Despite the fact that millions of tourists have had their photos taken at the marker that represents the junction of the boundaries of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, the location of that marker is about 2.5 miles west of where it should be. This occurred due to a surveying error which is now obvious using modern maps and GPS. An article in the Deseret News reveals the story.
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That story certainly has gotten a lot of press attention over the last few days because it involved the Four Corners, and hopefully that will spark some interest in geography for people who may not have considered the topic much before. What’s much less known is that these types of surveying errors are fairly common throughout the United States. I covered a similar anomaly recently that’s just a little further north along the Utah-Colorado border.
It is also an historical fact that the original boundary between Idaho and Montana was to have followed the Continental Divide but due to a surveyor’s error the Northwestern part of what is now Montana was not included on the Idaho side of the boundary line. So Idaho is smaller than it was meant to be and Montana is larger.
This is old news. When I lived in Arizona in 1973-74 it was commonly known by people there. I even read an article in one of the papers there that mentioned it, though I don’t remember which paper. I went to the site in ’74 and there was a person there that said they knew it wasn’t the true corner, but wanted their picture made there anyway!
It may be old news, but I had never heard it before. I think it’s fascinating, and actually kind of funny.
….so why has the marker not been moved????
The good folks who run the place sure do make a bundle from the tourists…of which I and my family were one of…
Some of you may remember that last year Matt posted an article about the border dispute going on currently between Georgia and Tennessee. Georgians say the border, years ago, should have been ever so slightly more north, which would give metropolitan Atlanta access to water from the Tennessee River. Presently, none of the Tennessee River is in Georgia.
Oh goody, now we can all find the real spot and go there without having to pay through the nose! YESH!
Naw, the corner in in the correct spot. Modern coordinates are not the basis for the position. The surveyor did an amazing job of navigation. When he set the monument it became the point 32 degrees west of the Washington Meridian. Error in the monument is 0.00′. Note, the law did not say 32 degrees 00 minutes 00.000 seconds west of the Washington Meridian. Consider that even the NGS is shifting their coordinates every few years and without geoid modeling, GPS elevations (ellopsoid heights) are off still “off” by 80′ at times.
It would be an interesting exercise to get an 1875 transit, an eight place table, an epheremis, go to the nearest railroad station that was there in 1875 and adjust a wind up pocket watch. Then get on a horse and ride near to the four corners, spend the night taking star readings and the next day calculate your position to the Washington Meridian with just pen and paper (no slide rule, no curtiss hand crank, no calculator, no GPS, no quad, no ortho, no Google Earth, no road map). That would be real hands on geography. Might be a lot of fun.