Our friend, Mike, who was visiting from Germany, asked if he could make our garage a base camp while he spent some time in the area. He is trying to "nail down" a job and find a place for his family to live as they make plans to relocate back to the St. George area.
We were showing him our blog and telling him of how our friend Tom's passion for locating benchmarks had rubbed off on us. It didn't take Mike long before he became interested in the history and the "why" behind where surveyors placed them. Since we didn't have much going on, for Saturday, we quickly located a few along the Utah/Arizona border and made plans to go recover them. I guess it was a successful day because Mike now has the "benchmark bug"!
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| We're south of St. George . . . just across the border in Arizona |
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| The little bump on the left is where we are headed |
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Mike and Kent standing at the benchmark . . . Kent is explaining how
the GPS coordinates help us locate the Benchmarks, Reference Marks and Azimuths |
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| Low Benchmark was placed here in 1953 |
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| Remnants of the wooden tripod used by the surveyors |
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This is one of the two Reference Marks we located
The azimuth is supposed to be near the curve in the road . . . we're off to find it next! |
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How 'low' can you go! If you know Kent, he isn't very flexible . . . neither was the fence!
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The Mt. Trumbull Road probably wasn't much more than a jeep trail in the 1950's . . .
We located the azimuth witness post (click on picture for better view), just off the west side of the road . . .
The azimuth was supposedly 21ft east of the post . . . that would put it almost in the center of the road
Guess this one's been "gone" for many years!
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| Next, we drove to the Black Rock exit to locate a 1921 marker, using GPS coordinates |
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It's almost hard to believe that it is still here 102 years later!
(Guess that $250 fine scared some people!) |
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| Off to our west we noticed pink ribbons hanging on some creosote bushes, so we decide to check it out . . . We were surprised to see it was another benchmark! Broad was placed here in 1960 |
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A little to the south we found Reference Mark #2 which meant there should be a #1 . . .
Or so we thought, but we couldn't locate it . . .
We later learned that the 1921 mark was used as Reference Mark #1 |
If you're interested in seeing Low Benchmark for yourself, follow River Road until it turns from pavement to dirt at the HWY 7 overpass. Reset your odometer and travel south for six miles (Mt. Trumbull Road). Park your vehicle and head west up a small knoll for .3 of a mile.
For the Broad Benchmark and the 1921 marker, take the Black Rock turnoff from I-15 and head east until it dog legs a hard right and turns south. At the dog leg continue east on a different road for approximately .3 of a mile to were three roads converge coming in from the north. Take the center road for .1 mile.
