USGS
Bench Mark
"DW 4340"

ca. 1898

Jerry Penry
May 14, 2011

The bench mark located at Keystone took more detective work to find. The original description from 1898 stated that it was 225 feet west of the south end of the business street and 150 feet southwest of the Nick Shoemaker house. It was also reported to be along the north side of the road in a rock 2'x5' and 3 feet higher than the road. This gave the impression that the marker was in a single rock. Today the main highway coming into Keystone is still where the old wagon road was located. Measuring the 225 feet west from the apparent south end of the main street in Keystone brought us to a place that seemed like a good location to search. After removing dirt and leaves, we found the unmistakeable remains of the aluminum stem of the disk. The aluminum disk was probably too tempting and was removed by someone since removal by any other means seems unlikely. Recovered by Kurt and Kim Luebke, Jenny Stukel, and Jerry Penry.

The arrow points to the bench mark location. Looking east.

Looking north at the rock wall along the north side of the highway.

The stem of the disk appeared after removing dirt and leaves from the rock ledge.

The stem surrounded by grout in the drill hole.

Top view looking down upon the remaining bench mark stem.

Kurt Luebke posing with the recovered prize.

The original USGS quad sheet showing the location of the recovered bench mark.

Other Deadwood Datum Bench Marks

© Jerry Penry 2011