I returned to the Black Hills with Kurt Luebke last Thursday through Saturday for another amazing monument search. This year included one day of biking 30 miles of the Mickelson Trail in search of 1890's USGS bench marks and 1930's C&GS bench marks. Then we spent the rest of the time using 114-year-old USGS descriptions finding various monuments in the Black Hills where things have greatly changed making it quite a challenge at times. Section corners, mineral claim monuments, and triangulation stations were also searched for. Kurt drives over 700 miles and I drive over 500 miles just to do this on our vacations. Luckily, our significant others, Kim and Jenny, also enjoy doing the searches who accompanied us.
Kurt with his specially outfitted bike including a metal detector for bench mark finding.
One of the many trestles we crossed.
One of four tunnels we went through. Two were supposed to have had BM's on them, but both were gone.
Kurt with an 1897 USGS bronze tablet in a stone deep in the Black Hills off the main roads. (Found on his Birthday too!).
Very cool. Thanks
I always wonder if the guys who set those monuments back then thought about the future and wondered if anyone would see/find them 114 years later.
Great pics and an interesting way to spend your vacation.
Is that an old railroad that has been converted to a "rails to trails"? Does the metal detector help in finding the BMs? All the ones I have ever found along RRs did not have any ferrous metals on them and finding them under ballast was difficult.
Andy
Andy - yes, that is an old railroad grade that runs up the center of the Black Hills. Do a search for "Mickelson Trail" and you should be able to find a website on it. The metal detector is a coin grade (non-ferrous) one that picks up the copper and bronze markers.
