This public wayside includes a replica of the wooden post and a kiosk (sign with roof over it) with information posted about the
marker.
Before the "Initial Post"....
To understand the "Initial Post" it is important to back track and learn about Captain Thomas J. Lee and the "Iron Post."
The Iron Post Monument, located on the north end of New Albin has historical significance dating back 161 years.
Three years after the Congressional Act of March 3, 1849 required that the northern boundary of the state be "run and marked and suitable monuments placed thereon."
Captain Thomas J. Lee was first sent by the surveyor general to establish a monument on the parallel. Government records show that in 1849 Captain Lee of the U.S. Topographic Engineer Corps erected the boundary between the two states, the exact location of this spot was determined through astronomical observation.
The marker is located at a distance of a little over three miles west from the west bank of the Mississippi River as it then flowed. From that mark, the northern boundary of Iowa was to extend from the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River to the middle of the main channel of the Big Sioux River (the west border of Iowa). The monument was described by Captain Lee as a hollow pyramid of cast iron, six feet long and weighing 600 lbs., with suitable inscriptions on its side to identify its purpose and to mark the disputed boundary between Iowa and Minnesota territory. Of all the hundreds of markers set along the line by the original survey, it is the only one remaining. It is known simply as the "Iron Post". In its early days, Indians passed by this obscure post that stood alone in the wilderness. Few white settlers had yet reached its territory. When the white man found the land, bands of Sioux still ruled the prairies and buffalo and elk roamed unfettered and unfenced. "The monument is actually within 100 feet or less, which was awfully good for the 1800s," Houston County Surveyor Richard "Dick" Walter pointed out about the early survey work, adding, "The monument is the southeast most control point."
Initial Point becomes boundary:
On Dec. 28, 1846 the State of Iowa was admitted to the Union. The Iowa Constitution fixed the northern boundary of the state at the parallel of latitude of 43° 30' north. This line became the southern border of the Minnesota Territory, which was organized on March 3, 1849.
With Captain Lee's survey, only the north-south position (parallel) was known and not the east-west. Because of existing Indian Reserves and the outbreak of an epidemic of Asiatic cholera, it wasn't until 1852 that the long border between the states was actually surveyed.
Survey begins in 1852:
In February 1852 there was a meeting in Washington, D. C. to make final arrangements for the survey. Isaac W. Smith was hired as first assistant to be in charge of the field operations. David B. Sears was hired as quartermaster to outfit and supply the crew for the expected six months of surveying across 250 miles of uncharted prairie. The crew consisted of 14 surveyors, a doctor, a hunter, an interpreter, four cooks, and chainmen, flagmen, monument builders, teamsters, woodchoppers and general handymen. All told, some 43 men were sent into the field, no small force for such a task in those days. At the recommendation of the General Land Office Commissioner, Captain Andrew Talcott was hired by the surveyor general to be principal surveyor and astronomer for the survey of the northern boundary of Iowa. Talcott was instructed to begin his survey where the known Iowa survey ended, at a point identified as the corner of Townships 99 and 100 north and Ranges 4 and 5 west of the Fifth Principal meridian.
This is now the corner of Iowa, Lansing, French and Union townships in Allamakee County. It is about three-quarters of a mile south of the Upper Iowa River and about 4 3/4 miles south of the border. From here, the surveyors worked north until they intersected a line drawn westward from Captain Lee's monument. This intersection was identified as the "Initial Point" of the survey. From this point they were to measure east to the Mississippi River and west to the Big Sioux, setting the township and section corners every half mile on the gradually curving parallel.
Talcott divided his expedition into four parties. One party, with 11 members and under the direction of Deputy Surveyor John M. Marsh, was to move ahead of the main party. Marsh surveyed the line with a solar compass, both to test the accuracy of the new instrument and to provide the main party with some idea of what it could expect in the country ahead. Marsh's was to be the exploratory party. His line proved to be perfectly correct. Another party, under Talcott, was to make the astronomical observations and determine the various angles and distances needed to arrive at an accurate determination of the boundary line.
Initial Point still used today:
The monument set at the Initial Point was an eight foot long white oak post 12 inches square branded on the four sides as follows to wit - Upon the sides facing SE and SW the letters "I.B. Iowa 43° 30' North" and upon the sides facing NE and NW the letters "M.B. Minnesota 43° 30' North." This post was the Initial Point for measurement of the Iowa/ Minnesota Border, which is the baseline for all Fifth Principal Meridian surveys in Minnesota and the Dakotas. These surveys established the township and section corners, which defined the property lines for the homesteaders and are still used today as the basis for all property descriptions. This is the location that you are now standing near, due to the exact center point being in the middle of the road here they placed the replica on the side of the road so motorists like you wouldn't run into it.
After stopping by to do maintenace on the previous cache that I had placed here and seeing the change in the location I felt that I should put a larger container here now that there is more concealment.