K 6
Spatial/elevation data
| Coordinates | N 44.383142° W 68.361975° (estimate) |
| Elevation | 117.145 ft. |
| Location | Maine
Hancock County Salsbury Cove Quad |
Mark description
| Type | Bench Mark Disk |
| Setting | Rock Ledge |
| Monumented | 1934 by USGS |
| Description (USGS) | Trenton, 2.5 mi. SE. along concrete rd., thence 1.5 mi. SW. along rd. to Indian Point, near fork in rd., in ledge 150 ft. W. of fork, 45 ft. N. of rd.; standard disk stamped “K-6-1934” “P.B.M. 117.2” on telephone pole at fork and on ledge |
Narrative and photographs
MaineDOT description: To reach the station from Trenton, go 4.0 km (2.5 mi) Southeast along a concrete road; thence, 2.4 km (1.5 mi) Southwest along the road the Indian point to a 3-way intersection and the station. The station mark is a standard tablet, stamped…K 6 1934…, set in the top of a large ledge. It is: 42.7 m (140 ft) West of the Northwest most Road junction (at a 3-way intersection) 14.6 m (48 ft) North of the centerline of the road 23.5 m (77 ft) Northeast of transformer pole # 72 0.3 m (1 ft) South of a small rock carin 0.6 m (2 ft) West of the extreme East face
On our way to Blagden Preserve, we stopped at the nearby intersection of Oak Hill Road and Indian Point Road to look for K 6, a USGS benchmark that somehow we’ve never searched for in the past.
The coordinates I had seemed way off and took me a few hundred feet off the road into a wooded area with no ledges, so I rescaled them from the topo map and tried again. This attempt at least brought me to a nice ledge about the correct distance from the road, which was a good start, but the ledge was completely covered with moss, dead/dried leaves, dead branches, and rotten trees. I didn’t even know where to begin to clear off the ledge to look for the mark. I did roll up some of the moss layers to look underneath, and I moved a few of the more reasonably sized branches to no avail.
Meanwhile Rich was reading through the datasheet and looking around for any useful references, such as nearby transformer pole #72. He suggested I try clearing off a few other parts of the ledge, unfortunately also to no avail.
The whole time I kept thinking about how I really needed to have some tools with me (a trowel and a metal detector would be great!) and how I felt very exposed wandering around and scraping off rocks on someone else’s property with homes nearby and people constantly driving by on the road (which, of course, turned from a quiet road on which we saw no other cars into an Interstate highway the minute I stepped into the woods).
At least the property isn’t posted, and I found out later that it is owned by some property management company from New Jersey. So I doubt the neighbors would care all that much if someone was poking around in there. But we’ll see. We certainly may try again! I would love to find it.
