Von Schmidt State Boundary Monument

Drawing a line through the desert is harder than it sounds. In 1873, surveyor Allexey Von Schmidt ran the boundary between California and Nevada, fixing on the ground the border that had until then existed mostly on paper. He set monuments along the line, including one near the southern tip of Nevada where the state corners against California and Arizona at the Colorado River. Later, more precise surveys found Von Schmidt's line slightly off, and the boundary was re-run—but his markers remain, monuments to the difficulty of measuring empty country with chain and transit.

What the plaque says

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.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Needles — 12 mi
  Route 66's Colorado River gateway into California, anchored by El Garces, the Harvey House that Mojave hands built.
• Oatman — 16 mi
  A gold camp in the Black Mountains that outlived its mines, now run by wild burros — reached by the wildest switchbacks left on Route 66, and named for a history worth telling straight.
• Goffs — 24 mi
  A near-ghost on the pre-1931 Route 66 alignment, keeper of a 1914 desert schoolhouse and a WWII Army camp.

More markers nearby

• Von Schmidt State Boundary Monument — steps away
• The Garcés Expedition — 6.4 mi
• Camp Ibis — 10 mi
• Goodsprings Mining District 1856-1957 — 11 mi