W 144

We decided to stop along our way to Northeast Harbor this morning to attempt a search for an elusive benchmark. This tricky devil had already eluded Rich five years ago, and I wanted a chance to see what the area looked like and what we might find by searching together.

The description sounds straightforward, at least as much as the others in the 144 series, which have been generally easy to find. This one, though, remains hidden. For the better part of an hour, we poked around in woods and clearings and—oops!—people’s backyards, finding outcrop upon glorious outcrop, each ideal for benchmark placement, but no benchmark nor any remnants of one. No pole numbered 531 currently exists in this area, and it’s unclear which two-story house is referenced by the 1962 description. The most likely point, we determined, may well lie beneath a cabin in the woods behind one of the two-story houses. Though no one was home, we decided to stop and inquire if at any point during the week we saw someone in the yard or driveway.

We noticed afterward that the topo map shows a BM in this general location with an elevation of 79.8 meters, so it’s very likely the same mark. The coordinates we estimated from the topo are: N 44.378318° W068.276725°, about 200 feet away from the coordinates given on the datasheet. This isn’t a large margin of error when dealing with an elevation mark with scaled coordinates, but given the amount of vegetation in the area, it’s possible we could have been that close and still missed the mark.

Searched for on September 12, 2002

While vacationing on M.D.I. I decided to search for a few local benchmarks. I drove out along Route 233 from Bar Harbor in an attempt to locate this station mark but could not find it using either the posted coordinates or the historical description. The numbers on the cable poles in the vicinity of the posted coordinates did not match the one in the description, and when I located a pole with the number 531 on it, it was about 0.2 miles away. Since nothing else in that area matched the description I was unable to find the mark there, as well. I went back a second time and ensured that I had driven the required 3.65 miles along Route 233 which, according to my Garmin GPSmap76 receiver, brought me back to the posted coordinates exactly where I was the day before. If anyone locates this mark I would love to know where it’s at! Please post some photos of the area. Thanks. ~Rich in NEPA~