This was one of yesterday's recovery/remonuments of an 1890 Missouri River Commission triangulation station in northeast Nebraska. The MORC first set their point, an 18"-square stone with a capped 4" pipe over the top in 1890 known as "Winnebago". Someone took the capped pipe very early. Sometime later, the Corps of Engineers did not find the pipe and evidently could not find the lower stone so set their own pipe in concrete on the same hill. In 1934, USC&GS set their own bronze disk in concrete and referenced the CoE pipe as being the 1890 MORC tri station. Through calculations, we were able to determine that the original 1890 stone was in fact still on that hill, so we remonumented it with a new pipe and cap in concrete over the stone. Static observations coming next on the remonumented 1890 point. Kurt Luebke, Ryan Lorenzen, Gene Thomsen, and Jerry Penry participating.
Left - Remonumented 1890 Missouri River Commission tri station.
Center - 1934 USC&GS tri station.
Right - Corps of Engineers tri station. Date unknown, but between 1890-1934.
Original 1890 Missouri River Commission stone.
New surface monument over the 1890 stone.
Location of the monument. The Missouri River is at right.
Nice recovery and preservation.
I would like to hear more about how it was determined the original monument might still be in place and how it was pinpointed.
I'll create a webpage soon with the full story and photos. The basic concept is that we have found other 1890 Missouri River Commission monuments and have obtained precise GPS positions on them. We then compare this modern position to the original position published in 1890. That gives a factor which you can then use on other locations by either adding or subtracting to the original position to give you the modern position. Then, if you have a nearby monument with a modern position on it, we figure the shift between that monument and what we calculated for the position of the old monument. Measure this out on the ground for distance and direction and start probing for the stone. Here is one I did in South Dakota by this method.
http://www.penryfamily.com/surveying/morcbrickkiln.html