We have now had 3 Geocaching Geodetic Tour events at this Historic location.
The benchmark is on private land so you need to contact the landowner,(OWNERSHIP--KYLE BRANT, 2354 SOUTH 30TH AVENUE, LURAY KS. 67648, PHONE 913-525-6387. NOTIFY MR. BRANT 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE) or attend one of the Geodetic Tour Events to visit the Benchmark site.
The immediate area of Meades Ranch can be viewed from the nearby county roads as well.
Edited from Wiki:
Meades Ranch in Kansas is designated as the geodetic base point for the North American Datum of 1927 marked on maps as (NAD 27).
NAD 27 is based on the Clarke Ellipsoid of 1866.
39 13.445 -98 32.529
39°13'26.686?N, 98°32'30.506?W
39.224079, -98.541807.
This is at or very near the geographic center of the forty-eight contiguous U.S. States,Canada and Mexico. This base point was the reference point for almost all land survey measurements in the United States from 1927 until the establishment of the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) and the World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS84).
The Station is also a part of the Transcontinetal Triangulation Network.
Benchmark Wiki
Transcontinental Triangulation
The Transcontinental Triangulation was authorized by Congress in 1871 to measure a coast-to-coast arc along the 39th parallel. The work took nearly three decades, and resulted in the first accurate measure of the continent's width, and one of the largest arcs ever measured. Among the many results of the triangulation was a new calculation of the figure of the earth and the selection of the Clarke 1866 spheriod as the best fit to the continental United States.
The arc also provided the foundation for a national datum, and anchored the other great triangulation projects to the nation's heartland. Prior to the transcontintal triangulation, regional networks were based on local datums. When tied to the transcontinental arc, the local networks became a national network upon which a datum could be based. The station Meade's Ranch was first surveyed in the transcontinental triangulation and ultimately became the fixed point for the NAD27 datum adjustment.
As always have fun be safe and
HAPPY...........................................WAYMARKING