This has probably confused a number of people, mile markers were set and then a bit over 20 years later in 1902 monuments were set along the line. The 1902 surveyor was the first one I ever have seen that used brass caps and they are nice. He set his corners along the line at an offset from the mile marker, this one is about 10 feet east, the next one a mile east is twenty feet west of the mile marker.
the rock with the face is the pile for the mile marker.
Another 1902 brass cap, this one was hit, leaning strongly, so I rehabilitated it.
No doubt someone will hit it again. Too close to the road
I looked for this in passing in 95, didn't find it then, but I needed it now and found it with a bit of luck, stepped on it.
Looks like an early USGS marker. This was common in the Black Hills for USGS to establish mile markers or markers near trail crossings. The notes often reveal that their corners are very near to the GLO stones, but many surveyors have used the iron markers as section corners without understanding the entire situation.
USGS also did this with their early bench marks. They would placed them next to GLO corners so people could find them. The GLO corner might be a wood post, stone or mound. Twenty years later the iron bench mark remains and surveyors use it.
This is an article I wrote about the bench mark/section corner issue.
In this case it is an official GLO resurvey, but the surveyor didn't wish to (was restricted) disturb the mile markers. These are the oldest GLO brass caps I know of.
He did a nice job and he was surveying some very rough country. Makes it easy to follow with monuments like those. East about 10 miles there is one of those USGS monuments, I think it was the first time I saw pits.
Informative pics, nice.
Love your bipod. 😉
