Corner of Colorado-Kansas-Nebraska
According to the Congressional definition of the boundary of Colorado, this
point is theoretically where the 40th parallel north latitude intersects 25
degrees west longitude as measured from the Washington Meridian*.
However, this monument was first set by Oliver Chaffee during his 1869 survey
- and due to the technological limitations of his day, it's not exactly right
(although his survey does define the official boundary, regardless of its accuracy).
* Many American surveys between 1850-1884
were based on this meridian, which was officially abolished by Congress in favor
of the Greenwich Prime Meridian in 1912. "25 degrees west of Washington" is
a few miles away from the 102nd degree of longitude west of Greenwich.
NOTE: The book "Colorado Mapology" (Erl H. Ellis, 1983, Jende-Hagan
Book Corporation) is an excellent resource, from which I obtained much of the
information presented on these pages. Photo credits on this page: Erl Ellis;
Scott Smith;
me
The photo below (taken by Erl Ellis and published in the reference above) was
looking southeast:
Ellis, 1969
Shown in the foreground is the original limestone marker. Below are some closeups,
showing what was left of the inscriptions "25° W" and "40° N":
Ellis, 1969 (looking north)
Ellis, 1969 (looking west)
Since then some attention has been given to the site. This monument has been
replaced (presumably in the 1970s or 1980s); perhaps it was during the same
occasion that the area was enclosed with a fence and spruced up to the degree
shown in the photos below. This corner was a little hard to find - the roads
weren't all that great. This sign was helpful, though:
me, fall 1993
The view below is mostly south, a little east (roughly the same as the first
1969 photo above - note the tree in the background):
me, fall 1993
I wonder where the old limestone monument is now? Too bad it's gone - it's
been replaced with a USGS benchmark set in concrete. Above, I am standing in
the northwest corner of Kansas. The camera is in Colorado; the line of fenceposts
running diagonally across the photo are on Colorado's east line. Nebraska is
just left (east) of the camera. In the distance you can see the breaks of the
Arikaree River (the point where that stream flows out of Colorado is the lowest
elevation in the state).
me, fall 1993
There was a mailbox for the visitor register, with a quaint little painting
which illustrated each state bird and state flower. (Photo looking northeast
into Nebraska.) Below is a close-up of the benchmark:
Smith,
Feb. 2009
Page created in 1998; last updated 14 February 2009.
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