Frustrating Omission In Bm Listings!

[+patw]

This is truly a frustrating omission from our bench mark listings. The Navajo Initial Point, AI5439, is listed in the NGS data base but is not included in the geocaching listings.

 

This is one of the 38 initial points of the GLO survey of public lands. I recently visited the site in an attempt to log a number of the initial points and, while we arrived too late in the day to make the ascent, I am sure the mark is in place, stable, and usable as no construction has occured within a mile of the adjusted coordinates for several centuries. The original IP was established in 1869, long after the prehistoric village had been abandoned.

 

The NGS data sheet records it as recovered in 1999 by the NGS. The 1999 description is very detailed and does not hint of the mark having been destroyed or not found.

 

C. Walter White, in his book, Initial Points of the Rectangular Survey System, relates how he rediscovered the mark (which had been given up for lost) in 1992 through wundermous survey detective work and includes photos of the site.

 

I make these comments, not as any criticism of the terrific work and labors involved in generating our list, let alone the outstanding service it provides our community, but rather in the hope that the oversight can be corrected. It would make a wonderful target for a hunt as the nearby Four Corners and the New Mexico IP could be visited in the same trip.

[+Colorado Papa]

The Navajo Initial Point, AI5439, is listed in the NGS data base but is not included in the geocaching listings.

The mark was added to the NGS database after April 5, 1999, probably after geocaching.com had downloaded the files from NGS. Before that, it was a BLM mark.

 

AI5439 HISTORY - 19990405 GOOD NGS

Edited April 2, 2004 by Colorado Papa

[+patw]

I thought that our list of bench marks was generated from the NGS data base *after* April 1999 and, therefore, should have been picked up by our list.

[+Black Dog Trackers]

I think back then the NGS put out CDs with the data, and that's what Geocaching got from them. Maybe the NGS made the CD before April 5, 1999.

[+rogbarn]

The mark was visited by the NGS in 1999 but was not added to the database until all the paper work was turned in (probably at the end of the project), reviewed and whatever else they needed to do. I think GC got the database in early 2000 and it could have easily taken over a year to get the final result into the database.

[+patw]

OK, I yield to the expertise of these dedicated and more knowledgeable enthusiasts from the field.

 

The question remains: How can we amend this oversight? This is not a mere local benchmark that has been lost in the bureaucratic shuffle. This is a icon of our heritage.