Didn't want to hijack FLS' post, but it brought back some old memories.
What is the deepest hole you've dug to find a monument?
For me, it stands at 27' deep! Found the section corner we HAD to have, thanks to some very accurate bearing trees. Final 3' or so was a mass of alders that had been laid down by the weight of the snow. The cabin we stayed in, we dug DOWN to the loft window to get in the first night! Michael Wright was the PC that trip, what a trip that was!:-S
-JD-
5 feet or so in a sand dune next to the beach at Pismo State Beach. That was fun; sand keeps falling in. We had a mag signal on a capped pipe on an old Record of Survey (deed line). Found it down there. Those sand dunes move around burying monuments.
How deep where the B.T.s?
How did you find them?
Don
12' long x 2' wide x 3' deep with a folding army shovel. I worked on it on the way home from school 45 minutes every day for a few weeks. Finally one day the neighbor across the road came over and told me where it used to be and confirmed that the creek had washed it out during the flood the previous year.
I remember 8 to 10' packed snow in western NY.
Didn't happen every year but it did happen.
They pile it up along the roads with the plows
then it freezes and thaws. Becomes a hard blob.
The hole fills with water as you try to find the right
place to put the range pole. After you chip through
the frozen ground to get to it. Did I mention it was fun (sometimes).
It is 81 here now so maybe it is one of those hindsight things.
I dug a hole one time, so I could stand in it and dig the hole to find the monument. And it was, in fact, on the curved, east/west section line, just like the notes said it was.;-)
Cheers,
Dugger, PLS
At the base of a sandstone cliff near the Great Falls in Paterson, NJ, we found the monument under 6 feet of sluffed off rock and trash, just where is should have been.
For me, it was about 6 foot deep, on the side of a channelized creek. The iron pipe was, of course, under an old spoil pile from where they cleaned out the creek.
I dug down until the sharpshooter handle was flush with the ground, and then had to dig out the side to continue to keep digging until I found it.
I went home a happy guy that day. It was my first big farm after I opened up my solo business.
Two different locations come to mind. Both involved searching in the middle of a road near a railroad crossing with significant fill above natural ground level. In one case it was about four feet down to the top of a 1/2" bar two feet long that was atop a 3/4" bar two feet long which was placed above the center of the original stone set by the Government surveyors in 1865. We stopped at the top of the 1/2" bar. Kent will yell that I did not follow correct procedure as I did not dig to the bottom of the original stone.
The other case was the deepest at somewhere around six foot depth to the top of the record 1" iron bar above the original stone. Again, we did not go any further.
The shallowest hole was zero inches down to the "X" chiseled in native limestone about 90 years earlier. Or maybe it was the one up about 20 inches because it was a hole drilled in the surface of a limestone outcrop about 15 feet in diameter.
I have never found a monument below elevation 800 feet msl. First, I would have to leave the State.
Til about 3 inches of sharpshooter was left. What is this "snow"
you speak of?
"only" 4 feet on two occasions. I hope I do not break that record.
Spruce treea, which were the BT's, tend to have a "pocket around them in deep snow. (great for shelter if'n yous in trouble) Cool thing was how accurate they were. Used the distance and bearing to start, then used them as swing ties. Convinced me that 3 are better than 2! That whole job dealt with deep snow' Came back in the spring and the cabin had collapsed and the alders were 20' high. Very early in my survey "career" but the hook was set! 25 years later and no looking back except with a smile! Fixing to head out to Chefornak to lay out some water well loations, just hope it stays above zero!
-JD-
well, there was the time I told ________ that her _______was getting a little big......;-)
oh you're talking looking for monuments... 4.5 to 5 ft
Rankin's a naughty boy
Change the word "her" to "his" and see what kind of comments you receive.
Probably 4'. The toughest hole was onlt 20" deep but in a gravel driveway. The monument was bent. After we found it we located it and then covered the hole back up. Then I realized I didn't take a pic of it. So we re-dug the hole. It only took 5 minutes to re-dig compared to the 45 minutes to get to it the first time.
JD,
Snow doesn't count. Try another one.
HC
I have worked from about 5' BMSL to about 8000' BMSL
but the deepest I have dug for a monument is less than 6'.