#7: [07-Aug-22]

#8: [13-Aug-22]

#6: [15-Oct-11]

#5: [31-Jul-10]

#4: [26-Oct-05]

#3: [11-Jan-04]

#2: [04-Aug-00]

21-Jan-2000 -- Dan Klein writes: Early in January, I got email from Henry telling me he'd found an interesting way to waste some time, asking if was I interested. My immediate response was "of course", because I knew it would be fun, and it definitely wouldn't be a waste of time. He explained the Confluence Project, and two weeks later, we were off.

It was 11:30 on the coldest day yet recorded for the new millennium (yeah, yeah, we know, but it sounds cool even if it's wrong :-) Armed with a Garmin GPS III Plus, a G3 Macintosh laptop, and both Delorme's Street Atlas for the gross resolution and GPSy with aerial mapping synchronization for the fine resolution, we headed off towards the Pennsylvania Turnpike in search of 40N 080W. The drive was uneventful; both the car heater and radio worked just fine, although the Delorme software showed that we were plowing through the trees about 100 yds to the right of the highway. We exited the Turnpike at New Stanton (right next to Old Stanton, as we discovered), passed Love and Yukon (the latter being best renowned for the much fabled "Live Nude Girls" sign). We crossed or passed the Monongahela River a few times as it meanders through the countryside, and crossed the Youghiogheny river, too. When we reached Fredricktown, we decided to rough it, and abandoned the printed Delorme directions, relying instead on the accuracy of the aerial photographs. Luck was with us, and soon we were ascending the hill to Fredricktown Hill. We parked the car outside of St. Michael Archangel Church, and donning coats, hats, and gloves (Henry had forgotten his and borrowed one of my pairs), trekked last the 30 feet up the road until the gods of selective acquisition swept 40N 080W over the point at which we stood. Since it was about 12F with a fair wind blowing, we hastily took our pictures, and drove home again.

Not exactly a thrilling confluence (although I have tried hard to make it sound like one :-), but we were the first! That is, if you don't count the people living in the house in whose front yard the USGS marks the confluence. We promise we'll try something more exciting when it gets warmer.

Henry Schmitt writes: Picture #3 shows us next to the confluence, which is in the snow to the right of us. Picture #2 is the GPS; we brightened the left side of the GPS screen to remove the shadow of my hand. Picture #1 is looking east from the confluence. Picture #4 is in front of a "hard to miss" landmark about 20 yards south of the confluence. Picture #5 is about 30 yards south of the church overlooking the Monongahela River. And Picture #6 is the town of Fredricktown viewed from the railroad tracks, with the Mon River in the background.