Undoubtedly some of you have also been to this marker near Fort Collins, CO. What intrigued me about this one is that this is an early example of a triangulation station disk by USGS which has the triangle in the center. In 1896, USGS started using the bronze and aluminum caps and disks for bench marks which they also used for triangulation stations, but the earliest ones did not have the triangle like this one. In the Black Hills of South Dakota, USGS mostly used 1" diameter copper bolts for their triangulation stations on peaks in their pre-1900 work. Then when USC&GS occupied the same peaks, they set their own brass disk nearby. In the case of "Horsetooth", near Fort Collins, USC&GS did use the USGS marker when USC&GS occupied it in 1912. At "Horsetooth" you can view a 1902 USGS flat disk, a 1912 USC&GS flat disk, and a 1939 USC&GS domed disk. The latter two being reference marks.
http://www.penryfamily.com/surveying/usgshorsetooth.html
This second link shows an example of USGS and USC&GS using two separate marks on the same peak in the Black Hills.
Not only do I 'Like" this post but think it is a great post. Thanks!
Obviously quite a few folks have been there over the years as defaced as the disks are. Quite a testament to the USGS and NGS (as well as other agencies) at how well they anchored these disks to stand up to years of folks trying to steal them!
SHG
