Benchmarks In The News

[ArtMan]

Fifteen years ago this month I traveled to Alaska to report on one of North America's worst manmade environmental disasters, the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The ship left port on March 24, 1989, and soon went aground on Bligh Reef. Somewhere between having his last meal at the Pipeline Club - an excellent establishment, by the way, and still in business - and sailing into Prince William Sound, Capt. Joseph Hazelwood might have noticed benchmark UV3913.

 

(With due respect to the individual who logged this, I'm not sure this is the correct spike, which is noted in its 1959 description as being a temporary station.)

 

Twenty-five years ago today, on March 28, 1979, Reactor Two at Three Mile Island, Pennslyvania, suffered a partial meltdown in the worst incident in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, "it led to no deaths or injuries to plant workers or members of the nearby community. But it brought about sweeping changes involving emergency response planning, reactor operator training, human factors engineering, radiation protection, and many other areas of nuclear power plant operations."

 

So they say. I was living in Baltimore at the time ... downstream and close enough to be worried.

 

There do not appear to be any benchmarks in our database on Three Mile Island itself (which is just as well). The closest appear to be adjacent to TMI on the east bank of the Susquehanna River: KW0907, just southeast of the reactor, and KW0908, to the northeast.

 

Do you have any benchmarks in the news?

[mloser]

I live close enough to Three Mile Island (TMI as we always call it) that I think I will mosey over and get pics of those two disks.

 

I lived in Hershey at the time and the Hersheypark Arena was used as an evacuation point. However, I was in college in Philadelphia, where air quality measurements we being taken hourly to measure the radiation moving in on the easterly winds (negligible).

[mloser]

I took a quick trip out to find both of the TMI markers today and failed with both. although I am almost sure they both exist, they are also both close to entrances to TMI, and since I saw local police 3 times prior to looking (and trespassing on railroad property both times) I figured I would save it for another day, or perhaps never.

[mloser]

I finally picked up KW0906, KW0907, and KW0906, which are all close enough to Three Mile Island to see the towers clearly. The pics are a bit washed out because the day was overcast but the towers ARE clearly visible in two of them. Getting KW0906 was a bit nerve-wracking because it was within sight of the TMI entrance guard shack, and I kept waiting for someone to wander up and ask what I was doing. To add to my fun, I looked on the wrong end of the bridge first and even dug in the ballast for the mark. I nearly gave up but decided to look on the other abutment, and after a short dig, there was the mark. If you look at the pic you can see I didn't even clean all the ballast off. Just grabbed the shot and bolted.

[evenfall]

Yup, Got one like that. Got a bunch of people who seem to think it is still there too...

 

SY4578 SEATTLE KINGDOME FS R.I.P. March 2000. Imploded and made the biggest dust cloud you'd ever want to see. Then the pieces were crushed into gravel like fill material and hauled away to a land fill project. The Flagpole was damaged in the implosion and was scrapped. Used to be smack dab in the middle of the Kingdome roof. There is an open air football stadium built in it's place now. This PID has been destroyed and removed from the official NGS database.

 

PS, It is a not found for geocaching... Destroyed will work too. :-D I do read however that some who think they can recover it still see it there as a find. Hmmm I think the prescription on their glasses is due for an update! That and a little time off for a good rest after a doctor visit or two!

 

Rob