I always make myself available for field duty when I send the crew out for something like this. This morning we dug down 4.4' and brought up the 1857 GLO stone marked for the quarter corner location below the road surface. It is a contionued thrill to examine something another surveyor had set 156 years ago. I've lost count a long time ago, but I have easily recovered over one hundred marked original stones from the 1850's. The 1/4 chiseling is original and has not been retouched, only wire brushed and cleaned with water.
Usually there is some sort of iron near the surface. The stone was on its side. After excavation, a 3/4"x30" rebar was set 4.5' deep. Then the stone was placed upright over the rebar and a hole drilled in the top center. Then a 1"x27" iron pipe with cap was placed over the drill hole. (Triple Monumentation).
So just what did you have to tell you where to dig such a small hole in the middle of the road? The hole is barely large enough to get the rock out.
I research the records back to the beginning. The stone was used in 1933, 1937, and 1950. In 1950, the surveyor placed an iron pipe over the stone. We held that position of the pipe. The stone was lying on its side under the pipe so we set it upright to agree with the horizontal position of the pipe. It's not uncommon to find the stone on their sides below roads. previous surveyors just dig down to the stone and probably assume it is upright, but I always take them all the way out. I have had some very large holes at other locations when the location was not as certain.
It was a fairly common practice in Oklahoma to bury the stone when the county opened up the road. The trouble we run into is finding the recordation.
The offices of County Surveyors were abolished in 1980 or thereabouts. Some court houses still keep their records tucked away, some of them went to the four winds. If the road was built prior to 1940, there is a good chance the Monument still exists "down under".
Good on you for your perseverance and hard work J.P. :good:
Great job, excellent to see those old stones recovered!