SLNugget Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Does anyone know if Townships and Ranges are laid out by True North or Magnetic North on Topo maps. I have a Garmin program, Base Camp, (free download BTW) and can draw in claim boundaries by degrees and distance from a know corner marker GPS position. Just not sure to take the declination on the topo into account or not. Thanks for any info you guys can provide.Stan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedrock Bob Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 True north...sort of. Sometimes these lines get goofy but for the most part they are true north and south. If you look on the bottom of any topo you are going to see the declination on the rose. You can readily see how the lines are drawn in relation to true vs. magnetic north. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedrock Bob Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 (edited) Check it out...The declination and rose is generally on the bottom margin of the topo map. You can see the map is oriented toward true north. The township lines will generally be parallel to the sides of the map. Not always but usually.So your compass (at the latitude and longitude of the center of this map) is pointing to the east at 9 1/2 degrees. And geographic north is zero degrees six minutes (or one tenth of a degree) to the west of true north.Or you can think about it this way... A compass is the ONLY thing that points to magnetic north. Everything else is oriented true north and south. In the world of a GPS you wont get that rose down there to lay it all out for you and help you know that. But since a GPS makes a poor compass and a compass makes a poor GPS then that is just the way it is. Edited December 14, 2012 by Bedrock Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoser John Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 God bless my lensatic compensating compass as never lost in over 57 years even once. Garmin,tom tom and other computerized tom foolery gets folks lost and in deep doo doo constantly. Tom says hang a left NOW and off the cliff they go hahaha--John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Furness Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Always have had a compass and map ... and know how to use it! I use my GPS lots but being mechanical/electrical device batteries go dead and electronics fail. Magnetic needle has never failed me so long as I believed where it was telling me to go!!!!Mike F Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoser John Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 Only problem is gee wiz since them chinamen built the world largest dam the earths wobble has increased expotentially. Like any gyroscope your add a zillion billion tons in one area you offset the earths axis a few degrees and BIG effect. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLNugget Posted December 15, 2012 Author Share Posted December 15, 2012 Thanks for the replies.. One of the claims I have access to is missing a couple of markers and I was trying to be sure I did not wonder onto the claims surrounding it. I did find 2 of the corner markers yesterday so will be ok. And I do have a compass and the correct topo to go along with my GPS. Not sure how to compensate for the Chinese wobble tho HJ. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoser John Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 EZ 2 do--#1- learn not to care 2- open a nice bottle of El Patron golden necter of the gods and salute' to them sneaky lil'ol' yellow as toooooo late to do a thang' now #3-go mining -John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sledge Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 I'm with John on this one. Plead my judgement must be impaired cause I can't even walk straight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertsunburn Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 God bless my lensatic compensating compass as never lost in over 57 years even once. Garmin,tom tom and other computerized tom foolery gets folks lost and in deep doo doo constantly. Tom says hang a left NOW and off the cliff they go hahaha--JohnA feller is only lost if he wants to be found! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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