The first marker of the Dominion Land Survey was placed 10 July,
1871 on the Principal Meridian. The system extends across the
prairies and to the Pacific coast, embracing more than 200 million
acres of surveyed lands in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and
parts of British Columbia. See the
following link for more information about the survey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Land_Survey
The monument was unveiled on the 50th anniversary of the
Association of Manitoba Land Surveyors.
To access the site there is a paved service road to the North of
the Trans-Canada highway with access points both east and west of
the monument. Please use the service road and avoid parking on the
highway.
There is a Geodetic Survey of Canada marker just a few meters
south west of the monument. You can use this to check how close
your GPSr is reading to the actual location. The marker is not the
blue sign but the brass cap near ground level on the end of a pipe
sticking out of the ground next to the sign.
Canadian Geodetic Survey Information - 784021
Horizontal Datum: NAD83
Latitude: N49° 52' 53.99058"
Longitude: W97° 27' 34.69885"
UTM: Zone=14 N=5526611.372m E=610661.681m
Vertical Datum: CGVD28 Elevation: 238.373 m
The actual cache is some distance away and can be found by
traveling a true bearing of XY degrees for ABA meters.
X = The second number of the year the monument itself was placed
(unveiled)
Y = The second number of the unique Geodetic Survey marker ID
A = The first number of the unique Geodetic Survey marker
ID
B = The number of characters in the english word of the direction
the first marker was placed.
If you are crossing fields you are going the wrong
direction!
You might find the following links helpful if you don't want to
find the monument or the survey marker gets damaged.
http://www.amls.ca/index.php?page=dominion-lands-survey-system-commemorative-monument.
http://www.geod.nrcan.gc.ca/online_data_e.php
Try C11 or do a radial search of 0.5km on the
monument site.