[Az-Geocaching] Bench Mark or not?

[ShadowAce]

Appears you found a Township, Range and Section marker.
http://mapserver.co.yavapai.az.us/interactive/map.asp will let you search
for areas within Yavapai county by Township Range and Sections.

 Basically you found a corner of the two areas. :)

*Introduction:* The United States Public Land Survey (USPLS) started with
the Land Ordinance of 1785 and covers all US land that was not settled by
the time of the official government survey. It does not include the east
coast states including Kentucky and Tennessee or Texas. Small areas of other
states that were settled before the survey also technically excluded. This
explains the odd shapes of many mining claims in the west. Latter title
transfers followed USPLS lines.

Legal descriptions to 1 mile square sections have 4 parts: the
State/Meridian, Township, Range and section number. Note that an official
legal description always works from small to large areas, for example NW1/4,
sec. 12, T.122N, R.71W, South Dakota, Fifth Principal Meridian.

   - *Meridian* These are similar to UTM zones. Both apply to large areas
   based on a line of longitude, both are often left out of field data, and the
   position is not uniquely defined without them! The position of the principal
   meridian for any area, in contrast to UTM zones, is largely historical and
   arbitrary. The area governed by each Meridian, also in contrast to UTM
   zones, is irregular in size and shape, but it frequently follows state
   lines. Actually it is more correct to say that the states were formed
   according to the areas covered by the Meridians. Some of these areas include
   several large states while others include only a small part of a single
   state. Some of the smaller areas were caused by changes in tribal
   reservations. The default principal meridian for this program (Principal) is
   good for (as you might guess) Montana.

   - *Township* These occur at 6 mile intervals east and west of the
   principal meridian. Township values are normally whole numbers starting at
   1, but some exceptions occur. Township lines are normally adjusted every 4th
   line to correct for the spherical nature of the earth. These are called
   standard parallels.

   - *Range* These occur at 6 mile intervals north and south of a base
   line that is associated with each principal meridian. The position of the
   base line for each principal meridian is also historical and arbitrary.
   Range values are normally whole numbers starting at 1, but some exceptions
   occur. Range lines are normally adjusted every 4th line to correct for the
   spherical nature of the earth. These are called guide meridians.

   - *Sections* The intersection of Range lines and Township lines define
   6 by 6 mile squares called Townships, which are divided into 36 sections.
   These are normally 1 by 1 mile squares, but some are altered to correct for
   the spherical earth. Most of these departures are pushed to the northern and
   western tiers of sections before the next standard parallels and guide
   meridians. Others are altered by simple survey errors. Note that old survey
   errors have legal precedence over new survey results so the odd-looking
   lines stay put. Section numbers always range between 1 and 36. Sections are
   normally divided by repeated quartering, but this is beyond the scope of
   this program.


**

On 12/29/05, Robert & Linda Smith <Lrsmith at cableone.net> wrote:
>
> While doing some maintenance on a cache for a friend of mine I found
> this mark that I thought was a "Bench Mark",  I guess not. It was placed
> by the U.S. Dept. of the Interior - Bur. of Land Management.  The
> marking on it seems to be "T14NR2W" below that is "1/4" and below that
> is S8 | S9 so I guess I have NOT found a bench mark.  Oh well...
>
> Bob Smith, Prescott
> ____________________________________________________________
> Az-Geocaching mailing list listserv at azgeocaching.com
> To edit your setting, subscribe or unsubscribe visit:
> http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching
>
> Arizona's Geocaching Resource
> http://www.azgeocaching.com
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://listserv.sequoia.net/pipermail/az-geocaching/attachments/20051229/ba3c1403/attachment.htm