Looking To Log

[+sis]

i found this benchmark at n35 &degree 44.844 w085&degree 28.042. it was very near cache gcg7m6. it has # g43 1934 on it. it's in zip code 38585 i think and i took pictures. i haven't been able to find it on this site. it's too obvious not to be listed. so what i'm doing wrong here? sis

[+Spoo]

Sis: Try FC1020

 

I think your zip code was slightly off.

 

Spoo

[+sis]

i typed that in the "pid". that didn't work. then i did the same same by typing that # into the zip code box. knew that was useless. i obviously don't know what i'm doing here.

[+Spoo]

Try going here:

 

http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_pid.prl/1

 

There isn't much to help you except it seems to match your co-ordinates. The document seems to imply that there was some flaw with the location or altitude of this mark and is not used on an official basis.

Edited April 14, 2005 by Spoo

[+sis]

thanks for trying to help me out here. what is a pid? oh no, wait. i'm supposed to search the forum first.

 

you'd think the # on the actual benchmark would be of use here. i have lots to learn.

[evenfall]

sis,

 

Perhaps the answers to your questions are in the FAQ?

 

Spoo,

 

Long time no see! I think since last Fall. Have been wondering how you are! Good to see you around and about!

 

Rob

[GH55]

Here is the link to the current NGS Data Sheet for your mark

 

FC1020 G 43

 

According to the records, USGS reported this destroyed in 1952. The disk was very near the published scaled coordinates. However, there may have been something else done with it that rendered it useless as vertical control.

 

It would be interesting to know if you found it at the location described on the datasheet, and if the setting was the same, etc. I would have a lot of confidence that there is a good reason it is listed as destroyed rather than being recovered in poor condition in 1952.

 

GH

[+sis]

i was in the courthouse yard in spencer in van buren county. sounds like one in the same.

Edited April 15, 2005 by sis

[evenfall]

GH,

 

Hey Gary, Did you notice that the Latest NGS Station Datasheet does say that this particular station has been destroyed? That is interesting. Yet here someone is finding the monument. I find myself wondering if the USGS surveyors reported it destroyed since they could not find it, heard it was destroyed as a form of hearsay? The Narrative is that Vague, or if someone checked the station in the not too distant past and reported that the Survey values were so far off so as to make it worthless.

 

Interesting. It is unlikely a find in the geocaching database because of this destroyed status, and therefore isn't a loggable find. Bummer. It looks like this on has been taken away.

 

Rob

[Bill93]

Maybe they had a good reason, and maybe there was some other mark that got destroyed and the notation got put on the wrong card. I've seen enough filing errors and mixups in the data that this wouldn't surprise me a lot.

 

I wish NGS would state what reason they had for marking a station destroyed, like "road widening", "found out of place", "structure reported removed" etc. It would help understand what went on and might also help understand the situation at nearby marks in some cases.

[GH55]

More strangemess, look at the monumentation date: UNK. Yet, it is described as "Good" and stamped 1934.

 

But here's a lead on why it could be "Destroyed." If you look at a photo of the Courthouse Square, or another view, it looks like it may have had some work since 1934 to maintain or move the fence, for instance, or to set up the flagpole and what appear to be monuments. I am guessing at the directions in this photo, so just take that as a suggestion.

 

And Sis, if you get back that way, looking around for construction that could have happened between 1934 and 1952 could give a clue. Also, measurements to check the location from the junction, and from the location of the fence in 1934 would be of interest.

 

You may guess, I am leaning towards a theory that the mark was moved during road construction or restoration of the courthouse square, thus destroyed as a benchmark. It could have even been gone when the USGS reported in 1952 and the post reset later.

 

An interesting mystery I would certainly investigate if I lived nearby, anyway.

[+sis]

thanks for all your musings. i've since noticed that cachers are logging another when they find this one. guess they were confused too...or determined to log a smilie.

[evenfall]

sis,

 

You may find over time that the determination to log smiles is pretty wild. Some people will Log Smiles under some of the most far fetched of circumstances. I guess the desire to log a find and get that smile can sometimes overcome their need to be correct. It happens!

 

Good Luck!

 

Rob

Edited April 18, 2005 by evenfall

[+sis]

yeah, i see that. it all depends on how you play the game ... and after all, it is just a game.

[evenfall]