On a granite ledge some 422 m due south of the astronomical station, the Royal Engineer sappers engraved some brief notes along with an arbitrary meridian line indicating where the astronomical station was located and where the boundary line was located. We know from the inscription that Captain William Robinson of the Royal Engineers was responsible for the Ogden station. Robinson (1805-1863) played the role of ‘astronomer’ for the British Commission, having had instruction from Professor Airy of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich England before shipping out to Canada.
At the turn of the century the engraved stone was obviously a bit of a tourist attraction as it is featured in the booklet Beautiful Memphremagog published in 1905. The old image of the three boys on the rock, taken circa 1900, was taken by Douglas Weir. The two boys at the left are brothers, Frederick Douglas at the far left and Ruthven Alexander Douglas in the middle. Both brothers lived most of their lives in Ogden and Ruthven Alexander’s descendents still live in the Fitch Bay area. Below that image is a modern drone shot of the field trip leader, Jeff Packard, and his two sons, Braden on his right, and Douglas on his left. At the lower right is a sketch by Gael Eakin showing farmer Thomas Blackadder observing the engraving process being done by a sapper, and an amused cow taking it all in.
