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Four Corners Is Still Not Four Corners
Four Corners error brings spike in tourism - AZ Central
Public domain image: Four Corners Monument, May 13, 1965
Dwayne Johnson is the Park Manager of the famous tourist spot known as Four Corners Monument, which stands at the legal intersection of the borders of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah – the only such four state border intersection in the U.S.
In an April 20 report (Google cache) the Associated Press erroneously reported that the Monument was 2.5 miles too far to the west of the proper intersection and later retracted the story because of an error. Apparently the AP used rounded degree numbers and did not resolve the location to minutes and seconds.
But, the true geographical “Four Corners” is still 1,807.14 feet to the west of the Monument, despite the Monument location apparently being widely accepted as the legal Four Corners, according to the Four Corners Monument Wikipedia page:
In addition, general U.S. land principles,[7] law,[8] and the Supreme Court[9] have determined that the location of the monument is the legal corner of the four States.
The originally referenced article quotes some folks who say they don’t really mind if the monument doesn’t sit on the true geographical intersection of the four borders. Perhaps I am in the minority, but I do mind.
Since I was as young as the boy in the photo above, I have been fascinated with the edges of time zones and state and international borders. At my first state border crossing I expected to see an actual line on the ground, just like on the maps, stretching off into the horizon. The highlight of many family road trips was a stop and a picture just before a border crossing. Heck, our family photo albums are probably filled with a few dozen such shots.
The thought of being in four states at once was my ultimate border fantasy – one limb in each state. I still haven’t been to Four Corners Monument, but if I was the kid in the above picture I would now be disappointed. The legalesse would not comfort me – the bronze marker simply does not represent the actual geographic “Four Corners.”
For decades, millions of people have spread themselves across four lines set in concrete about 1/3 of a mile from the true geographic nexus, most of them unwittingly participating in a group “fail” of staggering proportions.
Let the pilgrimages begin for all of those seeking that magical place where it is possible to be in four states at one moment – not the place retroactively defined as Four Corners, but that original hallowed point where four lines in the desert converge allowing true interstate multipresence.
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