NMSU survey students lend their helping hands and eyes

In preparation for the imminent construction of Spaceport America, a team of surveying engineering students from NMSU have done their part by locating and recording government corners and historic markers. They surveyed the 27 square mile site about 40 miles north of Las Cruces, where the Spaceport is to be built.

The idea stemed from the efforts of Dr. Steve Frank, coordinator of the NMSU's surveying and engineering program, and Dr. Patricia Hynes, Director of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium. Knowing how important it is to preserve the location of historical markers, they saw this as a great opportunity to get NMSU student involved in the project.

The process of finding and documenting the location of historical markers and government corners can be a long and somewhat boring process. Lucky for the team, they had the privilege to use top of the line surveying and GPS technologies. The group was able to locate 153 sites on the large plot of land, leaving only six undiscovered.

Some of the markers even date back to the 1800's.