True Nevada Border

USA / Nevada / Searchlight /
 Upload a photo

Surprisingly, there has been a fair amt of argument over the yrs as to exactly where the CA/NV border line is. Of the two, California was the first state created, and in its Constitution adopted in 1849, California decreed its northern border to be the 42nd parallel of north latitude. From there, the eastern border followed the 120th meridian of longitude south to where it intersects the 39th parallel of latitude (this spot turned out to be in the middle of Lake Tahoe). From that point in Lake Tahoe, the border was decreed to be a straight line running southeasterly to the Colorado River, at a point where the Colorado intersects the 35th parallel. Determining the location of the 120th meridian was pretty difficult in the 1800s, and several surveys were made, resulting in north/south boundary lines between California and Nevada that were as much as 3 miles apart.

One of the surveys was done by a fellow named Alexey W Von Schmidt who was hired in 1872 to survey the boundary. About 20 yrs later, the the US Coast and Geodetic Survey did a second survey of the boundary from Lake Tahoe south to the Colorado River, finding that Von Schmidt's line was off a bit, in some places too far east, and in other places too far west. Arguments and lawsuits persisted, until finally in 1980 the US Supreme Ct decided that Von Schmidt's line would be the boundary north of Lake Tahoe, and the USC&G's survey line would be the boundary from Lake Tahoe south to the Colorado River.
Appears no one told Wikimapia, as the boundary line Wikimapia shows is very close to Von Schmidt's line, which in this area is about a km southwest of the "true" border.

Link to US Geological Survey map identifying the California/Nevada border:
mapper.acme.com/?ll=35.40815,-115.14101&z=15&t=T&marker...
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   35°24'55"N   115°8'57"W
This article was last modified 8 years ago