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These are eight photos taken by me at the initial
point of the Louisiana Meridian on October 26, 2005. I will first give
you some general views of the monument in its environs, then finish with the
obligatory shot in each of the four cardinal directions from the monument.
This photo is a close-up of the bronze disc on the monument placed by Arthur
W. Brown in 1937.
Most of the poor and rough roads coursed through upland piney woods, but
near the initial point the land turns to a hardwood swamp. Fortunately,
roads have been cleared into the swamp in recent years for the benefit of
hunters. Their surfaces are elevated slightly above normal ground level, the
earth having been graded up from ditches on either side. A long drought has
left the only visible water restricted to those ditches. Once to the right
area, I drove right up on the initial point with no problem. I was surprised
how easy it was.
One of the roads in the swamp approaches the initial
point from the east-northeast, curves around its immediate southwest side,
and departs just slightly east of due north. The road doesn't follow the
survey grid.
My Jeep is seen in the background on the road east of the monument. Without
the steel rail mentioned by White, now painted yellow, I would never have
found the monument or even known that it was in the weeds on the side of the
road. I pulled out some of the weeds for these photos.
The rail is very small--only about three inches in
height from base to head. Since many rails have the date they were rolled
embossed into the side of the web, I carefully searched both sides of this
one. The only embossing says: LACK I CC SORANSON
The drum up on legs is a deer feeder. Hunters put corn in it, and a timer at
the bottom automatically dispenses a set amount at a set time. This teaches
the deer to frequent the site. Hunting on baited fields is illegal in many
states, but not in Louisiana. This deer feeder is obviously semi-abandoned.
To be used, the weeds would need to be cleared from under it.
The road, curving around the monument, goes northward
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