The Four Corners is a region of the
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, N ...
consisting of the
southwestern corner of
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
,
southeastern corner of
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
, northeastern corner of
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, and
northwestern corner of
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex
, Offi ...
. The Four Corners area is named after the
quadripoint
A quadripoint is a point on Earth where four distinct territories meet. The territories can be of different types, such as national and provincial. In North America, several such places are commonly known as Four Corners. Several examples exist ...
at the intersection of approximately 37° north latitude with 109° 03' west longitude, where the boundaries of the four states meet, and are marked by the
Four Corners Monument. It is the only location in the United States where four states meet. Most of the Four Corners region belongs to semi-autonomous
Native American nations, the largest of which is the
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American Indian reservation, reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwe ...
, followed by
Hopi,
Ute, and
Zuni tribal reserves and nations. The Four Corners region is part of a larger region known as the
Colorado Plateau and is mostly rural, rugged, and arid. In addition to the monument, commonly visited areas within Four Corners include
Monument Valley,
Mesa Verde National Park,
Chaco Canyon,
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument and
Canyon de Chelly National Monument. The most populous city in the Four Corners region is
Farmington, New Mexico, followed by
Durango, Colorado
Durango is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 19,071 at the 2020 United States Census. Durango is the home of Fort Lewis Col ...
.
History
The United States acquired the four corners region from Mexico after the end of the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the ...
in 1848. In 1863 Congress created the
Arizona Territory from the western part of
New Mexico Territory. The boundary was legally defined as a line running due south from the southwest corner of
Colorado Territory
The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado.
The territory was organized in the ...
, which had been created in 1861. This was an unusual act of Congress, which almost always defined the boundaries of new territories as lines of latitude or longitude, or following rivers, but seldom as extensions of other boundaries.
By defining one boundary as starting at the corner of another, Congress ensured the eventual creation of four states meeting at a point, regardless of the inevitable errors of boundary surveying. Due to a "standard" survey error of the time, the originally surveyed location of the "Four Corners" point was unintentionally located by its initial surveyor as being east of the original location actually specified by the US Congress in 1863. The area was first surveyed by the U.S. Government in 1868 as part of an effort to make Colorado Territory into a state, the first of the Four Corners states formed.
The first marker was placed at the originally surveyed and current spot in 1868.
[ In 1925, some 57 years after Congress had first attempted to specify the spot, the problems surrounding the originally misplaced marker were brought up before the US Supreme Court. In order to amicably remedy this original surveying error, the US Supreme Court then redefined the point of the Four Corners, officially moving the Four Corners point roughly east, to where the original survey had first held it to be all along, and to where it remains to this day, duly marked.][ Correction of mistaken federal survey.
] This initial survey error has resulted in some longstanding misunderstandings about the correct location of the Four Corners marker, some of which remain to this day. The first Navajo tribal government was established in 1923 to regulate an increasing number of oil exploration activities on Navajo land.[
]
Geography
The Four Corners Monument is located at .
The Four Corners is part of the high Colorado Plateau. This makes it a center for weather system
In meteorology, a low-pressure area, low area or low is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. Low-pressure areas are commonly associated with inclement weather (such as cloudy, windy, with possible ...
s, which stabilize on the plateau then proceed eastward through Colorado and into the central states. This weather system creates snow- and rainfall over the central United States.
Federally protected areas in the Four Corners area include Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Hovenweep National Monument
Hovenweep National Monument is located on land in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah, between Cortez, Colorado and Blanding, Utah on the Cajon Mesa of the Great Sage Plain. Shallow tributaries run through the wide and deep canyons into ...
, Mesa Verde National Park, and Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. Mountain Ranges in the Four Corners include Sleeping Ute Mountains, Abajo Mountains, and the Chuska Mountains.[
]
Politics
Six governments have jurisdictional boundaries at the Four Corners Monument: the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, as well as the tribal governments of the Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American Indian reservation, reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwe ...
and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. The Four Corners Monument itself is administered by the Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American Indian reservation, reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwe ...
Department of Parks and Recreation. Other tribal nations within the Four Corners region include the Hopi and other Ute. The Four Corners is home to the capital of the Navajo tribal government at Window Rock, Arizona. The Ute Mountain Ute tribal headquarters are located at Towaoc, Colorado. The US federal government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a f ...
also has a large presence in the area, particularly the Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...
with the Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...
and the Department of Agriculture
An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...
with the Forest Service.
Cities
The Four Corners region is mostly rural. The economic hub, largest city, and only metropolitan area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually ...
in the region is Farmington, New Mexico. The populated settlement closest to the center of Four Corners is Teec Nos Pos
Teec Nos Pos (Navajo: '')'' is a census-designated place (CDP) in Apache County, Arizona, United States. The population was 507 at the 2020 census. It is the western terminus of U.S. Route 64.
Geography
Teec Nos Pos is located at (36.923142, ...
, Arizona. Other cities in the region include Cortez and Durango
Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...
in Colorado; Monticello and Blanding in Utah; Kayenta
Kayenta ( nv, ) is a U.S. town which is part of the Navajo Nation and is in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. Established November 13, 1986, the Kayenta Township is the only "township" existing under the laws of the Navajo Nation, making it ...
and Chinle in Arizona; and Shiprock, Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...
, and Bloomfield in New Mexico.[
]
Transportation
Air service is available via the Durango-La Plata County Airport in Durango, Colorado
Durango is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 19,071 at the 2020 United States Census. Durango is the home of Fort Lewis Col ...
, Four Corners Regional Airport
Four Corners Regional Airport is in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States, in the city of Farmington, which owns it. It is a Class D towered general aviation airport with no commercial passenger services, but has chartered flight servi ...
in Farmington, New Mexico, and Cortez Municipal Airport
Cortez Municipal Airport (Montezuma County Airport) is three miles southwest of Cortez, in Montezuma County, Colorado, United States. It is served by one airline operating scheduled passenger service, Boutique Air, with its flights subsidized b ...
in Cortez, Colorado
Cortez () is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Montezuma County, Colorado, Montezuma County, Color ...
. Interstate 40 passes along the southern edge of the Four Corners region. The primary U.S. Highways
The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these hi ...
that directly serve the Four Corners include U.S. Route 64, U.S. Route 160 (which serves the Four Corners Monument itself), U.S. Route 163, U.S. Route 191
U.S. Route 191 (US 191) is a spur of U.S. Route 91 that has two branches. The southern branch runs for from Douglas, Arizona on the Mexican border to the southern part of Yellowstone National Park. The northern branch runs for from the nort ...
, U.S. Route 491 (previously U.S. Route 666
U.S. Route 491 (US 491) is a north–south U.S. Highway serving the Four Corners region of the United States. It was created in 2003 as a renumbering of U.S. Route 666 (US 666). With the US 666 designation, the road was nicknamed t ...
), and U.S. Route 550.
The main line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
, now operated by the BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...
, passes along the southern edge of Four Corners. The area is home to remnants of through railroads that are now heritage railways. These include the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, often abbreviated as the D&SNG, is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates on of track between Durango and Silverton, in the U.S. state of Colorado. The railway is a ...
and the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. The Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad
The Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad was an electrified private railroad operating in Northern Arizona, USA within the Navajo Nation which transported coal from the Peabody Energy Kayenta Mine near Kayenta, Arizona to the Navajo Generatin ...
, which connects a power plant with a coal mine near Kayenta, comes near the Four Corners.
See also
* Four Corners Monument
* List of regions of the United States
* Four Corners radio stations
* Canadian four corners
* Quadripoint
A quadripoint is a point on Earth where four distinct territories meet. The territories can be of different types, such as national and provincial. In North America, several such places are commonly known as Four Corners. Several examples exist ...
* TAG Corner
* Trail of the Ancients National Scenic Byway, Four Corners, Colorado and Utah
* Trail of the Ancients Scenic Byway (New Mexico)
* List of tripoints of U.S. states
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Colorado Plateau
Geography of the United States
Regions of the United States
Religious places of the indigenous peoples of North America
Geography of Apache County, Arizona
Geography of Montezuma County, Colorado
Geography of San Juan County, Utah
Geography of San Juan County, New Mexico
Western United States