The Gila and Salt River meridian intersects the base line on the south side of Gila River, opposite the mouth of Salt River, in latitude 33° 22′ 40″ north, longitude 112° 17′ 25″ west from Greenwich, and governs the surveys in the territory of Arizona. The initial point is located on Monument Hill, an easily visible hill just south of the confluence of the Gila and Salt Rivers, in Avondale, Arizona, about 14 miles (23 kilometers) southwest of downtown Phoenix. The original marker has been lost for many years, but a brass plaque was mounted in rock in 1931 (due to damage of the plaque, this could be 1961), then a large concrete, brass and aluminum monument was constructed about 14.8 feet (4.5 m) (center-to-center) from the 1931 marker. That monument was, in turn, modified in 2006. The location was added to the National Register of Historic Places (listing #02001137) as of October 15, 2002, but apparently the plaque for that listing was constructed on the summit at the same time as the 2006 modification of the nearby monument.
For the 1984/2006 marker, handheld GPS units give a reading of 33° 22.631′ N Latitude and 112° 18.366′ W Longitude due to the specific geoid used. The angle between the 1984/2006 marker and the 1931 marker is at a compass heading of 292°, aka 22° north of due west. The location is immediately east of Phoenix International Raceway and the western side of Monument Hill is terraced for low-priced race viewing.
Famous quotes containing the words salt, river and/or meridian:
“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.”
—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 5:13.
“This ferry was as busy as a beaver dam, and all the world seemed anxious to get across the Merrimack River at this particular point, waiting to get set over,—children with their two cents done up in paper, jail-birds broke lose and constable with warrant, travelers from distant lands to distant lands, men and women to whom the Merrimack River was a bar.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I knew that my vocation was found. I had received the call, and having done so, I was sure my work would be assigned me. Of some things we feel quite certain. Inside there is a click, a kind of bell that strikes, when the hands of our destiny meet at the meridian hour.”
—Amelia E. Barr (1831–1919)