Yesterday I received from the Traverse County (MN) Recorder's Office
two sets of land plats showing the townships NE (Taylor) and SE
(Monson) of the MNNDSD trifinium, one set from 1902 and the other from
1976. Using these, and the USGS topo map (Boisberg, MN 1972), I made
some careful measurements from the east side of Land Section 35 (NE of
the trifinium) to the center of the river as depicted on each of the
maps, with the following results:

1902 Land Map - 2112 meters
1976 Land Map - 1999 meters
USGS Topo Map - 2004 meters

I also measured on the USGS map the distance between the section 35
line and the trifinium with a result of 2148 meters.

The discrepancy between the 1976 Land Map and the USGS Topo Map is
only 5 meters and probably within the margin of error of my
measurements because the scale of the land maps is 1:56320 and I am
working from faxed copies.

However, the discrepancy between the 1902 map and the 1976 map is 108
meters, or about 360 feet, placing the 1902 river position 108 meters
west of its current position and 36 meters east of the USGS-depicted
trifinium.

I was able to speak with the [former] landowner of the section NE of
the trifinium. He did not know where the state boundary actually was,
but commented that "there is a lot of speculation and they say there
is a stone monument on the other side of the river." I believe he is
referring to the witness monument. He also mentioned that he "was
there the day they dug a pipeline trench on the east side of the river
and the backhoe operator told me they hit the old riverbed east of the
current river position, but who knows how many thousands of years ago
it was over there."

Based on this research I am inclined to believe there is a basis for
the USGS depiction of the state line and trifinium, although I still
have not seen corroborating material to justify its exact location.

My plan for this weekend is to walk the ND-SD line from the witness
monument to the river, possibly swim across the river and back, maybe
make a few measurements with tape measure, GPS, etc, and take a number
of photos of the area. I think this will give me a class B visit,
although I am willing to settle for a B- since I still don't know the
exact trifinium coordinates.

If anyone will be nearby and is interested, I will be at the witness
monument probably between 8AM and 10AM CDT on Sunday.

Regards,
BJB