Marpo Bench Mark, Tinian, MP - U.S. Benchmarks on Waymarking.com

I had to look for this bench mark since I live in Marpo Valley. Little did I realize that it was over two miles away from my house and not in the valley at all. It is located on the edge of the plateau that contains the airport on Tinian. It is at the top of Broadway above San Jose Village, the road that runs almost the whole length of Tinian, just before the road drops down to the main village of San Jose.

Here is the description from the NGS datasheet, with some comments [] by me.
THE STATION IS LOCATED IN MARPO VILLAGE [no such place] NORTH OF SAN JOSE ON THE ISLAND OF TINIAN, CNMI [Commonwealth of the Northern Marian Islands]. TO REACH THE STATION FROM THE INTERSECTION OF THE TINIAN AIRPORT ROAD AND BROADWAY. PROCEED SOUTH ON BROADWAY 0.8 MILES (1.3 KM) TO STATION. THE MARK IS 17.5 METERS (57.4 FT) SOUTHWEST OF A POWER POLE [have been replaced and moved since 2003], 20.4 METERS (66.9 FT) NORTHEAST OF A POWER POLE, AND 18.2 METERS (59.7 FT) WEST SOUTHWEST OF A COCONUT TREE. THE STATION IS A STANDARD NGS BENCH MARK SET IN CONCRETE FLUSH WITH THE GROUND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE INTERSECTION OF THE MARPO VILLAGE ROAD AND BROADWAY.

It took a while to find this mark because I thought it was at another intersection and I also had to wait for a day when the streets were not busy. The first try was just to get a general location, so I had my GPS on while driving down Broadway from the airport. I passed where I thought the bench mark might be and my GPS unit said I was about a 1/2 mile south of the bench mark.

So, I decided to go look for it on Sunday. I found it with no problem using my GPS and the coordinates from the data sheet. The only problem was that it was to late on Sunday morning (8 AM) and I had five cars stop and ask what I was doing, including the Tinian Commonwealth Senator. It was a great opportunity for educating the people on Tinian, but it was a little embarrassing standing in the middle of the intersection with my camera and GPS unit.

Condition: Mark found in good condition Designation: HARN MARPO 2003 Benchmark Agency: National Geodetic Survey Monumentation type: Vertical Control Mark County: Tinian Find type: Coordinates and/or to-reach information from the NGS database (or Geocaching's copy of it) were used NGS PID: DG4114 Benchmark Agency (if other): Not listed Monumentation type (if other): Not listed USGS 7.5' Topographic Quadrangle Name (optional): Not listed Special category (optional): Not listed Special Category (if other): Not listed Web address of this benchmark's datasheet (optional): Not listed Local database's URL (optional): Not listed

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