Usbm Monument

[+Camper1]

PID SA0361

 

THIS MONUMENT IS THE ONLY ONE LIKE IT, THAT I'VE FOUND IN WALLA WALLA COUNTY WASHINGTON. FOUND ALONG ABANDONED NORTHERN PACFIC RR RIGHT OF WAY THAT HAS BEEN LONG AGO TORN OUT. THERE WAS THIS ONE FOUND AND LOGGED AND ANOTHER SA0365 WITH IDENTICAL DESCRIPTION THAT WAS NOT FOUND. ADDITIONAL BENCHMARKS ALONG SAME CANYON RR ARE TYPICAL BRASS DISKS AND INCLUDE PLACEMENT DATES FROM 1904 TO 1943. SA0360,SA0363,SA0364 AND SA0358

I'M WONDERING IF ANYONE KNOWS WHAT POSSIBLE DATE RANGE THIS TYPE OF CONCRETE MONUMENT WAS UTILIZED. SINCE BRASS CAP SA0358 IS ALSO ALONG THE SAME OLD RR TRACK AND IS DATED 1904 (OLDEST FIND IN WW COUNTY SO FAR)I'M WONDERING IF THIS CONCRETE MONUMENT COULD PRE DATE IT AND HAVE BEEN PLACE PRE 1900???

 

I'VE LOOKED THROUGH DUSTYJACKETS WEB SITE AND SEE NOTHING THAT IS IDENTICAL? ANY IDEAS AS TO MONUMENT PLACEMENT DATE?

 

PS: LIBRARY CHECK INDICATED VANSYCLE CANYON RAILROAD TRACK BEGAN CONSTRUCTION 1N 1885. COULD THIS BE THAT OLD??

Edited April 27, 2004 by Camper1

[+GeoMaine]

My first question is this: Did you just happen upon it, or goes geocaching know about it? Did you throughly check geocaching.com for all benchmarks in this area and clear them all from being possible suspects? Your best bet would be to discover what kind of posts they were using for the time periods and what type of markers they were using in them. (I don't know if 'standards' were applied where you are and/or if they just used readily available local materials back then, plus what they were doing THERE versus what they were doing HERE and in other parts of the country might be different and/or have their own timeline as well.) Yours clearly had a square plate in it at one time, so the 'square' vs the 'disk' could help you as well. All these things will help date it for you. Even if you knew when they switched from granite to concrete in your area would be helpful. (I really think that you're looking at granite - not concrete? I can't tell from the picture...) In any case, it's very likely that it was placed AFTER the railroad went in so it's not going to be that much older than the ones you have found already, but I can understand your need to solve the puzzle. I'd simply web search for web pages about old markers, find those with pictures posted and then use those to date yours. The good thing about the web is that you can find everything and anything if you look hard enough. Somewhere out there, there is a guy that has devoted literally YEARS on the web to documenting these very things. Sad for him, good for you. : )

If you want to know the specifics about this being a possible marker, you could also cross reference this to known markers in the immediate area and see if you can find a log for this one marked 'missing or distroyed'. To do this, find an old town map with this railroad track FIRST appearing on it and then find an intersection with a road or a dwelling nearby as an immediate reference point to this track and the marker. (Both the road and the dwellings could be gone or even been moved by now...) They always cross referenced these to several objects (houses, intersections, distances to other landmarks, town centers, town lines, etc etc.) just in case one or a few of them disappeared. I know that in my hometown, they actually GAVE AWAY my town center to another town when they moved the town lines around back in the 1800's. We STILL don't have a town center or even a 'REAL' Post Office. (Ours is in a supermarket called 'Shaw's and it's not even a full service one...) Falmouth, ME. Look it up and see for yourself. Big town too, 10,000+ people. He he!)

Someone obviously put that marker in there for offical purposes (IE: it HAD to be documented...) So your challenge seems to be a fun one. FIND the documentation and THEN you'll find the marker. My guess is that it's a little older (but not much because of the date of the railroad) but even a ten year difference could easily see a change in the marker style. Good luck and have fun!

[+GEO*Trailblazer 1]

Yes it Predates 1904.

 

I know that the (Chisled Square)United States Bench Mark(USBM)are the rather old one's most of them on the data sheets(NGS) have (Unknown) History.

 

CVII (USBM)

There is also one West of this town in Sarcoxie,Mo,and one East,Monett,Mo.and several other along the Old Rail Road.

 

Most of the Ones I have found are near Old Towns that were here when the Rail Roads were first built.

They are rare to find.

 

Even the one I linked to has been destroyed within a year from it's recovery.

 

daved or one of the older surveyors may give you a better date but late 1800's,is when most of these were set,it was not until about 1904 thet the Brass disc were adopted as the standard benchmark.

Edited April 27, 2004 by GEO*Trailblazer 1

[+happycycler]

Congrats. on a nice find, nice pix and documentation. You might consider submitting your find to NGS with your updated description. GOOD JOB!