1832 And 1837 Bm's Found Today

[+ddnutzy]

Today myself and Wildbird found 1832 and 1837 benchmarks on a couple of mountains in MA. The 1832 (MZ1702) was not a FTF but we did find all three of the rm's. The 1837 (MZ1700) has not been recorded since 1901. In 1934 the MASSACHUSETTS GEODETIC SURVEY tried to find it (MZ1700) with no luck. The coords were not to far off but without a metal detector I don't think we would have found it. While looking for it we also found a 1853 half dime that seems to be in fine condition.

[evenfall]

Good on you Dave! That is awesome. The oldest stations out west here are 1854 at earliest. Both those are quite a piece of work. That makes this a sort of red letter day!

 

I am just curious, Did the geodetic azimuths work out as compass headings based on the direction of south, as they did on the last one you and I discussed? I see the First order station on Mt. Esther is basing the RM locations on Geodetic Azimuths.

 

Again, Nice find!

 

Rob

[mloser]

Glad to see we are posting cool finds again! Those old ones are great and it is really neat to touch history that way. The best are the ones, like your two, that haven't been replaced by disks, so you feel in touch with the original surveyors and see their work.

I haven't found any that old to look for in my area. My oldest was Barry 1885 and was a great experience to be the first person to report it since 1886.

[+ddnutzy]

Rob,

The rm's were established by the geodetic method. All of the dimensions and bearings were right on. We found the station first then use the bearings and distances to find the rm's. It took us about fifteen minutes to get everything done.

 

Dave

[+BilboB]

That is definately pretty cool. This is why I do what I do...if nothing else than the thrill of the hunt.

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

Today myself and Wildbird found 1832 and 1837 benchmarks on a couple of mountains in MA. The 1832 (MZ1702) was not a FTF but we did find all three of the rm's. The 1837 (MZ1700) has not been recorded since 1901. In 1934 the MASSACHUSETTS GEODETIC SURVEY tried to find it (MZ1700) with no luck. The coords were not to far off but without a metal detector I don't think we would have found it. While looking for it we also found a 1853 half dime that seems to be in fine condition.

 

WOW! I want to see a picture of the half dime! (To bad you couldn't find the 'whole' dime. ) That was an exceptional find let alone the benchmarks.

 

So, how far did you have to hike? Details please.

 

Congratulations....just too cool!

 

Shirley & John

[+Kewaneh & Shark]

In the true spirit of caching, you should leave something if you take something. And always trade equal or up. A half dime (and inflation) requires at least a whole dime left behind. At least to give the benchmark hunters in the next century something to write about in their logs.

 

Seriously though, congrats on the finds! The best I've done is a few 1902's and 1904's. One of the curses of living on the 'untamed and unsettled' west coast.

 

- Kewaneh

[+ddnutzy]

John,

We had to hike in about two miles for each of the stations. There was also about a 150 meter elevation gain for each one. For High Ridge I tried to drive in but there was a lot of permafrost on the woods road and some deep water so we ended packing in most of the way. The whole trip took us a little over three hours. We were not sure if we could drive out after we went down a steep hill with permafrost most of the way.

When I get a good picture of the dime I'll send it to you via regular email.

 

Dave

[+Neweyess]

Congradulations! Those sound like remarkable and thrilling finds. I'm new to this and haven't signed up for premium membership yet. Would that allow me to search for BM's in my state by date of origination or is there a way to do that? I'm in NC.

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

Neweyess,

 

John just posted this on another thread...but, I copied it for you. And the good news is....you do not need to be a premium member to take advantage of this info.

 

Shirley~

 

Quote:

To findout what old marks are in your county follow the directions in this link.

 

When it gets to the part about DSWIN and it talks about selecting the delimiter, use a comma instead of the vertical line, if you want to open it with (Gasp!) Microsoft Works Database.

You can then sort on the monument date to get the oldest in the county.

 

Hope this helps,

 

John

Edited January 6, 2005 by 2oldfarts (the rockhounders)

[caseyb]

Today myself and Wildbird found 1832 and 1837 benchmarks on a couple of mountains in MA. The 1832 (MZ1702) was not a FTF but we did find all three of the rm's. The 1837 (MZ1700) has not been recorded since 1901. In 1934 the MASSACHUSETTS GEODETIC SURVEY tried to find it (MZ1700) with no luck. The coords were not to far off but without a metal detector I don't think we would have found it. While looking for it we also found a 1853 half dime that seems to be in fine condition.

Nice find! I hope you consider submitting a recovery report to the NGS database. That mark has not been updated in a very long time.

 

-Casey-

[+sf_troop]

Not quite as old, but I found this one yesterdayKK1922

Monumented in 1901 and no reported finds since. This is the oldest one I've had a chance to find yet. From my limited looking, the oldest one close by is only from 1897 KK2090 This one however is on private property owned by a land development company. I went and spoke with someone at the company to get permission to run up and down their hill but she said NO! May have to go back and try again sometime. I know the area is slated for development in the near future and would be a shame to lose the mark.

 

Anyway I just had to share my find since I was kinda geeked about it still being there 101 yrs later.

 

sf_troop