Subject: message from hrh jack the 1st king for life of us2
Date: Aug 11, 2000 @ 21:18
Author: michael donner (michael donner <m@...>)
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friend roamers & countrypersons
this is going to need several instalments
but i will take leave to transcribe at length first from jacks letter to me
for convenience as well as poignancy
& am honored it has fallen to me to do so
m


Aug 3
I'm back at our cottage on Lake Ontario tonight. Earlier today I was in
Beaver Falls to mow the lawn and pick raspberries in the garden. Also read
the e-mail and am interested in your trip itinerary which includes ohpawv
for which i am sending you some info. Also, I'd like to comment on your
problem with nhme problem which the Supreme Court was supposed to settle
in 1975. I wrote a long e-mail and thought I had posted it to
BoundaryPoint, but later couldn't find that it went out. Don't know where i
screwed up but didn't have time to redo it, so this letter will have to
suffice since I won't be back to the computer until next Tues.
1. ohpawv I copied off the entire Chapt. 1 of C. Albert White's book for
you ... a very definitive description of the history of that location....
Note that all of the original posts and markers were trees which of course
wouldn't last long. Even after his extensive research Albert White still
doesn't know where the Point of Beginning is. (see Initial Points of the
Rectangular Survey System, p. 12)
2. idmtwy Enclosed is all of the info sent by Paul Scherbel. He and Jon
Leonard provided me with the information needed to find the tri-point. Now
Paul is trying to name the little lake and can't get action until they
determine whether the lake is in Idaho or Montana. One thing that might
help is if you would carefully inspect the terrain around the lake. At one
end or the other if there is any evidence showing how water would flow out
if the lake filled up and overflowed. It is shown as a lake without outlet,
but in the spring it may overflow. The direction of overflow would help
establish the relationship of the lake to the divide. This is just my
theory and I think it's worth checking.
On one of the maps I marked our route in red. We came up to the
tripoint a little too far south to see the lake, but saw it on the way out,
but had no reason to investigate it at that time. Travel along Thirsty
Creek is quite easy. Lots of grass & flowers along the creek. The
tributaries were essentially dry even though it was raining lightly all day
when we were there. If you follow up the 4th tributary on the right (NW)
bank it is easier than trying to stay down in the creek bed. However there
are more twists and turns than appear on the map so you need to check your
compass and GPS frequently. Once on top I used just the GPS because with a
compass you don't know how far you need to go. The GPS got us within 100 ft
of the marker and then we found it because of the yellow metal bearing tree
signs on several trees in the area. In the area of the tri-point there are
many live trees, but most of the route up there is all burned out. And
there hadn't been much recovery in 9 years when we were there 3 yrs. ago.
It is a little difficult to follow a GPS course because you can't walk fast
enough. There are so many down trees that it is difficult to walk in a
straight line, so you are constantly going around and over obstructions. If
you don't move faster than about 1 and a half mph, the GPS can't detect
your movement quickly enough to update the direction and distance
functions. No, that's not right. It will always give you the distance, but
direction is accurate only when you are moving.
If you happen to find a small pack with a camera in it, bring it back.
Jon Leonard lost his camera on the 1994 surveyors trip in there. He was
coming out the red line route I marked on the map. We didn't find it, but
it might still be there and the pictures might still be good. Jon would
like to get it back.
Congratulations on getting permission to unlock the gate. Walking that
road was the worst part of the trip, especially on the way out since it's
all uphill going out.
3. menh Have you tried asking USGS about whether the Supreme Court ever
settled the issue. Surprisingly enough I found them very cooperative in
answering a recent inquiry. Enclosed is my inquiry and their reply.
Incidentally, I was using the Topozone web maps to determine the
elevations. It is a great site. In early June Adam Roddy visited the
Arikaree low point and later sent me pictures. I have revised my low points
book to show this correction, and plan to visit that location later this
year.

Regarding Hawaii tripoints, there might be some interisland points
which probably would be the equivalent of intercounty points. I hadn't
thought about that. A week ago today my wife Joyce & I were on top of Mauna
Kea at 13796' the high point of Hawaii. We were first at that spot 27 years
ago and hiked up from 9500'. This time the Highpointers club provided 4W
drive transportation up. There are 12 telescopes on that mountain. It's
fantastic. The Highpointers Club has over 2000 members now and close to 100
have been to the highpoint of all 50 states. I am #10 and was one of the
club organizers back in 1987. We had over 200 people at the Hawaii
convention.
Have a great trip Mike. I'll be looking for your reports when you get back.
signed Jack


thank you very much indeed father jack
i will sign off for now
& am looking forward to responding
as there is still much besides to assimilate

sincerely
m