Tri State Survey Monument

This hilltop is where three states meet, and getting the spot right took two tries. In the summer of 1871 the surveyor Daniel Major and eleven men ran the Idaho-Utah line north from Evanston with chains, a sextant, and a chronometer, fixing an initial point by the stars and burying a white earthen bottle under a pine post to mark it. Three years later a second surveyor, running Wyoming's line, found Major's point about seven-tenths of a mile too far east and set the corner where it stands today.

What the plaque says

Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming Intersect Point This stone marks the intersect point established June 15, 1874, by A. V. Richards, U.S. astronomer and surveyor, on the 34th meridian west from the center of the old Naval Observatory dome in Washington, D.C. with the state boundary of Idaho and Utah (the 42nd parallel north), surveyed by Daniel G. Major, U.S. astronomer, on August 29, 1871. The initial point monument of D. G. Major for the 42nd parallel north is located 7/10 of a mile east. Contributions for this remonumentation were obtained from the federal government, states, counties, and the private sector.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bear Lake — 14 mi
  The Caribbean of the Rockies — a turquoise lake straddling the Utah-Idaho border
• Fossil Butte National Monument — 18 mi
  The floor of a 52-million-year-old lake, packed with whole fish, the oldest complete bats and the only complete freshwater stingrays.
• Bear Lake Raspberry Shakes — 19 mi
  Legendary raspberry milkshakes from locally grown berries
• Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge — 21 mi
  The Bear River crosses this marsh twice: once in a canal into Bear Lake, and once in another canal on its way back out.

More markers nearby

• Thomas Fork — 15 mi
• Bear Lake — 18 mi
• The First Oregon Trail — 18 mi
• Big Hill — 19 mi