>>1490294I work for the International Boundary Commission, a treaty organization between US and Canada. The majority of the MN-Canada border goes through lakes or rivers, and to accurately measure it small reference monuments are put into the ground based on surveying or GPS work. Every 8-10 years people go through and inspect the monuments for damage that could affect surveying from them, clean them up for visibility, and verify past directions and coordinates in locating them. The ones in the BWCA get beaten on quite a bit and people sometimes knock them off as a souvenir. The next summer after the inspection people go out and do repair or replacement work. My picture is one from Little Vermillion Lake, west of the BWCA. Some USGS topo maps have quite a few reference monuments shown if you know what numbers to look for. It's a pretty good job, although seasonal and only hiring a dozen or so people(at least for the US side) for the summer and re-hiring most of that number.
