Rabbit Hole and Survey Monument

The government black-ops guys disguised themselves as private surveyors and set a private-looking monument to guide future conspiracy theorists to the inevitable conclusion, obviously.

They even made sure the monument looked legit by using two different size stamps. I guess this show is a regular CT type show on the history channel, if the level of investigation is like this for the rest of the show...........it's not a good look. 

From Wikipedia on the Skinwalker Ranch. $22M... Wild.

Followed the rabbit hole a bit (here is the clip on the monument marker), here is as much as I could get a zoomed screenshot:

Bottoms seems to be read as "USB" which show host confirms is "US army corp of engineers - which is the department of defense" and is somehow a mike drop moment in the show. My guess is should be "US BLM" but the L and M are worn off?

Also I'm reading R1E not 21? Here is record from Uintah county for it. Couldn't find anything on who set it though.

U.S.B. M on the corner record for the meridian.

I can't recall ever seeing the principal meridian stamped on a cap, but that seems to be the case here. 

The Uintah Special Base & Meridian. USB. 

Me putting it at 3S 21E, puts it on the Salt Lake Base & Meridian to the NE of the real location which is on the USB, not the SLB. 

I just quickly eyeballed the site on google then the new BLM records map and assumed (about 30 miles between them). The cap is stamped correctly and the corner record is a nice find. I suppose since there are two meridians close to this area and they have similar township numbers it's common practice to identify which one the cap is in. 

Clearly USB is not some CIA or DOD black site group. 

@mightymoe ah yes I see it, makes sense for both.

Gell Mann effect might ruin all future UFO documentaries for me...

I watched the same episode and took a similar photo to do the "deep dive." Moe is correct. The section corners (and the township and range) are tied to the Uintah Special Meridian referenced on the south edge of the cap. 

The cap is stamped with two different stamp sizes, one for the numbers and a smaller one for the letters.  The corner is a closing corner (cc marked above the "T") on the east-west base line for the township.

The monument appears to have been replaced under a "re-monumentation" project that never produced an updated plat or field notes (at least none that I can find without a FOIA).

@jbstahl 

I'm guessing that the monument was set by a private surveyor, possibly for mineral exploration. In 1963 there may not have been any corner recordation requirement or even PLS #'s. Finding it through BLM records would be impossible under those circumstances. However, it wouldn't be the first time there were "off the books" government monuments set. The mixed stamping and the cobbled together materials for the monument makes me think it's not a government shop. 

@mightymoe There are a number of re-monumentation projects that were conducted by the CCC and other various agencies (forest service, corp of engineers, etc.) on an "unofficial" capacity. You are correct that there are also lots of "cobbled together" monuments by private surveyors.