Dear Utah Council of Land Surveying Board:

On Aug. 6, 2022, the YSN had its first annual get-together. We had a really great time and had a good turnout. One of the highlights of the activity was our Historical Monument Hunt. We were challenged to find/show evidence of the oldest original monument we had found within the last two months. Almost everyone participated in the monument hunt, and we had some great finds. In this challenge, we had to provide a picture of the monument, as well as the original notes. Our winner was Taylor Christensen, who found a stone monument that dated back to July 1872.

We had other monuments found dating back to 1878, 1885, and 1898. The winner and runner-up received a cash prize from a private donor.

We also went on a monument search to look for a vertical USGS monument near our site. Taylor Christensen was the one to show us this monument and briefly explained how he found it. The monument was called out 18 feet west of the centerline of the road leading to Strawberry Reservoir. When Taylor was searching for the corner, he was looking north of the new asphalt road. In a last-ditch effort, he flew his drone over the area. He then realized there was an old road going through the brush south of the existing paved road. He searched along the northerly boundary of the old road. Lo and behold, he found the old 1934 USGS monument. He then collected static on the monument and sent it into OPUS.

It was great to see how different survey equipment can help locate old monuments and boundaries.

The YSN had a great time at this year’s activity, and we look forward to our next meeting in December 2022. We are really excited to get things going with the YSN here in Utah and look toward growing and helping the future surveyors come into the career with a great network.

Sincerely,
Spencer McCutcheon, PLS