Four Corners Monument

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The marker at the exact "Four Corners" point. August 2005.
The marker at the exact "Four Corners" point. August 2005.
The Four Corners Monument rest area, maintained on Navajo Nation lands.
The Four Corners Monument rest area, maintained on Navajo Nation lands.

The Four Corners Monument marks the quadripoint in the Navajo Nation and Ute Mountain Tribal Lands in the Southwest United States where the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet.

It is located on the Colorado Plateau west of U.S. Highway 160, 40 miles southwest of Cortez, Colorado. It is centered at 36°59′56.31532″N, 109°02′42.62019″W.[1]

Not only is the point a perpendicular four-corner intersection, it is the only point in the United States shared by four states, leading to their being called the Four Corners region. A Ute Indian reservation abuts the point in Colorado. The landmark is run by the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department and is a popular tourist attraction, despite its isolated and even somewhat remote location. In order to view (and take a photograph at) this monument, a $3 per person fee must be paid to enter the premises on which the marker lies.

Around the monument, local Navajo and Ute artisans sell souvenirs and food. The position of the point was initially surveyed by E. N. Darling in 1868, and marked with a sandstone marker. [2] The first permanent marker at the point was placed in 1912. It was replaced in 1992 with a granite marker embedded with a large circular bronze disk around the point, surrounded by smaller, appropriately located state seals and flags.

[edit] External links

A popular thing to do at the Four Corners Monument is to physically be in four states at once, as demonstrated here.
A popular thing to do at the Four Corners Monument is to physically be in four states at once, as demonstrated here.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Four Corners PID AD9256 (text file). NGS Survey Monument Data Sheet. United States National Geodetic Survey (May 7, 2003). Retrieved on December 26, 2006.
  2. ^ Stimpson, George (1946). A Book About A Thousand Things. Harper & Brothers. 
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