Surveyor's Nightmare LbNA #25685
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Add Location| Owner: | Rhys  |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Sep 2, 2006 |
| Location: | |
| City: | White Creek |
| County: | Washington |
| State: | New York |
| Boxes: | 1 |
| Found by: | Nairon |
|---|---|
| Last found: | Nov 11, 2013 |
| Status: | F |
| Last edited: | Sep 2, 2006 |
In response to an online discussion recently concerning a majority of letterboxes not requiring much effort to find, I have tried to make this letterbox much more difficult to find than most. It will require both some mental effort and a lot of walking. There are few trails here, only a few long abandoned logging roads. Orienteering experience would be helpful but is not absolutely necessary. If you become lost (or slightly disoriented, guys!) walking a course of 300 deg. (or straight downhill if you lose or break your compass!) will bring you back to the road, and taking a left and following the road will bring you back to your car. You might want to avoid this area during deer season unless you are a hunter.
As America was settled, it was necessary to lay out roads, canals, railroads, and to divide the land up into farms and building lots. This was done by land surveyors using rather primitive equipment, laying lines through the wilderness without benefit of the satellite photos, GPS, lasers, or computers that are used today.
I laid out the trip to the letterbox with 18th and 19th century land surveying equipment. I began with a B. Rittenhouse compass (late 1700's) and a W. E. Gurley #10 iron chain of unknown age, but was plagued with a sticky needle so switched to a Benjamin Pike Jr. compass (mid 1800's) for the last half, re-checking the earlier measurements on the way in and double checking the chain measurements with a tape measure. I then drew up the route on paper and checked the measurements and math. Some of the chain measurements I converted to other early measurements used in surveying to give you something extra to do. As few of you will have antique surveying equipment, the best way to follow the directions would be to convert the old surveying units to feet, find out how long your stride is, then convert the feet to paces. The compass directions should be easier, you just need to convert them to the more modern 0 - 360 degree scale. NOTE: To make an accurate survey through woodland involves cutting a path to sight the compass and stretch the chain. Obviously, I couldn't do this, so there will be some inaccuracy due to working around trees - though the math check showed it fairly accurate. I have included seven photos to help you compensate for this.
Some links on surveying to help you (all you need should be here) and for your entertainment:
- Virtual Museum of Surveying
- The Rittenhouse brothers
- George Washington: Surveyor and Mapmaker
- A Brief History of Land Surveying
- John Thompson, English Philomath - A Question of Land Surveying and Astronomy
- Surveying in the Early Midwest
- The Surveying Chain
- Vara Chain
DIRECTIONS: From North Bennington, Vermont take White Creek Road at North Bennington Variety Store. After 2.6 miles the road enters New York State and becomes Washington County Route 68. Proceed for 5.3 miles from the State Line to a road on the right named after the sixteenth President of the United States.
From Cambridge, NY take Rt. 22 south for about 5 miles, turn left on County Route 68 just before a self-storage facility and Cone's Garage. Take County Route 68 east for 1 mile to a road on the left named after the sixteenth President of the United States.
Take this road and drive for 1.4 miles. Find a road to the left named after an extinct American religious sect. Take this road for 1.1 miles to a fork. Take the right hand fork for 0.2 miles to a small pull off where you can park. This last section is rather rough but usually you can make it in a car unless you have very low ground clearance. If it looks impassable, you can park at the fork and walk in.
Walk northeast along the road. Enjoy the woods and the brook as you head northeast towards the Barber Hills. This is a nice walk on a sunny summer day. You will come to a clearing where a farmhouse once stood, which has been used more recently for logging. At the north end of the clearing the road passes a large rock on the right and goes up a steep hill. Beyond this rock the road is impassable to all but off-road vehicles. Shortly past the top of the hill you will see a boulder on the right
with a tree behind it. Here the easy walk ends and the work begins!
From the base of the tree behind the rock the way runs South 81 degrees East for 3 chains 38 links to a rock next to a stone wall
, then runs South 52 degrees East, parallelling the stone wall for 2 chains 58 links to a point where another wall joins from the northeast
. From this point follow a line North 5 degrees East for 3 chains 20 links to a point marked only with a small stone
, thence North 4 degrees West for 1 chain 44 links to another unmarked point,
thence North 73 degrees East for 12 rods to a tree near a stone wall.
The route then parallels the stone wall on a course of South 60 degrees East for 24.5 vara to a corner with two old stumps,
then runs South 38 deg West for 2 chains 51 links parallelling another stone wall to a small "V" in the wall. Here it turns to South 63 degrees East for 1 chain 46 links over a large rock. From the uphill point of the rock the path runs at South 52 degrees East for 3 chains 86 links to another large rock. From here follow a course of South 63 degrees East for 3 chains 48 links to the end of the search. Look up - you will see a large spruce growing out of the rock. The letterbox is on a ledge behind it under some rocks. Be careful in retrieving it and please put it back where found and cover it back up.
I am experimenting with a new method of making stamps. This box contains the second successful attempt. It is still somewhat primitive, but better than the first.
Clues are also at: http://tkrice.tripod.com/letterbox.html#a2