USGS DISK STYLES

[kayakbird]

Can anyone come up with a period of use for this older USGS disk? Two rows of text,'Triangulation Station' reads from the edge, every thing else from the center. I did check the disk photo list but it does not have a USGS Tri.)

 

PILOT RESET or PILOT or Pilot Butte

 

I am unclear of the wording of the 1958 description - was just the date added to the stamping at that time? Why was it not named 'RESET'?

 

MQ0466'DESCRIBED BY US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 1958 (WTJ)

MQ0466'RECOVERED AS FOLLOWS--R.M.S RECOVERED AS DESCRIBED, STATION MARK

MQ0466'IS A STANDARD USGS TRIANGULATION STATION DISK SET IN ROCK OUTCROP,

MQ0466'STAMPED PILOT 1958. A USGS PARTY WORKING IN THE AREA WAS

MQ0466'CONTACTED AND ACCORDING TO THE CHIEF OF PARTY THE OLD DISK HAD

MQ0466'BEEN TAKEN OUT, A NEW DISK WAS SET IN THE EXACT SAME SPOT

MQ0466'(REFERENCE MEASUREMENTS AS GIVEN BY CIA IN 1931 CHECK THE

MQ0466'PRESENT DISK)

MQ0466'

 

Of course, what I really interested in is this note with a recent Geo log:

 

'Not only did we find Pilot RESET, But we even Found PILOT! At least the steel rod driven into the rock that was described as Pilot!' Described where, I wonder??

 

Yes, I'm map scouting for another road trip across the 40th. Will renew that thread in a few days.

 

kayakbird

[TillaMurphs]

Interesting text arrangement.

 

Here is a 1955 USGS mark (JL0884) that looks like yours (photo by jkselby):

 

[kayakbird]

TillaMurphs,

 

Thanks for scrounging up that photo. I was thinking (hoping) that the two text rows were early 1900's.

 

MEL

[holograph]

Of course, what I really interested in is this note with a recent Geo log:

 

'Not only did we find Pilot RESET, But we even Found PILOT! At least the steel rod driven into the rock that was described as Pilot!' Described where, I wonder??

 

Yes, I'm map scouting for another road trip across the 40th. Will renew that thread in a few days.

 

kayakbird

 

The first description that I found was in the USGS Bulletin 440 "Results of Triangulation and Primary Traverse 1906, 1907, and 1908".

 

"Signal and station mark: A cairn 5 feet high centered over aluminum triangulation tablet cemented in solid rock."

 

edit: An interesting aside: apparently A.D. Wilson occupied Pilot Butte during the Clarence King survey of 1871-1872. It appears as a triangulation point on King Survey Sheet II. The King survey was one of the first surveys in the west to use triangulation. A.D. Wilson mentions revisiting the point in 1878.

Edited October 17, 2012 by holograph

[kayakbird]

holograph,

 

Thanks for the reading material - I was wondering what to do after midnight!

 

RESET or just STAMPED in 1958?

 

"Signal and station mark: A cairn 5 feet high centered over aluminum triangulation tablet cemented in solid rock."

from page 660 - USGS Bulletin 440 "Results of Triangulation and Primary Traverse 1906, 1907, and 1908".

 

The Lat/Long given for the 1908 Tri Station is ENE about 200 ft from the current

adjusted PILOT RESET. Would that be about right for the changes in 100 years?

 

Also intriguing. Might "MR0823 MEDICINE BUTTE STATION MARK--METAL PLUG 3/4 IN. DIAMETER,

SET IN ROCK" be the station made by A.D. Wilson in 1878?

 

"---; also made a station on Medicine Butte, thus connecting with my former

work under Clarence King in 1871 and '72."

PRIMARY TRIANGULATION OF 1878 P. 655.

 

Mr. Wilson and party had a very interesting summer of '78: peak bagging, total eclipse of the sun,

verification of live glaciers in the Wind River Mountain, traveling with Mr. Jackson, the photographer,

and a minor run-in with Indians at Henrys Lake.

 

kayakbird

[holograph]

Thanks for the reading material - I was wondering what to do after midnight!

 

...

 

"Signal and station mark: A cairn 5 feet high centered over aluminum triangulation tablet cemented in solid rock."

from page 660 - USGS Bulletin 440 "Results of Triangulation and Primary Traverse 1906, 1907, and 1908".

 

The Lat/Long given for the 1908 Tri Station is ENE about 200 ft from the current

adjusted PILOT RESET. Would that be about right for the changes in 100 years?

 

Also intriguing. Might "MR0823 MEDICINE BUTTE STATION MARK--METAL PLUG 3/4 IN. DIAMETER,

SET IN ROCK" be the station made by A.D. Wilson in 1878?

 

There have been multiple adjustments since then. The 1908 position would be the old US Standard datum, which was adjusted when NAD27 was introduced, and again when NAD83 was introduced. 200 feet is not out of the question, but unless we had access to the USGS data sheets for 1908, we can't be sure that the aluminum disk is a reset of the old King Survey mark, or whether MR0823 is.

 

When you can find station descriptions from other old surveys, such as the Wheeler survey or Hayden surveys, they often used rock cairns to mark the station, especially on peaks. They weren't striving for millimeter accuracy -- Wilson noted in 1978 that he was quite pleased with an 8-inch closure error, given the equipment he had.

 

 

"---; also made a station on Medicine Butte, thus connecting with my former

work under Clarence King in 1871 and '72."

PRIMARY TRIANGULATION OF 1878 P. 655.

 

Mr. Wilson and party had a very interesting summer of '78: peak bagging, total eclipse of the sun,

verification of live glaciers in the Wind River Mountain, traveling with Mr. Jackson, the photographer,

and a minor run-in with Indians at Henrys Lake.

 

kayakbird

 

Yeah, I really like the way they wrote up their campaigns -- there is a lot of intriguing information there, even if it is just a sentence or two. "Mr. Bechler being compelled to leave the field earlier than he would have done on account of the Indian troubles, he did not finish more than half of this section."

[holograph]

The Lat/Long given for the 1908 Tri Station is ENE about 200 ft from the current

adjusted PILOT RESET. Would that be about right for the changes in 100 years?

 

Another piece of the puzzle: The CGS Special Pub 212, "Triangulation in Wyoming [NAD 1927]", has this station description. Note that it is reported by C. I. Alsakson, the "CIA" mentioned in the current NGS datasheet. That resolves the issue of whether 200 feet is a reasonable difference between datums over 100 years (it is).

 

Pilot (U. S. G. S.) (Sweetwater County, C. I. Aslakson, 1931). -- On highest point of summit of prominent elevated table-land (with precipitous sides) known as Pilot Butte. To reach from Rock Springs go northwest 12.2 miles (1.2 miles beyond end of pavement) on U. 5. Highway 187 to point where very dim road turns left from main road just east of guard-rail, follow dim road 1.7

miles up onto table-land to point where road comes in from right, keep to left, go 3.3 miles to fork, keep to left on main road, go 4.4 miles, take right fork, go 1.4 miles to point where very dim road turns to left toward butte just after crossiug draw, turn left and drive to foot of butte. Station is easy 30-minute pack up northeast corner of butte. Marked by standard U. S. Geological Survey station disk in drill hole in rock outcrop. Reference marks are standard reference disks in drill holes in outcropping bedrock, note 12a. No. 1 is near north edge of butte, 10.925 meters (35.84 feet) from station in azimuth 208°43'. No. 2 is 7.10 meters (23.3 feet) from station in azimuth 321°47'. Following azimuths are from station : Salt Lake-Omaha Airway, site 15, beacon, 340°20'38"; Boar's Tusk. 199°46'35". Elevation: 2.417.8 meters (7,932 feet.)

 

So Pilot Butte has appeared in 5 distinct publications:

Survey                   Year Surveyor        Position                                Datum
------------------------ ---- --------------- --------------------------------------- ------------------
King survey map II       1876 A. D. Wilson    N 41° 38' 28       W 109° 21' 04        none (scaled from map)
Hayden survey report     1877 A. D. Wilson    N 41° 38' 34.00    W 109° 21' 19.60     none
USGS Bulletin 440        1908 R. B. Robertson N 41° 38' 37.52    W 109° 21' 05.1      U.S. Standard 1901
CGS Sp. Pub 212          1938 C. I. Aslakson  N 41° 38' 36.528   W 109° 21  04.889    NAD 27
NGS Datasheet MQ0466     1993                 N 41° 38' 36.40815 W 109° 21' 07.37282  NAD 83

 

If we calculate the differences between the positions, here are the results, in meters.

                 Hayden       USGS 440      NAD27      NAD83
                 --------     --------     -------    -------
King 1876         186.9 m       294.8 m      263.9 m    270.9 m
Hayden 1877          -          352.7 m      349.3 m    292.6 m
USGS Bull 440        -             -          31.0 m     62.8 m 
NAD27                -             -            -        57.6 m

Edited October 18, 2012 by holograph

[kayakbird]

holograph,

 

Thanks again for digging up and calculating all that info on PILOT - it will be my #2 target in Wyo next week. Looks like a good tourist road all the way to the east end of the bluff. Target #1 is a suspected Flared Rod - OW0291'DISK ATTACHED TO 3-FOOT BRONZE ROD - northwest of Riverton.

'

Also hoping that the road up to 'MEDICINE BUTTE' is open to the public and that the 'METAL PLUG 3/4 IN DIAMETER,SET IN ROCK' matches the one I found south of Evanston last year.

 

King's 40th Chalk Butte?

 

Got a few more points from the list that you gave me to ground truth them to the most logical mountain peak and Pid (if any) on Google Earth. I know that my old knees won't allow me to try for very many, but I will send the Excel file to anyone that is interested (can large GE files be exported??)

 

kayakbird