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USGS Benchmarks

What is a USGS Benchmark?

Geodetic control points are permanently affixed objects at various locations all over the United States to enable land surveying, civil engineering and mapping to be done efficiently. These objects are usually metal disks, but can be any other object that serves as a control point.

Although not as popular as finding Geo Caches, Benchmark hunting can be very interesting to try and locate. The databases are mostly pre-GPS waypoints done with surveyors. They can be way off the GPS settings which make them hard to find but rewarding when you do locate them.

The oldest ones I have found were from 1926 and looked brand new. In other parts of the country they can go back to the 1800's.

USGS Benchmark

Benchmarks Found

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