Boundary markers

Boundary marker between Nipissing and Gurd townships, eastern edge of Ruth Lake

Boundaries and borders are those lines drawn on paper and converted into reality by placing posts in the ground, demarcating the end of one domain and the beginning of another, or vice versa. By trade, my father is a surveyor, and I suppose early on in my life it was his pointing out what the metal bars in the ground were that started my fascination. From the Standard Iron Bar's (SIB) that surround the lot that my parents house sits on, to the oft-forgotten and unused Hub On Transit's (HOT) that line the provincial highways, I've found and documented many.
Wherever I go I usually have my GPS in hand and my camera hanging around my neck, and aside from taking the odd photograph of a scenic vista or sight, my camera is usually angled down taking a snapshot of a piece of iron, a concrete pillar, a cairn, or a Bench Mark (BM). Each and everyone I stumble upon, or go looking for, is cataloged in my GPS, some of the more obscure ones include Canadian Water Survey markers, a red hard plastic cap held to bedrock by an iron rod that has been drilled into the earth's surface.

Hub-on-Transit along Ontario Secondary Highway 522

HOT's were once used to 'tie-in' the highway, meaning these square concrete pillars with a serialised metal cap on top were used to make sure the highway was placed where it was supposed to be. They are located at the edge of the right-of-way (ROW), the allowance given to provincial highways. Some have been removed by expansion, others covered over, and a few vandalised or severely neglected, while most HOTs that I have come across are where they are supposed to be, still standing upright, in perfect form. One could, I suppose, liken them to mile posts. They are a thing of the past, long forgotten and not used at all anymore. However, that does not mean that they are not protected by legislation, stating that the removal of HOTs is illegal and punishable by law. They played an integral part in the early years of highway construction, and paint a historical picture of what it was like to survey for a new road. They are a physical reminder of historic practices, and while not used anymore, they actually still hold significance, as they still demarcate the edge of the ROW.

An example of a Standard Iron Bar, with locating stake behind

SIBs are just that, standard. They are the square iron bars that are usually anchored in bedrock, measuring about 1"x 1", and can any number of inches or feet above the ground (I use the Imperial system of measurement here as nearly all surveying in Canada was done before the adoption of the metric system). Chiefly found on properly lines, they are also found along road allowance, and at the convergence of two perpendicular road allowances there is added a metal ring with the concession and lot numbers stamped on it, almost like a washer, held on by the hammered-out edges of the top of the SIB. Some modern SIBs have plates or plaques added to them with small pieces of information.

Alberta Survey Marker with additional information, St. Albert, AB

Bench Mark No. 158448, Ministry of Transportation & Communications (now MTO)

Bench Marks are possibly the most legally binding marker in the ground, placed, documented, and administered by either a provincial or the federal government. They are not only tied to their coordinates, but to that very minute locations elevation. Only until recently with the advent of satellite topographical technology, have they become somewhat obsolete. BMs are still used for determining grade on highways, surveyors taking their 'shots' for elevation from an established BM. The serialised data found on a BM can be found in the numerous pages in the federal archives. BMs were used to determine the topography of the country, to measure the height of mountains and the depth of valleys. One can navigate across country by accessing their databases that has been digitized by the archives.
To put these markers into a contemporary perspective, they are a great resource for geocachers and waypointers.

 A property marker placed by my father

To elaborate on my fascination, markers paint a picture, or tell a story of the land they are located in. There was some sort of negotiation, or understanding, a treaty even, that led to their placing. I imagine the intrepid surveyor hiking or canoeing to a spot, pulling the rod-and-chain, measuring lengths, and establishing the point at which a marker is to be placed. Discovering interim markers, or markings such as blazes on the sides of trees is also fascinating to me, fascinating because something so temporary and easily overgrown or removable is still present. Standing over top of a marker, you find yourself in the same footstep as possibly the first person to ever stand there, or at least in a certain manner, the first person ever recorded to have stood there.I suppose I envision the work that was necessary to plant a marker, as I am humbly told by my father, of the arduous yet adventurous work it was to survey some of Ontario's highways (like canoeing through Central Ontario to get from point to point while connecting the two ends that would become Hwy 522 around the Ess Narrows; or, taking from camp (Camp Benny) a Power Wagon, then argo, then boat, then hiking back to where they left off the day previous while surveying Hwy 144 from Sudbury to Timmins).