Four Corners Monument – Where Four Different States Meet
Tauheed Ahmad Nawaz
The stunning Four Corners Monument is the only place in the United States where you can be in four different states at the same time, which is Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. This is the exact place where the corners of the four states meet. Which has a granite and brass monument has been erected to mark the spot.
The originality of these intersecting boundaries makes Four Corners an admired, popular tourist destination. The four-corner monument is situated in the desert on the Navajo Indian Reservation, and in spite of its remote location and lack of facilities even though there’s no electricity or running water, and no telephones or cell phone coverage, a myriad of tourists pours past the admissions gate every hour because of the unique photo opportunities the site provides.
Moreover, the Monument seems to induce strong emotions in individuals, reads the guide to the monument on the travel encyclopedia Wiki Travel. Tourists are either massively underwhelmed by this magnetism, even angry they drove so far out of their way to see so little, or they’re inordinately satisfied with running from state to state and having their picture taken.
Moreover, the Four Corners Monument comprises a granite disk embedded with a smaller bronze disk around the point, surrounded by smaller, properly situated state seals and flags representing both the states and tribal nations of the area. Circling the point, starting from the north, the disk reads with two words in each state. Here meet in freedom under God’s four states. Around the monument, local Navajo and Ute artisans sell souvenirs and food.
Well, in 1875, the intersection of the borders was first marked with a sandstone shaft by the surveyor Chandler Robbins. By 1899, the sandstone shaft marker had been disturbed and broken; hence it was replaced with a fresh stone. In 1912, the first cement pad was poured around the marker. Over the years, the marker was rebuilt and upgraded multiple times to its present form; the last renovation being done in 2010.
However, in 2009, reports were released to the media that a survey done by the National Geodetic Survey had discovered that the original survey done in 1878 was inaccurate, and the actual borders between Colorado and Utah were reported to be 2.5 miles to the west. Though what the media had forgotten was when the initial surveys were conducted; the Washington meridian was used instead of the Prime Meridian, resulting in the offset.
Although we cannot exaggerate the fact that the aforementioned technical geodetic details are completely moot when considering any question of the correctness or validity of the Four Corners monument in marking the intersection of the four states,” wrote the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), in a clarification. “Indeed, the monument marks the exact spot where the four states meet.
Therefore, a basic tenet of boundary surveying is that once a monument has been established and accepted by the parties involved in the case of the Four Corners monument, the parties were the four territories and the U.S. Congress, the location of the physical monument is the ultimate authority in delineating a boundary. Issues of legality trump scientific details and the intended location of the point become secondary information. In surveying, monuments rule.
