The Colorful Historyof the California/NevadaState Boundary

he California/Nevada state boundary has a history as in-teresting and colorful as the states it separates. The bound-

ary line, described in 1849 by men who had little experiencewith such things, was subject to many years of doubt, dis-agreement, and confusion. Its location on the ground has beenquestioned right up to the present age. This article is an intro-duction to the story behind one of the most surveyed bound-aries in the United States.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo As a result of the Mexican-American War, the United States

acquired a huge area known to the Mexicans as Upper Califor-nia. It included land south of the Oregon Territory, west of theRocky Mountains, and north of the newly established border be-tween the United States and Mexico. The Treaty of GuadalupeHidalgo, signed in 1848, was generous to the victors. As if thiswere not enough, insult soon followed injury for the Mexicans.Shortly after the treaty was signed, word spread of the first goldstrikes on the American River. By the spring of 1849, all theworld had heard of California and became intoxicated by thedream of instant riches. The discovery of gold caused such phe-nomenal growth that in the fall of 1849, California was alreadypreparing to enter the Union as a state.

The Constitutional Convention of 1849In October of 1849 a Constitutional Convention assembled in

Monterey, former capital of the Mexican government. Forty-eightdelegates met at Colton Hall to debate their visions of California.They were a diverse mix including Californios, American settlers,and miners. They were young, mostly ranging in age from 25 to53. Some were fluent only in Spanish. One of many pressing is-sues on their agenda was to propose state boundaries to be sub-mitted to Congress. For several days the delegates could notagree on where to establish the easterly state line. Some soughtto include all of Upper California as the Mexicans knew it. Thiswould have put the Great Basin and portions of present dayUtah and Arizona in California. Others argued that it made moresense geographically and politically to run the line along theSierra Nevada Mountains.

Some historians speculate that those advocating the largerarea were hoping for an eventual subdivision creating a newstate to the south which would allow slavery. Although near-ly all delegates wished California to be a free state, their rea-sons were as diverse as their backgrounds: some were moral-ly opposed to slavery, some were miners who didn’t wantcompetition from slaves, and some were politicians who real-ized the U.S. Congress was unlikely to admit another slavestate into the Union.

There were several compelling reasons to adopt the smallerproposition. For starters, a state the size of Upper California

would be nearly impossible to manage. Some delegates arguedthat including the Mormons, who had settled near the Great SaltLake several years earlier, would be a mistake because theywere not represented at the Convention. Furthermore, some del-egates didn’t like the idea that such an enormous state wouldhave no more representation in the Senate than Delaware. Theyreasoned that allowing Upper California to develop into manystates would eventually lead to more political clout for the West.

Boundaries DescribedUltimately the delegates agreed that drawing the line in the

Sierra Nevada Mountains was the most practical solution. OnOctober 11, 1849, James M. Jones, the youngest member of theConvention, offered the following land description. It wasadopted and incorporated into the Constitution of 1849 andwent on to define the boundaries of the 31st State: The bound-ary of the State of California shall be as follows: Commencing atthe point of intersection of 42nd degree of north latitude withthe 120th degree of longitude west from Greenwich, and run-ning south on the line of said 120th degree of west longitude un-til it intersects the 39th degree of north latitude; thence runningin a straight line in a southeasterly direction to the River Col-orado, at a point where it intersects the 35th degree of north lat-

John P. Wilusz, LS, PE

T

Part 1

HISTORICAL DIAGRAM OF NEVADA

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itude; thence down the middle of the channel of said river to theboundary line between the United States and Mexico, as estab-lished by the treaty of May 13, 1848; thence running west andalong said boundary line to the Pacific Ocean, and extendingtherein three English miles; thence running in a northwesterly di-rection and following the direction of the Pacific coast to the42nd degree of north latitude; thence on the line of said 42nddegree of north latitude to the place of beginning. Also, all theislands, harbors and bays along and adjacent to the coast.

Unfortunately the delegates lacked the foresight of those thatdrafted the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Treaty did morethan describe the international boundary between the U.S. andMexico; it required a commissioner and surveyor to be appoint-ed by each government to run and mark the boundary line up-on the ground. The results of this survey were to be deemed apart of the Treaty as if inserted therein. This requirement cir-cumvented future disagreements based on conflicting interpreta-tions of the intent of the written land description. Despite thepresence of at least one surveyor at the Convention, the dele-gates did not incorporate similar wisdom in their description ofCalifornia.

President Zachary “Rough and Ready” Taylor and the U.S.Congress did not delay in welcoming California and her abun-dant wealth into the Union; California sprung into statehood onSeptember 9, 1850 without undergoing probation with a territo-rial government. Yet without physical monuments to rely on,people living in the vicinity of the 120th meridian and theoblique line could not know with certainty if they lived in Cali-fornia or Utah Territory.

Challenges Determining LongitudeOne reason why California’s eastern boundaries have been

subject to dispute is the difficulty early surveyors had in locatinggeographic coordinates, especially longitude. Using lines of lati-

tude and longitude was handy for the scrivener, but the questionas to where these lines fell on the ground was left to future gen-erations. Of the two coordinates, latitude is by far the easier todetermine. It is the angular distance between the observer’s hori-zon and the celestial pole. It can be measured by astronomicalobservations using relatively simple instruments. Longitude,however, is a horse of a different color. Longitude is the angulardistance between the great circles of Greenwich, England andthe observer’s meridian. It is a function of time. Although the ro-tation of the earth has no bearing on latitude, it is has everythingto do with longitude. Because the earth rotates 360 degrees inabout 24 hours, the velocity of its rotation is approximately 1,200feet per second at 39 degrees north latitude. In other words, atthat latitude a clock error of one second would result in stakinga meridian nearly a quarter of a mile out of position. Correctlydetermining longitude was a substantial challenge to 19th cen-tury state boundary surveyors.

First Effort to Determine Easterly BoundaryThe first astronomical observations for longitude used for de-

termining the east boundaries of California were made in Plac-erville in 1855 by Surveyor General William Eddy. The crudeprotraction of the state boundaries on John Fremont’s map wasa function of convenience, not science, and they did not revealto the residents of the Carson Valley upon which side of the linethey stood. Eddy was a budget-minded civil servant and heknew it would be cheaper to make his observations close tohome in Placerville. He determined the longitude of his positionto be 120 48'11". The route from Placerville to the Carson Valleyhad been traveled enough by 1855 for the distance to be com-

Astronomical station at Lake Tahoe, 1893.

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monly known as at least 60 miles. Eddy’s observations told himhe was about 44 miles west of the 120th longitude. Withoutdoubt, Carson Valley was in Utah Territory.

One of the primary routes into California in the mid 1850spassed through the heart of Carson Valley. This fork of the Cali-fornia Trail traversed the Sierra Nevada via Carson Pass and wasconsidered by many to be superior to the Stevens/Townsend/Mur-phy route, or what today is known as Donner Pass.

In 1852, John Reese and a handful of other ambitious entre-preneurs arrived from Salt Lake City planning to sell supplies tothe emigrants. They established a trading post which came to beknown as Mormon Station, which in turn gave birth to Genoa,Nevada’s first town. It seems more than a little ironic that Neva-da, today renowned for gambling and brothels, was founded byLatter Day Saints.

The merchants at Mormon Station began arguing for territori-al status apart from Utahalmost immediately.However, their case didnot become compellingto Washington, D.C. untilthe discovery of theComstock Lode in 1859.

Early SurveysDue to the enormity

of the job, California’seasterly boundary wassurveyed piecemeal forthe first 20+ years afterstatehood. During thattime money was onlyavailable to survey thoseportions along corridorsof significant develop-ment. In 1855, civil engi-neer George H. God-dard, working under Cal-ifornia Surveyor GeneralS.H. Marlette, undertooka survey to determine the eastern boundary of the state in thevicinity of Carson Valley. He made astronomical observations atBigler Lake (Lake Tahoe) to locate the angle point in California’seastern boundary and discovered that the angle point could notbe occupied because it fell within the lake. Using data on the lo-cation of the southeast terminus point of the oblique boundaryline generated in 1852 by Captain L. Sitgraves, U.S. Topographi-cal Engineer, Goddard ciphered the spherical angle between the120th longitude and the oblique line. Unfortunately, he neverturned over the bulk of his work because he was never paid. Asthe saying goes, “The more things change, the more they remainthe same.”

The next round of astronomical observations at the terminuspoints of the oblique boundary line were performed by Lt.Joseph C. Ives of the Topographical Corps, U. S. Army. In 1858he determined that the intersection of the 35th north latitude andthe middle of the channel of the Colorado River occurred at lon-gitude 114 degrees and 36 minutes west of Greenwich. Riparianboundaries can be troubling from a land title perspective be-cause rivers move, and when the Colorado River moved, it car-ried the terminus point with it. In 1861 Lt. Ives relocated thenorthwest terminus point at Bigler Lake, and then promptly quit

his job, joined the fledgling Confederacy, and waged war againsthis former employer. For obvious though perhaps irrational rea-sons, his work lost credibility with Washington.

Nevada TerritoryWith the outbreak of the Civil War the mountain of silver un-

der Virginia City became critical to national security. Nevada be-came a Territory by Act of Congress on March 2, 1861. Thescriveners of Nevada Territory’s land description overestimatedCalifornia’s generosity because they included that portion ofCalifornia easterly of the crest of the Sierra Nevada. The de-scription reads as follows:

Beginning at the point of intersection of the forty-second de-gree of north latitude with the thirty- ninth degree of longitudewest from Washington; thence running south on the line of saidthirty- ninth degree of west longitude, until it intersects the north-

ern boundary line of theterritory of New Mexico;thence due west to thedividing ridge separat-ing the waters of CarsonValley from those thatflow into the Pacific;thence on said dividingridge northwardly, tothe 41st degree of northlatitude; thence duenorth to the southernboundary line of thestate of Oregon; thencedue east to the place ofbeginning.

It is interesting tonote that longitude isnot referenced toGreenwich, but toWashington, D.C.

Nevada Territory’sland description set thestage for a minor civil

war even though it acknowledged that the overlap would con-tinue to belong to California until and unless she ceded it toNevada Territory. These qualifying words did not stop PlumasCounty, California, and Roop County, Nevada Territory (now inWashoe County, Nevada) from exercising jurisdiction over thesame ground in the vicinity of Honey Lake Valley. The powderkeg exploded when the Roop County judge arrested the PlumasCounty justice of the peace. This outrage prompted the PlumasCounty sheriff to arrest the Roop County judge. Before longshots were fired and blood was shed. Fortunately, a truce wasdeclared before things got completely out of hand and each sideresolved to petition their governor for an equitable solution.Clearly it was time to put state line monuments on the ground.

Houghton and Ives Survey of 1863In the spring of 1863, Governor Leland Stanford of California,

and Orion Clemens, older brother of Mark Twain and ActingGovernor of Nevada Territory, jointly appointed surveyors tomark their common boundary. Stanford appointed CaliforniaSurveyor-General J.F. Houghton. Clemens chose Butler Ives asCommissioner for Nevada Territory. Everyone involved hopedthis would put an end to further confusion.

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Old instrument blocks, upper Truckee River.

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line southeasterly to the Colorado River. The oblique line pre-sented a special challenge. It is a line of constantly changingazimuth and therefor required the expertise of a geodesist.Houghton retained Professor J.E. Hilgard of the UnitedStates Coast Survey to provide the complex calculationsthat the field crew needed.

Election Day in AuroraOn Election Day in September of 1863, Aurora was

the county seat for both Mono County, California,and Esmeralda County, Nevada Territory. The townwas so close to the oblique boundary line that hercitizens didn’t know for sure which side it was on.Just to be safe they afforded themselves the priv-ilege of voting both as Californians and

Nevadans. If so inclined, a voter could cast aballot for his favorite Californian at the Po-

lice Station, then walk down the street toArmory Hall and do likewise as a citizenof Nevada Territory. Instead of postpon-ing the election until the arrival of thegovernment survey party, which was ap-proaching the area from the northwestand merely several weeks away, Auro-rans preferred to make a public wagerout of Election Day and elect two sets ofofficers. After the surveyors passedthrough, politicians representing MonoCounty were promptly retired becauseAurora was found to be inside NevadaTerritory by approximately 3 miles.

After resolving Aurora’s dilemma,Kidder continued southeasterly alongthe oblique line and soon encounteredsome 500 Indians who were enjoying aseasonal celebration directly in his path.After communicating with the cele-brants he decided to return to Aurora

and wait out the festival before con-tinuing with the survey. On the

night of October 29th, whilethe crew was camped be-tween Adobe Meadowsand Aurora, a 36-hourblizzard began. Winterarrived in the high coun-try and ended field workfor the Houghton-Ivessurvey of 1863.

Special thanks toFrançois D. Uzes, LS, andJudge James Thompson,without whom this article would not have

been possible.

JOHN P. WILUSZ is employed by Placer County Water Agency(PCWA) in Auburn, California. In addition to his responsibilitiesas PCWA’s sole land surveyor, he is also responsible for approvingthe water systems components of development plans. He can bereached at: jwilusz@pcwa.net.

The two chief surveyors hired John F. Kidder as En-gineer in Charge of the field work and instructed him,per the Act of the California Legislature which au-thorized the survey, to mark a . . . transit line be-tween the point of intersection of the 39th degreeof north latitude with the 120th degree longitudewest from Greenwich, near Lake Bigler, and thepoint where the 35th parallel of north latitudecrosses the Colorado River, as the said pointswere established by Lieutenant Ives, ChiefAstronomer of the United States BoundaryCommission.”

They also instructed Kidder to runand mark “. . . in the same manner allthat part of the said boundary lyingbetween first named point, nearLake Bigler, and due north fromsaid point to the southern boundaryof Oregon.”

Twenty-five thousand dollarswas appropriated to mark the line.In the words of Surveyor- GeneralHoughton, the California/Nevadaboundary was “six hundred and thir-teen miles long, over a rugged, moun-tainous country, through several tribesof Indians not known to be friendly,passing through dense forests, over al-most unexplored and uninhabited desertswith intervals of thirty, fifty, and eightymiles without water.” With this sumHoughton was expected to organize theproject, hire technical consultants to ciphercomplex geodetic calculations, purchaseequipment and supplies, pay his men’s wages,provide and maintain a large train of pack an-imals, set cut stone monuments,prepare maps in tripli-cate, cover travel expens-es, prepare reports, andsettle all incidentals. Notsurprisingly, twenty-fivethousand dollars provedto be inadequate to com-plete the job in its entirety.

John Kidder beganthe field work in late Mayof 1863 by recoveringand occupying Lt. Ives’observatory at the southend of Lake Tahoe. Therehe made test observa-tions for latitude. Findinghis observations agreedsubstantially with Lt. Ives’work of 1861, he sent three membersof his party to the north shore of the lakeand put them on the meridian of the observatory byuse of signal fires. After measuring westerly on the northshore of the lake to the 120th meridian, the entire party pro-ceeded to north to Oregon. They marked the line as they went.

By late July the surveyors completed their work on the 120thmeridian and had returned to Lake Tahoe to blaze the oblique

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Zenith telescope

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John P. Wilusz, LS, PE

n the spring of 1863, J.F. Houghton of

California and Butler Ives of Nevada

were appointed chief surveyors to solve

the ongoing California/Nevada bound-

ary disputes. They hired John F. Kidder

as Engineer in Charge of the field work,

who was to mark the boundary line from

a point on the 39th parallel near Lake

I

The California/NevadaState Boundary

Part 2

Location of California-Nevada

Boundary, vicinity of Lake Tahoe.

Bigler, north to the southern boundary of

Oregon, and then southeasterly to a point

where the 35th parallel crossed the Col-

orado River. Safety was an ever-present

concern as the surveyors were required to

cross the lands of hostile Indian tribes

and overcome tremendous geographic

obstacles. For the sum of $25,000,

Houghton was expected to organize the

project, hire technical consultants to ci-

pher complex geodetic calculations, pur-

chase equipment and supplies, pay his

men’s wages, provide and maintain a

large train of pack animals, set cut stone

monuments, prepare maps in triplicate,

cover travel expenses, prepare reports,

and settle all incidentals.

Kidder began the field work in late

May of 1863 and by late July the survey-

ors completed their work on the 120th

meridian and had returned to Lake

Tahoe to blaze the oblique line southeast-

erly to the Colorado River. Their efforts

were halted when they met up with Indi-

ans celebrating a seasonal festival. The

crew turned back to wait out the festival,

and on the night of October 29th, while

camped between Adobe Meadows and

Aurora, a 36-hour blizzard began. Win-

ter arrived in the high country and end-

ed field work for the Houghton-Ives sur-

vey of 1863.

Snow wasn’t the only threat to theHoughton-Ives survey because moneywas running out at the same time that thecrew was shivering in camp. Most of the$25,000 dollars appropriated for the jobwas already spent and yet the work wasonly half complete. The oblique line thatthe field crew was forced to abandon nearAurora was essentially a precisely-calcu-lated random line. Had the survey beencompleted as planned, Engineer in ChargeJohn Kidder would have continued thisline to its terminus as determined by Lt.Joseph Ives in 1861. There, Kidder wouldhave measured the falling between hisline and Ives’ position. With this data hewould have returned along the obliqueline to Lake Tahoe, applying appropriatecorrections and resetting his monumentsalong the way. The oblique line wouldhave then been marked from Lake Tahoeto the 37th parallel of north latitude,which until 1867 was Nevada’s southerlyboundary.

In his report to Governor Leland Stan-ford, Surveyor General J.F. Houghton ac-

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surveys with it. Matters would only getworse with time. Yet again, somethinghad to be done.

The Von Schmidt Survey of 1872-73In June of 1872, Congress authorized

another survey of the common boundarybetween California and Nevada. GLOCommissioner Willis Drummond hired as-tronomer and surveyor Alexey W. VonSchmidt to do the field work. A sum ofmore than $41,000 was appropriated forthe survey, so it appears that someoneimportant learned a lesson from under-funding Houghton and Ives. Drummondhad complete confidence in Major’s loca-tion of the northeast corner so he in-structed Von Schmidt to begin there andproceed south along the 120th meridian.Von Schmidt developed other plans.

In the spring of 1872, ProfessorGeorge Davidson of the U.S. Coast Surveywas in the Verdi area making observa-tions to locate the 120th meridian in rela-tion to the Houghton-Ives line. State Ge-ologist J.D. Whitney and U.S. GeologistClarence King requested his services tofacilitate geographical surveys which

were being executed nearby. Davidsonused telegraphic time signals and madeindependent calculations for the longi-tude. Von Schmidt was present for someof this work and was much impressedwith Davidson’s use of the telegraph. Infact he was so impressed he wrote toCommissioner Drummond and requestedpermission to use Davidson’s location ofthe 120th meridian and run the line northto Oregon instead of south from Major’scorner. He mailed his letter and wentstraight to work on this new strategy. Bythe time he received Drummond’s nega-tive reply he had already blazed about ahundred miles of flag line on his waynorth. The Commissioner was not pleasedabout this change in plans and orderedVon Schmidt to conduct the survey per theoriginal instructions. Upon receiving thenews, Von Schmidt dropped everythingand headed for Major’s monument at thenortheast corner of the state. From therehe surveyed south along the 120th merid-ian, setting monuments along the way.

By late September he had traveled farenough to encounter the northerly termi-nus of the line Drummond ordered him

knowledged thatbecause theoblique line wasnot completedand corrected, itcould not be con-sidered entirelyaccurate. He re-quested an addi-tional $20,000 tocomplete the sur-vey as planned,but unfortunately,the money nevermaterialized. Cali-fornia and Neva-da had to makedo with things asKidder left them.It didn’t take longfor problems toresurface.

CA/OR Border In March of

1867, Congressauthorized a sur-vey of “the 42nd

parallel of north

latitude, so far as

it constitutes the common boundary be-

tween the States of California and Ore-

gon.” The General Land Office (GLO)hired astronomer and surveyor Daniel Ma-jor to execute the work. Major’s instruc-tions were to establish the intersection ofthe 42nd parallel of north latitude with the120th meridian west from Greenwich andsurvey and mark the common boundarywest to the Pacific Ocean. By 1870 his sur-vey was completed and accepted by theGLO. Perhaps the first thing people no-ticed about his map was that he did notshow the Houghton-Ives monument of1863 at the northeast corner of California.However, he did plot topographical fea-tures common to those plotted on the ear-lier survey, and therefore government car-tographers were able to establish a spatialrelationship between the two. What theyfound did not look good. Careful compar-ison of the maps revealed a considerabledifference of opinion regarding the loca-tion of California’s northeast corner. Thisconflict was especially disturbing to theGLO because the public lands surveyswere being closed on the Houghton-Ivesline. If that line fell it would take other

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to abandon. It was more thanthree miles easterly of the linehe was currently on. That dis-covery must have been verydiscouraging. However, hisfaith in Davidson was unshak-en, so he stuck with the pro-fessor’s opinion on the loca-tion of the 120th meridian. Hereturned to Major’s monu-ment, chained easterly, andset a new monument for thenortheast corner of California.He then surveyed south alongthis line to the north shore ofLake Tahoe. At that point hedispersed his crew and re-turned to San Francisco forthe winter.

Von Schmidt returned tothe field in the spring of 1873and set a cast iron state linemonument at the north shoreof Lake Tahoe. He made ob-servations to locate the anglepoint in California’s easterlyboundary, and then made his

way along the oblique line to the Col-orado River. When he arrived he foundthe river to be in a different place thanwhere Lt. Ives found it in 1861. In hisnotes, Von Schmidt indicated that he re-established the intersection of the 35th de-gree of north latitude and the ColoradoRiver, and then corrected back along theoblique line all the way to Lake Tahoe.

ing this monument, a com-mon point in the two surveys,was to try and clear things up.The last thing he wanted wasmore trouble.

Unlike Von Schmidt, Majorused the 1868 monument asinstructed. That’s not surpris-ing since he set it himself. Italso comes as no surprise thathe didn’t like Von Schmidt’smonument any more thanVon Schmidt liked his. Major’smap of 1873 showed VonSchmidt’s monument at thenortheast corner of Californiato be in error by some threemiles. After so much effortand money spent, the citizensstill had no satisfaction.

Grunsky and Minto SurveyBy 1889, Von Schmidt’s

work in California hadaroused enough suspicion toinspire the Legislature tocommission another survey.Legislators appropriated$5,000 “to correct and estab-

lish” the oblique line. Sur-veyor General Theo. Reicherthired C.E. Grunsky and

William Minto, civil engineers, to makethings right. Reichert instructed the engi-neers to tie into the new transcontinen-tal control net established by the U.S.Coast and Geodetic Survey. The controlnet came along some years after VonSchmidt, and likely brought its inaccura-cies to light. One can only speculate asto why so little money was authorized,considering that 16 years earlier the VonSchmidt survey cost more than $40,000.Perhaps the intent of the Grunsky-Mintosurvey was primarily to confirm the defi-ciencies in Von Schmidt’s oblique lineand thereby assist in determining if an-other full-blown effort was warranted.

The same Professor Davidson whohelped Von Schmidt in 1872 helpedGrunsky and Minto establish fresh initialpoints at each end of the oblique line.They surveyed a dozen or so miles of theline southeasterly from Lake Tahoe andthen quit for lack of money. Now therewas yet another line on a map alreadyabundant with conflicting opinions. Atthe north shore of Lake Tahoe VonSchmidt determined Houghton and Ives

During the course of hiswork Von Schmidt set cutgranite monuments, and resetand remarked several of theobsolete monuments of theHoughton-Ives survey. He alsoset several other cast ironmonuments similar to the oneat the north shore of LakeTahoe. Upon completion of the survey, GLO Commis-sioner Drummond acceptedVon Schmidt’s work and directed future public landssurveys to close on his lines.For a while there was peace inthe neighborhood.

Disagreement at the CornerIn September of 1872, GLO Commis-

sioner Willis Drummond hired Daniel Ma-jor to survey Nevada’s northern boundary.Just as he instructed Von Schmidt severalmonths earlier, he directed Major to usethe monument of 1868 at the northeastcorner of California as the initial point ofthe survey. Undoubtedly his intent in us-

From Topographical Notes

of A.W. Von Schmidt, 1873.

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to be about 3,100 feet west of the “cor-rect” position. In turn, Grunsky and Mintoconcluded that Von Schmidt set his lineabout 1,600 feet too far west. Disagree-ments of a similar magnitude existed atthe south shore of the lake and all alongthe California-Nevada boundary.

The USC&GS Survey of 1893-99Because of the continuing disparities,

California pressured the federal governmentto find money to solve the problem onceand for all. In 1892, Congress appropriatedfunds, but only for a survey of the obliqueline. The following year the United StatesCoast and Geodetic Survey began the mostprecise survey yet. The USC&GS made as-tronomic observations to locate each end ofthe oblique line and connected the twopoints using a triangulation network. Run-ning from northwest to southeast, they re-portedly missed their closing station at theColorado River by less than 500 feet. Theycorrected back along the entire line, and re-set temporary monuments using propor-tionate corrections. Along the way they dis-covered that Von Schmidt had not done sim-ilarly as he reported to the GLO. By locatingmany of his monuments, they ascertainedthat he corrected back only about 1/3 of theway to the lake. There he intersected hisrandom line and put an unauthorized kinkin the boundary. At no point did he faith-fully trace the inverse between his astro-nomic positions at each end of the line.

The USC&GS survey was in progressfrom 1893 to 1899. It had the best resourcesand most advanced technology of any sur-vey up to that time. Finally, there was a high-ly accurate and well-monumented boundarybetween California and Nevada—at least be-tween Lake Tahoe and the Colorado River.

Steps to Resolv-ing the Conflict

In 1977, Cali-fornia broughtsuit against Neva-da in the UnitedStates SupremeCourt. The timehad come to es-tablish their com-mon boundary with certainty and elimi-nate potential confusion regarding taxcollection and other issues of jurisdiction.Since 1873 both states acquiesced to theVon Schmidt line north of Lake Tahoe.The problem was that neither state’s

legislature enacted statutes adopting theVon Schmidt line. Despite the fact that al-most no one knew where it was, theHoughton-Ives line was still the officialboundary from Lake Tahoe to Oregon.

The oblique line as surveyed by theUSC&GS did not figure into California’sinitial argument because, unlike the VonSchmidt line, it had been adopted byboth states by statutes. It was known tobe substantially accurate and well-monu-mented. Since 1899 it had been acceptedwithout reservation by both states. Onthe surface the situation looked muchbetter than along the 120th meridian, butbefore the conclusion of litigation the location of this line would be argued as well.

Along with questions about tax col-lection and jurisdiction there were alsoland title issues regarding state schooland selection lands between the linesmarked in 1863, 1873, and 1899. Somefederal lands acquired and subsequentlysold by Nevada were eventually found tohave belonged to California. Conse-quently, Congress enacted a law that protects the property rights of partieswhose chain of title emanated from thewrong state.

Litigation IntensifiesAs the litigation got into full swing,

claims and counter claims flew aboutwith a level of intensity that no one an-ticipated. Once shaken from her compla-cency, Nevada had no problem generat-ing creative alternatives. Her primary ar-gument was for the Houghton-Ives line,even though its very existence was un-

known but to a handful. Another sugges-tion was to extend a line south to LakeTahoe from the 1868 Major monument atthe northeast corner of California. Onealternative offered for the oblique linewas based on the work of Houghton andIves. Another was based on Von Schmidt,which is interesting, since Nevadans con-sidered him an “officious intermeddler”who caused them to lose land to Califor-nia. In short, all of Nevada’s suggestionswould have pushed the common bound-ary to the west. California’s counter argu-ment was to resurvey the entire line fromOregon to the Colorado River using stateof the art technology and then adopt thenew line as official once and for all. Thiswould have pushed the boundary some-what into Nevada with the result of an-nexing several casinos. The Golden Statewas prepared for this contingency; an Assemblyman from Long Beach spon-sored a bill exempting those casinosfrom California’s anti-gambling laws.

Peace at LastIn 1980, the Supreme Court of the

United States decreed that the boundarybetween California and Nevada wouldconsist of the Von Schmidt line asmarked between Oregon and the northshore of Lake Tahoe, and the USC&GSline as marked from the south shore ofLake Tahoe to the Colorado River. TheCourt allowed the states to determine thelocation of the intersection of these twolines inside the lake, which they soon didusing monumentation provided by theNational Geodetic Survey.After 80 years of doubtand disagreementthere was peace inthe neighborhoodat last.

JOHN WILUSZ is em-

ployed by Placer

County Water

Agency (PCWA) in

Auburn, CA. In

addition to his

responsibilities as

PCWA’s sole land

surveyor, he is

also responsible for

approving the wa-

ter systems compo-

nents of develop-

ment plans.

Von Schmidt monument at northeast cor-ner of California. Inset: Inscribed rock atVon Schmidt monument, northeast cornerof California: “1872, A. W. Von Schmidt,

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