Whiting, Indiana -- surveying nail sighting?

[+No_Fear_Geocaching]

I happened to be working in Whiting, Indiana today & stumbled across what I took to be a surveying nail benchmark. I took coordinate readings with my GPSr -- N 41° 40.782 W 087° 29.807 -- & pictures with my camera phone (which I can't seem to figure out how to upload here), but couldn't find it in the database to log it. Can anyone help identify what it is that I found? The disk surrounding the nail reads 'LIEBERG LS20800148'.

[southpawaz]

Nails are generally used for temporary control points (horizontal or vertical or both). They may also be used to monument property corners where a corner falls on asphalt, for example. The information on the washer or shiner is likely the registration number of the surveyor who set the nail. The fact that it has identification leads me to believe it would be boundary related rather than a control point.

 

If you keep your eyes open for these kinds of marks, you're likely to see them everywhere you go.

[Z15]

That's my opinion also.

 

Lieberg is the name of the Licensed surveyor or firm and LS 20800148 is his state registration number. Usually they one put their LS number on a legal property corner and not likely on some temp point as it then could be misconstrued as something it may not be.

Edited June 30, 2011 by Z15

[+DragonsWest]

I see these things nearly everywhere. If you see a BIG white X on the road or railtrail you might notice there's a nail in the center of it.

 

JT9323 is indeed a nail and was quite a fun find (another seeker mis-identified another nail as the benchmark.)

 

 

Looks like it's a bronze nail, by the coloring.

 

[+Bravo2uniform]

That particular type of survey nail is known as a "P-K spike". It is a nail made by Parker Kalon Fastener Co. and is, technically, a hardened masonry nail. They are zinc-plated to resist rust and increase visibility. This one looks like it has been center punched by the surveyor, too.

[+DragonsWest]

That particular type of survey nail is known as a "P-K spike". It is a nail made by Parker Kalon Fastener Co. and is, technically, a hardened masonry nail. They are zinc-plated to resist rust and increase visibility. This one looks like it has been center punched by the surveyor, too.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

The center punch was the tip I was onto the correct nail. Another finder was locating nails, but not the one with the center punch, so I discounted those until I espied the correct one. Interesting mounting, sorry for the blur of the photo, but the tell-tale goop or masonry mix around the nail was also a strong indicator it was placed by someone who also placed disks.