Does anyone out there have any experience in locating the remains of mounds, pits, and in some cases, trenches from a helicopter?
If you have, do you have any photos you can share?
These corners date from 1855 & 1856 in the Mojave Desert so any posts and mounds have been blown away and the pits and trenches filled in.
Ken Gold made mention several years ago at a seminar about locating them in West Texas and the panhandle. The idea was that you looked for differences in the shadows and slight depressions. Difficult work to say the least.
Can you imagine defending a shadow in court?
Only the Shadow knows.
Best viewed when there is snow on the ground 🙂
To find evidence of the pits, mounds and posts you need to have a very good handle on where you should find that evidence. Almost a dependent resurvey is required to get the search area pined down so you can do things like scrape the surface looking for different material that filled the pits or find evidence of wood. Looking from a helicopter is not doing your due diligence unless you are only using it for transportation. Get your search area small, you should find some evidence at half of your search areas, if there has not been any disturbance of the surface except for natural erosion, that includes drifting which can bury it deep. Have used helicopters while traversing, as transportation and searching for trails to use for ground access and an occasional coyote chase, pilot entertainment.
jud
I have found them, but cannot imagine finding one from a helicopter. The ones I have found required very close examination on the ground. The use of a shovel and probe have been necessary.
Jerry
I have seen old posts out in the desert. They could be there. Generally they are no more than 6" or so above ground if they are there.
With our wind and the dust bowl days, there is little chance to find them here. Some still do, but typically government surveyors with unlimited budget and no dead lines. We just do the best we can with available evidence. I'd love to find one some day.
Contact the State BLM office
Contact the state BLM office
Ruel,
I'm so accustomed to reading the original notes as "pits and mounds", to see the reverse as "mounds and pits" just seems strange. To find pit's and mounds from a helicopter, from my experience would be wishful thinking and like finding a snowball in hell. When doing a retracement generally you have to have a good "locus" of position to start your search along with a close on ground inspection. In the spring sometimes the grass is greener on the pit portion than the mound. You are wishfully thinking to find them from a helicopter... get your butt on the ground and do a full search.
Pablo
> Does anyone out there have any experience in locating the remains of mounds, pits, and in some cases, trenches from a helicopter?
>
> If you have, do you have any photos you can share?
>
> These corners date from 1855 & 1856 in the Mojave Desert so any posts and mounds have been blown away and the pits and trenches filled in.
Yes, I deal with them all the time but finding pits and mounds from helicopters? No way, you have to survey on the ground and get close with a measurement and look. They're still there, you'd be surprised.
I've found quite a few pits, very few earth mounds. But, from the air, no.
A helicopter is great for getting around. Then land where you need to be and search for the pits and mounds.
I've seen a number of posts well preserved in dry climate (1876 is the oldest I can think of).
I did a survey south of Dunn off the 15 a number of years ago. We were able to spot the old pits by hogging cardinal directions 1/2 a mile and standing on our quads. After a bit, the pits became very easy to spot.
You would have to fly very low in order to spot the pits. The helicopter would blow the sand and ruin the evidence of the pits.
Brooks
Knowing Ken Gold, I'm sure there is more to it than just that, but it's the practice of identifying them he was going over more than looking for a shadow. Obviously, you have to use something to get close and the evaluate what you find.
> Does anyone out there have any experience in locating the remains of mounds, pits, and in some cases, trenches from a helicopter?
>
> If you have, do you have any photos you can share?
>
> These corners date from 1855 & 1856 in the Mojave Desert so any posts and mounds have been blown away and the pits and trenches filled in.
Pretty much getting the same answers on the CLSA forum, aren't you?
Boots on the ground is what it takes.B-)
Perhaps some aerial photography would serve as well. Would the pit not be evidenced by a patch of greener vegetation?
Not much green grass at this site.
Might make it just a little easier.
I have seen the use of aerial photography to look for evidence of cultural resource sites in desert areas, specifically the Ocotillo Wells area. The flight was done early in the morning with the sun at a low angle to cast shadows of low features like deteriorated walls, etc... It actually worked very well. The same technique might work for finding pits, but it seems a costly way to do recon, especially when some surveying can get you close to where you should be searching on the ground.
> Not much green grass at this site.
I would think that would work to advantage. Back before I started surveying I worked in geology. Fault lines could be easily identified from a distance in the desert because water tended to collect in the fault zone, and the vegetation tended to line up where the water was. It wasn't so pronounced that you could see it when you where standing on it, but you could see it clearly from the opposite ridge.