Colorado's Northeast Corner

The corner is a surveyor's reckoning set in stone, twice. Oliver Chaffee closed this point in October 1869 with a six-foot limestone shaft, each face carrying one of his references: the 25th meridian west of Washington, the 41st parallel, Nebraska to the east, and the 68 miles, 79 chains and 59 links he measured north from the 40th parallel. By 1976 the shaft was broken and worn away, and its replacement cites Greenwich instead of Washington. The bronze adds an error of its own, casting parallels with a double R.

What the plaque says

This tablet is the property of the State of Colorado Colorado's Northeast Corner The Organic Act creating the Territory of Colorado was signed by President Buchanan on February 28, 1861. The Act carved from the territories of Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, and New Mexico the 104,247 square miles that became the 38th state in 1876. The original survey establishing this boundary point was completed by Oliver N. Chaffee on October 7, 1869 and recorded on a six foot limestone shaft set in a circular earth mound centered at the intersection of the 25th meridian west from Washington, D. C. and the 41st parallel north from the equator. At its time of re- placement in 1976, the broken shaft, originally inscribed on the north, 25 W.L.; east, Nebraska; west, 41 N.L.; and south, 68 M. 79 CH. and 59 LKS.(the distance between the 40th and 41st parrallels) was badly eroded. When resurveyed, the new inscription cited the now standard Greenwich reference for the longitudinal measurement. Erected by the State Historical Society of Colorado and the people of Sedgwick County through the Mrs. J. N. Hall endowment. 1977

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Julesburg — 11 mi
  The town that moved four times: a trading post, a stage stop burned in 1865, the wickedest end-of-track town on the Union Pacific, and finally Denver Junction renamed.

More markers nearby

• Colorado — 11 mi
• Old Julesburg — 17 mi
• Fort Sedgwick — 18 mi