I looked for some NGS stations over the weekend, and have about 15 reports to make now (10 Good condition). One had been previously reported as "disturbed" which I think is an understatement.
http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=ON0867
That report said the underground disk was not disturbed. Maybe if the top broke off when hit with a grader, but here I'm pondering. Would the whole post come out of the ground without moving the lower disk and its lump of concrete?
It looks like they separated the upper pour from the lower mark with some paper or something to enable the upper to separate without disturbing the lower. Did you dig for it?
>Did you dig for it?
Nope. I was just scouting out as many as possible to report on while I had spare time in an area a couple hours drive from home.
My brother and I did dig for an underground mark once, mainly because it has the name of our home town on it. Found it 27 inches down. Our post hole was about 0.2 ft off center, but I'll claim that was lack of care in starting the hole, not my measurement of where to dig.:-P
"Disturbed" triangulation station
Yes, I is possible to remove the surface monument without disturbing the underground. There was dirt separating the two if I recall, I.e. they weren't touching.
I lost my wedding ring in 1986 digging up an underground mon in Indiana. Turning angles (16 sets with a T-2) in the winter, fingers shrunk. I didn't realize until I had filled the hole back in. Then dug it up again but could not find it. Never really missed it, though. I never use any kind of jewelry except a watch when doing GPS. My wife was pissed, though.
"Disturbed" triangulation station
Lost Wedding Ring
A wedding ring would be easily found with a metal detector. Did you have someone look?
Treasure hunting clubs will typically do this for free in the spirit of good PR.
Many times they get permission for places to detect this way.
Lost Wedding Ring
With a good treasure hunting detector (not a magnetic locator) and the right soil type you might find a wedding ring a foot down, but not at the depth of his underground disk. You'd have to dig up the dirt again and sweep it with the detector until you got lucky.
Lost Wedding Ring
If I really wanted it I guess I could have gone out there with a sieve and tried to find it. I did try some, but it wasn't terribly valuable. I was a college student when I got married, so it wasn't worth more than a couple hundred dollars, if that. And, like I said, I never like wearing anything anyway, I hardly ever even wear a watch.