Initial Point, on the boundary of

Garvin County, Oklahoma Garvin County is a county in south-central Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 27,576. Its county seat is Pauls Valley. In 1906, delegates to Constitution Convention formed Garvin County from part of the Chickas ...

and

Murray County, Oklahoma Murray County is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,488. This is a 6.9 percent increase from 12,623 at the 2000 census. The county seat is Sulphur. The county was ...

, about west of

Davis, Oklahoma Davis is a city in Garvin and Murray counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 2,683 at the 2010 census. History Davis is named after Samuel H. Davis, who moved to Washita in what was then Indian Territory in 1887. At the tim ...

, is a historic surveying

initial point In surveying, an initial point is a datum (a specific point on the surface of the earth) that marks the beginning point for a cadastral survey. The initial point establishes a local geographic coordinate system for the surveys that refer to that ...

which was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1970. It includes one

contributing object In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

, a

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

marker monument approximately 54x18x18 in dimension. It was set "in a mound of stones six feet in diameter and three feet high, from which flagstaff at Fort Arbuckle bears north seven degrees, thirty-seven minutes west." With Initial Point, or the "Point of Beginning," was established by

General Land Office The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department o ...

surveyors in 1870. From this point all land in

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...

and Oklahoma Territory, and later the State of Oklahoma except for its Panhandle, was surveyed and described. It is considered one of the notable initial points in the United States. At the time of its establishment, Initial Point was located in

Pickens County, Chickasaw Nation Pickens County was a political subdivision of the Chickasaw Nation in the Indian Territory from 1855, prior to Oklahoma being admitted as a state in 1907. The county was one of four that comprised the Chickasaw Nation. Following statehood, its terr ...

.Charles Goins, ''Historical Atlas of Oklahoma'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006), plate 105.

References

Initial points National Register of Historic Places in Garvin County, Oklahoma National Register of Historic Places in Murray County, Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-NRHP-stub