35 JPN

Coordinates: N 41.300636° W 75.511426° (estimate)
Location: Pennsylvania
   Lackawanna County
      Moscow Quad
Elevation: 1927.456 ft.
Type: Bench Mark Disk
Setting: Rock Outcrop
Monumented: 1942
Monumented By: USGS
Status: Not Found
Condition: Unknown (Not Found) as of May 26, 2014
  • Official USGS Description: Daleville; 0.5 mi S. of hwy. junction; at summit of hill; 145 ft NE. of NE. corner of cement block house; 30 ft E. of rd.; in large flat outcrop; standard tablet stamped “35 JPN 1942 1927”
Google Map

When we were researching this mark, it looked like it would be a simple find. We could see a nice flat outcrop on the Street View. When we arrived at the site, we had the same impression. In fact, the outcrop was even larger (and flatter) than we had expected, and it looked like absolutely the perfect spot for a bench mark disk. All of the references in the description matched up. But no disk was to be found! I checked the outcrop as thoroughly as possible (part of it is covered with dried-out moss, which was difficult to remove, but I checked under it as well as I could). I also noticed that the outcrop has one section that may have been broken off at some point (a long time ago), so it’s possible the mark was on that section, but not likely because it was close to one edge of the outcrop. It’s certainly possible that we didn’t even find the correct outcrop, but we could see nothing else in the area that looked like a possibility. So for now, this one remains a mystery.