Quote Link to comment
Difficult Run Posted July 22, 2010 Share Posted July 22, 2010 Very Interesting... Did you get a closeup pic of SQ0478/Staker? ~ Mitch ~ Quote Link to comment
kayakbird Posted July 22, 2010 Author Share Posted July 22, 2010 Very Interesting... Did you get a closeup pic of SQ0478/Staker? ~ Mitch ~ Mitch, I did - just added it to the file. All MORC Tri caps are identical. SQ0478 Jerry Penry has a great section on the MORC survey with illustrations of the monuments in his 'Nebraska's Early Geodetic Surveys' booklet. MEL Quote Link to comment
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