TOWNSHIP CORNER, refurbish and file corner record

i LIKE THAT YOU JUST RE-SET THE OLD MONUMENT AND DIDN'T CHANGE IT OUT FOR A NEW AC.

> i LIKE THAT YOU JUST RE-SET THE OLD MONUMENT AND DIDN'T CHANGE IT OUT FOR A NEW AC.

I'd agree with that good choice. I don't get not actually mixing the cement with water when the concrete is placed though. Mixing when placed makes much better quality concrete than what you ought to expect in cold, wet weather. We use a plastic mixing trough that works quite well. A five-gallon bucket will work also.

It's in the middle of the Great American Desert. Driving to town is closer than digging down to find a water source.

> It's in the middle of the Great American Desert. Driving to town is closer than digging down to find a water source.

Well, just as a suggestion, it's smart to carry at least a 5-gallon jerry can of water with you. That's what we do. That and a concrete mix with quick-setting cement will do the trick.

The other thing that would have been possibly a good trick would have been to have set a mark in the bedrock below the post and tablet monument. That way, if the surface mark is taken out, there is still something there.

Yo Leon...

That wouldn't be an A.D. Ferron Stone would it?

Loyal

A. D. Ferron alright (1871). When he first came to the valley (1871) he couldn't find anything from the wood post 1856 survey by Mogo 15 years earlier. After searching for over a week an old resident showed him a mound a couple miles from this township corner. So starting from that he resurveyed and found a few more mounds but very few posts and set this township stone. Maybe after all the trouble hunting for very poor markers he decided to really make this one a good one. The further surveying and resurveying of the valley was done from this point. For the most part the GLO never had the Mogo surveys resurveyed. Most of whatever is out there (Mogo, several townships in the bottom of the valley) at this point is of unknown origin probably some local farmers and the county surveyor over a hundred years ago, no records of it at all except what exists in the form of occupation on the ground.

I probably should have set a Deep One magnet under the pipe but I never even lifted the pipe out of the ground. Solid rock below. The concrete won't break at 4000 psi but it will be plenty strong to hold this mark. I've dug some up allowed to cure this way before and it's very hard. I do tamp it in really good.

I have a 16 hour static session on the point and the OPUS run will be included in the filed corner record documentation. This point is nailed from this point forward, good to one or two centimeters even if the ground is completely wiped clean by big yellow.

Got to go do some more, save up enough change to eat over the winter.

1856 "post in mound of earth"

YEAH!

I know what you mean about the early (185ish) wood post surveys in Utah!

I have been chasing around in a 1856 C.R. Craig Township (and ALL eight surrounding townships) in North-Central Utah all summer. GLO work in the 1870s and 1880s (15-20 years later) report very little evidence of Craig's survey. The real puzzler to me, is that the Utah State Road Commission set 4x4 Wood (pine) ROW markers in this valley in 1943 (67 years ago), and we have found something like 95% of these (most in reasonably good, though often decayed condition). We have also seen a number of un-patented mining claim corners (4x4 & 2x2 pine) in the area, that date back 20-30 years, and many of these are in very good condition.

I dunno, Criag must have been setting willow sticks for corners, IF they were THAT badly decomposed only 15-20 years later.

We have found several "mounds" this summer, and based on LONG experiance with wood-post surveys (mostly Mineral Surveys) in the Great Basin, and the proximity of well defined terrian calls, I am inclined to accept these "mounds" as ORIGINAL C.R. Craig Monuments/Corners. The simple fact of the matter is, a "mound of earth & stone" in 1856, doesn't look like much in 2010 UNLESS there REALLY WHERE some STONES (even pebbles) in it!

Loyal

1856 "post in mound of earth"

> The simple fact of the matter is, a "mound of earth & stone" in 1856, doesn't look like much in 2010 UNLESS there REALLY WHERE some STONES (even pebbles) in it!

I wonder if you've ever experimented with using a tractor to scrape away the top soil to see if you can pick up the circular trench that probably was dug in raising the mound and later filled in by natural processes by soil of a slightly different color. Alternately, a couple of people with energy and hoes could probably do the same thing, just more slowly.

1856 "post in mound of earth"

Yes

Bear in mind Kent...

...that PLSS corners (especially those set in the 1850s), had rather specific requirements concerning PITS that witnessed the mounds/posts/corners. These ranged from two (1/4 corners) to four (section corners), and varied in depth, width, and orientation 9relative to the "corner"), depending on the type of corner, and the instructions in force at the time of the survey.

I have actually recovered a few pits using airborne infrared photography in Nevada, and seen a few PITS both extant and "scraped" with shovels, rakes, and other implements of destruction.

Edit...that's where the dirt came from...not a single hole somewhere nearby..

🙂
Loyal

Bear in mind Kent...

> I have actually recovered a few pits using airborne infrared photography in Nevada, and seen a few PITS both extant and "scraped" with shovels, rakes, and other implements of destruction.

Well, finding original mound and pit corners is probably as good a test of retracement skills as exists, particularly inside a township where few recoveries have been previously made. I'd never thought of finding a hidden corner as "destroying" it, though :>

One thing that probably would be very handy to have would be some elevated platform like a ladder or truck bed to stand on to photograph the pattern of discoloration indicating the mound and pits from a high angle.

1856 "post in mound of earth"

Ferron Notes 1871

Explanatory Note

When I arrived at my field of operations, I made the necessary inquiries to ascertain the nearest existing U.S Survey monument, and after a great deal of search and loss of time I found that the only definite and unmistakeable corner known to the inhabitants was the corner to sections 25,26, 35 and 36 in Township 15 South Range 3 East, which, accordingly, I made the starting point of my survey.

Beginning at the corner to secs 25, 26, 35, and 36, the stake and mound notably well preserved, the marks legible and otherwise satisfactory, I run south on a tracing line between Secs 35, and 36, to retrace old line. Var by Young's Solar Compass 16 20” E.

40.34
Old ¼ sec mound plainly discernible, but no stake 98 lks E of line. I reestablish same by setting a Sand Stone 15x19x8 and continue on same line as before.

80.64
Old mound plainly discernible – no stake – 198 lks E of line. I reestablish same by setting a Sand Stone 15x10x8 for cor to secs 35 & 36 on S boundary of Township.

I now calculate the course that will retrace the old line, and find it to be S 1 24' E.

East on a tracing line between secs 1 and 36, to retrace old line. Var 16 20' E.

40.42
Old ¼ sec mound – no stake – 47 lks N of line. I reestablish same by setting a sand stone 15x12x7. This being the end of old line I calculate the course of same, which I find to be N 89 40' E on which course I continue and at

80.84
Set a sand stone 36x15x4 for cor of Townships 15 and 16 S in Ranges 3 and 4 E.

This is my TS Corner.

Ferron then goes back to the corner of sections 35 and 36 and traces the township line west for two more miles and finds mounds but no stakes.