Four Corners (July 8, 2024)

I have embarked on what I hope will be a 4 month, 17,000 mile motorcycle ride through the US and parts of Mexico and Canada to visit family and friends and to benefit Children International.  Please consider supporting me – learn more here Will's Charity Ride for Children International - PledgeIt

Four Corners Monument
July 8, 2024

I rode from Durango, CO this morning.  I left early 6:30AM to avoid the heat forecasted for today.

I was a bit dissappointed, as I expected some kind of museum explaining what was what.  So here is background on this unique place in the US.

The Four Corners Monument marks the quadripoint where the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. It is the only point in the United States shared by four states, leading to the area being named the Four Corners region. The monument also marks the boundary between two semi-autonomous Native American governments, the Navajo Nation, which maintains the monument as a tourist attraction, and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Reservation.

The origins of the state boundaries marked by the monument occurred just prior to, and during, the American Civil War, when the United States Congress acted to form governments in the area to combat the spread of slavery to the region. When the early territories were formed, their boundaries were designated along meridian and parallel lines. Beginning in the 1860s, these lines were surveyed and marked. These early surveys included some errors, but even so, the markers placed became the legal boundaries, superseding the written descriptions of geographical meridians and parallels. This includes the Four Corners Monument, which has been legally established as the corner of the four states.

The current marker at the exact Four Corners point, placed in 1992

The Four Corners Monument, maintained by the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department, is a popular tourist attraction despite its remote location. It features a granite disk with a bronze center marking the point where four states meet, surrounded by state seals and flags. Visitors have been traveling there since 1908 to take photos at the intersection, often in creative poses.

The area now called Four Corners was initially American Indian land, claimed by Spain in the 16th century, then governed by Mexico after its independence in 1821, and ceded to the United States in 1848 following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The first boundary of the monument was established by the Compromise of 1850, defining the New Mexico and Utah Territories along the 37th parallel north. In 1861, the Colorado Territory was created with its southern border on the 37th parallel north and a new border with the Utah Territory along the 32nd meridian west from Washington.

History

In 1860, a group in southern New Mexico Territory condemned the U.S. for neglecting their needs, declared secession, and intended to join the Confederacy as the Arizona Territory. In response, the U.S. Congress created a new Arizona Territory in 1863 with different boundaries, ultimately forming the quadripoint at the modern Four Corners. Controversies about the monument's placement began in the early 20th century due to primitive surveying technology, leading to a 1925 Supreme Court ruling that original survey markers defined the borders. This decision meant that borders are not perfectly straight and often zigzag. The issue resurfaced briefly in 2009, but it was clarified that the monument's location is legally binding based on the original 19th-century surveys, despite being slightly off from the intended position.