The south line of the township was established in 1887 and at the Standard Corners the surveyor placed square pits East-West-North of the mound. Then in 1890, the surveyor who did the subdivisions placed a triangular-shaped pit south of the corner. He did this for every Standard Corner where he began his new course going north. I've never seen this stated before in a Manual, so am wondering if these were special instructions or in a circular.
This spring I will have an opportunity to look for some of these, so I'm getting a little excited. The surveyors who were involved in this part of South Dakota were very good men so it will be a matter of finding them.
Some surveyors have worked for decades and never seen a pit, would be nice to find a triangular one.:-)
I've looked for pits for over 40 years - never found a single one.
I've seen a photograph of a BLM crew during a retracement survey in Oklahoma in the 1940's. They are using a team of oxen to scrape the å±20 feet of soil off to get down to where the surface was in the 1920's while searching for pits...
J. Penry, post: 353375, member: 321 wrote: so I'm getting a little excited
You rock, Jerry.