Von Schmidt State Boundry Monument
San Bernardino County, San Bernardino County, California
Marker Inscription
Von Schmidt State Boundry Monument. This marker commemorates the iron column erected in 1873 at the southernmost tip of the boundary survey line run by Alexey W. Von Schmidt. U.S. astronomer and surveyor. The line dividing Nevada and California was based on preliminary geodetic work by Lieutenant Joseph Christmas Ives. Ives determined the Colorado River end of the proposed oblique California-Nevada boundary. Von Schmidt calculated and ran the first complete survey of the boundary. His solar observations erred slightly, the actual line now being ¾ mile to the north.
Erected by Dedicated November 20,1974 By Needles Chapter Of The San Bernadinocounty Museum Association And The California, Arizona And Nevada Development Association, Can Do
The Story
This marker commemorates the iron column planted in 1873 at the southern end of the California–Nevada boundary survey run by U.S. astronomer and surveyor Alexey W. Von Schmidt. The line built on earlier fieldwork by Lieutenant Joseph Christmas Ives, who had fixed the Colorado River end of the proposed oblique border. Von Schmidt ran the first complete survey of the boundary—though his solar observations erred slightly, leaving the true line about three-quarters of a mile to the north.
Why it matters
It captures the painstaking, error-prone science of nineteenth-century surveying that literally drew the map of the American West, one imperfect observation at a time.
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Related people
- · Alexey W. Von Schmidt
- · Joseph Christmas Ives
Related events
- · California–Nevada boundary survey, 1873
Themes & tags
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