Cumberland County Stones

johnnyb

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Feb 22, 2013
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Spung-Man: wouldn't you have the right to sue in state Superior Court or in District Federal Court? Seems to me that the Pinelands Commission counsel is entitled to his opinion but I can't believe he's "the end of the line". Maybe some other interested parties might want to join you?
 
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Spung-Man

Explorer
Jan 5, 2009
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Richland, NJ
loki.stockton.edu
Johnnyb,

Thanks for the sage advice. It would be a long and protracted fight. Lawyer fees were ~$7 k just on my side to secure a video tape copy of a public meeting.

“Judge says court security video
must be disclosed to public.”

New Jersey Law Journal, December 1, 2014

http://www.njlawjournal.com/id=1202...e-Disclosed-to-Public?slreturn=20150720092339

As the above article is in archive, you can read about the case here:

http://scarincilawyer.com/nj-court-rules-municipality-must-release-security-camera-footage-opra/

Below I combined 2002 aerial photography with c.1931 aerial photomosaics (thanks NJPB). This combination was annotated to match points and highlight landscape changes that occurred between 1931 and 2002. The aerial record from 2002 was chosen because it showed the location of the single track Cape May Seashore Line (CMSL) before the siding addition. Although the c.1931 NJDEP series contains aberrations, at the scale I am using Map 222 it has utility. The compound record indicates that the CMSL track has shifted form its original footprint.

Curves Fixed.png


There are multiple curve realignments along the CMSL route, which made for safer passage at higher locomotive speeds. I argue that today's single track line was likely relaid in a new spatial position after the double-track removal. This would explain the need for a curious gerrymander in the permit surveys.
 
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manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,552
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millville nj
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So many surveys and maps have the infamous (pine knot) all over them. I have yet to figure out what a "pine knot" is or to find one.Something tells me they don't last as long as stones:).Now surveyors are shoving rebar under the ground where you'll never find it without a 10,000 dollar gps and a metal detector.
 

Spung-Man

Explorer
Jan 5, 2009
976
656
64
Richland, NJ
loki.stockton.edu
Al..., Al,
Look to your left, (tap, tap on the screen).

IMG_4480.jpg

Here's a classic pine knot, Al-beit a small one. The term's usually used to describe the resin-rich rock-hard branch collar of pine that is so dense it even has the the weight of stone. Along with old (bull)pine roots, it made up the fat- or light-wood that was tar kilned for naval stores, its resin then rendered for the turpentine, pitch, and rosin used for shipbuilding (naval stores). You can light one of these with a match, and these smokey torches illuminated many a Piney cabin.

Not only are they rock-hard, but they are incredibly decay resistant. Could it be that large pine knots were used as survey stakes, or even perhaps these knots were somehow identified on a standing stump?

S-M
 

Don Catts

Explorer
Aug 5, 2012
461
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Indian Mills
Al..., Al,
Look to your left, (tap, tap on the screen).


Here's a classic pine knot, Al-beit a small one. The term's usually used to describe the resin-rich rock-hard branch collar of pine that is so dense it even has the the weight of stone. Along with old (bull)pine roots, it made up the fat- or light-wood that was tar kilned for naval stores, its resin then rendered for the turpentine, pitch, and rosin used for shipbuilding (naval stores). You can light one of these with a match, and these smokey torches illuminated many a Piney cabin.

Not only are they rock-hard, but they are incredibly decay resistant. Could it be that large pine knots were used as survey stakes, or even perhaps these knots were somehow identified on a standing stump?

S-M

Cool, S-M very interesting, I'll bet there are not too many big ones around here. I have never seen one, but I am going to be looking. The brotherton Reservation begins at a pine knot on the west side of Atsion Road. Like Al, I never knew what a pine knot was. I thought maybe it was the hole in the trunk where a branch once was. I know the area around the hole is very hard and the last part of the trunk to rot. I have heard of putting a pine knot in the fireplace to start a fire, now I know why.
 
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manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,552
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millville nj
www.youtube.com
Now fatwood is a term I"m familiar with.I have often broken fatwood out of dead pines and spruce when in WV to start fires with.Didn't know that they were referring to fatwood when using the term "Pine Knot". I don't know how they would use that to mark a property corner.fatwood is somewhat more resistant to rot then normal sapwood but rot it does.Stones are definitely superior even superior to things like rebar and pipes which might be good for half a century and then disintegrate much like I"m doing:) The only thing I"ve seen really do a number on stones is fire.Fire split quite a few of the Lawrence Line stones.
 

Spung-Man

Explorer
Jan 5, 2009
976
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Richland, NJ
loki.stockton.edu
Yet again today I had to ask a maintenance crew to remove themselves from my property. I don't blame the workers, as the siding construction error is ConRail's leasee's (my municipality's) problem. Technically my municipality created something like an attractive nuisance when they redeveloped my property. While polite, the workman refused to leave until the wife called out the State Troopers.

Screen shot 2015-08-26 at 2.15.54 PM.png
S-M
 

Spung-Man

Explorer
Jan 5, 2009
976
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Richland, NJ
loki.stockton.edu
Good question, Manumuskin! No, the ConRail workers quickly conceded the point when I showed them that the signal shed, which is always within the ROW, was over 100-feet away; and the ROW was only 60-feet wide. The survey error is that obvious - no contest. Besides, it's not the first time Troopers were used to end trespass here so everyone seems to accept my paperwork except the Pinelands Commission and the municipal engineer. ConRail got in trouble with NJDEP for repeatedly spraying my property with brush control against my protests. The Troopers, ConRail, and NJDEP recognized my property claim. Besides, ROW herbicide application is banned by the CMP.

Hmm, maybe its time to revisit the big-survey-stone tradition...

S-M
 

Spung-Man

Explorer
Jan 5, 2009
976
656
64
Richland, NJ
loki.stockton.edu
Remember my siding?

Human remains found in Richland

BUENA VISTA Human remains were discovered near railroad tracks running through a wooded area in the southern portion of Richland Village, New Jersey State Police told The Daily Journal on Thursday afternoon...
Human skeletal remains found in Richland woods

New Jersey State Police are asking the public’s help in identifying human skeletal remains found in a wooded area in Richland...

IMG_4529.jpg
Detective cars parked on S-M's point.

IMG_4528.jpg
The body was found near the tracks,
a couple hundred feet from my house.​


What next, a meteorite strike?
S-M
 
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manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
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millville nj
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Found a dead dude four blocks from my house a few weeks ago.Drug related murder.My step daughter graduated and was facebook friends with the guy who is in custody right now and suspected of doing it. Hell is a hand basket and the world appears to be in it.
 
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Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,602
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Found a dead dude four blocks from my house a few weeks ago.Drug related murder.My step daughter graduated and was facebook friends with the guy who is in custody right now and suspected of doing it. Hell is a hand basket and the world appears to be in it.

Time to move.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,602
8,181
I may have to stand far away from you the next time we meet. :D
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,552
2,465
59
millville nj
www.youtube.com
Note exactly the appropriate place for these pics but I only had a few and didn't want to start a new thread for them. I wandered into some good sized fossils alomg a nature trail in WV that were described in the pamphlet as sigillaria , a giant form of club moss.Problem is there are several different types of fossils shown here.I believe the large upright one is supposed to be some type of extinct palm though this looks nothing like any palm I"ve ever seen.Several had dates stamped in them of 4333 years BP. Very old indeed.





 
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manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
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millville nj
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I have just came back from a WV vacation and whilst there I decided to pick up a replacement stone for the stolen BOG stone.The original stone was black and appeared to be non native so I figured I would bring in another imported stone for a replacement. Here is the new Bogstone.

This stone is from a layer of dark blue shale from the Mauch Chunk Formation. http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/www/geology/geoles01.htm
This stone is scattered all up and down the Blustone River and New River. This particular stone was laying in the Bluestone River about a half mile upstream from the point the backed up lake is entered by running water.
I carted the stone to the empty hole which is a 1700 ft walk and the stone is about 40 lbs.I packed it in.Thats 1700 ft crow flies,close to a half mile by trail.The road can actually be driven but there is one real iffy spot that looks quite frightening though as dry as the road was it was probably doable but I had come prepared to pack so pack i did. The next pic shows the stone setting in the empty hole.
The next pic is of the stone buried in it's new hole and tucked under some leaves.

The original stone was in place for approx. 180 years.It was an original corner to Eli Budd's property where Cumberland Furnace was built.It is now a lost stone since the state owns completely around it and the stone will never be surveyed to again unless a discrepancy arises and the old stone has to be located to solve a future property dispute (Highly Unlikely). The stone is unfortunately two steps from a drivable woods road and I am surprised it survived as long as it did.The new stone sticks up not quite as high and hopefully will not be noticed.75% of the stone is underground. Here is the view from the road.

I will return in 180 years to see if my stone out lasts the original.I"ll be 231 then.Hopefully my arthritic foot is still functional by then.
 
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