USC&GS "PAGE NE & SW BASE" Jerry Penry
In the year 1897, the USC&GS triangulation network known as the "98th Meridian Survey" was started and progressed both southward and northward from a central point in Kansas. This network, upon completion, determined the precise distance between Canada and Mexico. It also tied together the triangulation network that extended from coast to coast across the United States. The nation was then measured in all four directions and subsequent triangulation networks originated off these main surveys. Approximately every 100 miles, when ground conditions were favorable, a baseline was established to determine a measured line in the network.
By the summer of 1900 the northern extension of the 98th Meridian Survey had reached northern Nebraska where a baseline was established near Page, Nebraska. The end points of this important baseline had been lost for many years. By using GPS technology, a group of surveyors were able to recover the lower monument at the SW Base location and the original surface monument at the NE Base location on April 14, 2007. A short time later, the land where the NE Base monument was located was plowed for cropland, so the surface monument was removed and preserved for historical purposes. On May 24, 2015, a sign was dedicated in the town of Page that provides the details about the Page Base Line and the importance of the Page NE Base monument that has been relocated from the field.
Triangulation Stations
1900
May 24, 2015
