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I just got back from a 5 day hiking trip to the Boundary Range - the ridge line that forms thr border between the US and Canada along New Hampshire and western Maine. The area is very remote and the only passage in most parts of the area is over dirt logging roads. I drove up Wednesday and crossed over to Woburn Quebec which is a few miles past the Coburn Gore Maine border crossing, where US Route 27 crosses into Canada. I hiked Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday from the Canadian side and then Friday night crossed into Pittsburg New Hampshire where US Route 3 terminates. Saturday morning I was met by a friend and spent Saturday and Sunday morning hiking from the US side. All of the benchmarks were on or near the border. There were a series of boundary monuments (set in 1845) and a few triangulation stations set by the boundary commision when they did a triangulation of this section in 1915 - 1916. This was one boundary monument I didn't have to hike to. It is at the side of the highway where US Route 3 crosses the border in Pittsburg New Hampshire. I crossed over to New Hampshire on Friday afternoon after a days hiking from the Canadian side, and naturally got out to check out this monument. The monument is also unique in that it consist of two cast iron posts in a common concrete base. I've heard two stories of why they put two posts here. A hiker friend said the team had a set number of posts to mount that day back in 1845, and when the got the highway they had two left, so the set them both. Hmmm ... The other story was provided by the US customs agent. He said the US and Canadian surveying teams which worked together on setting the border monuments, couldn't agree on the closure of their surveys when the got back to this point, so they set two posts, one for each team. Hmmm ...
Anyway, the west post (nearer to the road) is the NGS station. Since this is a popular tourist spot, there is a little rectangular area around the monument fenced off, with a flag for each country at appropriate corners of the rectangle. The US flag is near the west post, so presumably that one is "ours" and the other one is "theirs". Isn't it nice to have friendly neighbors. There is another boundary monument across the road, No. 484A, set in 1939. Don't ask me why they needed yet another monument. Possibly because the double monument seemed to require constant repairs over the years and in particular a major repair was done in 1939 (see the recovery log). Logged as "recovered in good condition" with the NGS on 8/29/2006.
Photos:
 QH0525 "MON 484 WEST POST IBC", NH/Quebec border
The double monument. The west post is on the right with the US flag behind and to the right of it.
QH0525 "MON 484 WEST POST IBC", NH/Quebec border
Close up of the concrete base showing the monument number.
(non NGS) Monument 484A, NH/Quebec border
Yet another boundary monument on the other side of the road.
QH0525 vintage photo
The double monument as it was set in 1848 photographed in 1915
QH0525 vintage photo
The double monument circa 1915 after being reset with a concrete base.
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