Hidden out of view, tucked away along an old fence line on the edge of ditch, you can find bench marks like this all over the Midwest. This particular one happens to be in Norton, KS approximately 5 miles South of the Nebraska border. At the time these were placed, United States' roads and infrastructure were in a resurgence. Coming off a win in WWII and Ike's presidency, a new era of shipping, travel ease and communication was ushered in.
I've always heard about these in the Geocaching community, but this is the first photo of one I've seen. Kind of cool! I may make the effort to try to locate and photograph some.