Four Corners

The Four Corners is a region of the United States consisting of southwest Colorado, northwest New Mexico, northeast Arizona and southeast Utah. The name comes from the Four Corners Monument, located where the four states touch — the only location in the United States that is on the boundaries of four states. The majority of the Four Corners region is part of sovereign indigenous nations. Two of these are the Navajo Nation and the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation which have a boundary at the Four Corners Monument in addition to the four states. The economic capital and largest city in the region is Farmington, New Mexico.

History

The United States first acquired the area now called Four Corners from Mexico after the Mexican American War in 1848. The area was first surveyed by the U.S. Government in 1868 as part of an effort to form the state of Colorado, the first of the Four Corners states formed. The Four Corners was established as the jurisdictional boundary in 1901 when the boundaries of the Arizona Territory were established.cite web| url = http://www.utah.com/playgrounds/four_corners.htm| title = Four Corners| publisher = Utah Office of Tourism/ Utah Travel Industry|accessdate = 2008-05-10] The first marker was placed at the spot in 1912. The first Navajo tribal government was established in 1923 to regulate an increasing number of oil exploration activities on Navajo tribal lands.cite web|title = Welcome to the Navajo Nation| url = http://www.navajo.org/history.htm| publisher = Navajo Nation |accessdate =2008-05-10]

Geography

The Four Corners Area is generally defined as a circle around the Four Corners Monument located at coord|36|59|56.31532|N|109|02|42.62019|W| cite web | url = http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=AD9256 | title = Four Corners PID AD9256 | work = NGS Survey Monument Data Sheet | format = text file | publisher = United States National Geodetic Survey | date = 2003-05-07 | accessdate = 2007-01-15 ]

The Four Corners is part of a high Colorado Plateau. This makes the area a center for weather systems, which stabilize on the plateau then proceed eastward toward the central and mountain states. This weather system creates snow and rain fall over the central United States.cite web|url=http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/2002/weather_winter101002.htm|title=Rainmaker, Go North – Nebraska Needs Help, Too|publisher=Kansas State University Research and Extension|last=Ward|first=Kathleen|accessdate=2008-05-08]

Protected areas in the Four Corners area include Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Hovenweep National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park and Monument Valley. 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: the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah as well as the tribal governments of the Navajo Nation and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.cite web|url = http://www1.eere.energy.gov/tribalenergy/guide/pdfs/ute_mountain_ute.pdf | title = Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation | publisher = U.S. Department of Energy |accessdate = 2008-05-11] The Four Corners Monument itself is administered by the Navajo Nation Department of Parks and Recreation.cite web |url = http://www.navajonationparks.org/htm/fourcorners.htm | title = Four corners Monument | publisher = Navajo Nation | accessdate =2008-05-08 ] Other tribal nations within the Four Corners region include Hopi and other Ute tribes. cite web | url = http://www.farmingtonnm.org/pages/tribes.html | title = Four Corners Indian Tribes | publisher=Farmington, New Mexico Convention and Visitors Bureau|accessdate=2008-05-08 ] The Four Corners is home to the capital of the Navajo tribal government at Window Rock, Arizona.cite web|url = http://www.navajo.org/history.htm | title = Welcome to the Navajo Nation | publisher= Navajo Nation | accessdate = 2008-05-08 ] The Ute Mountain Ute Tribal headquarters are located at Towaoc, Colorado.cite web | url = http://www.utemountainute.com/overview_statistics.htm |title = Ute Mountain Ute Tribe - Overview and Statistics | publisher = Ute Mountain Ute Tribe |accessdate =2008-05-11]

Cities

The Four Corners region is mostly rural. The economic hub, largest city, and only metropolitan in the region is Farmington, New Mexico. cite web | url=http://www.farmingtonnm.org/pages/fourcorn-map.html | title=Four Corners Area Map|publisher=Farmington, New Mexico Convention and Visitors Bureau | accessdate=2008-05-08] The populated settlement closest to the center of Four Corners is Teec Nos Pos, Arizona. cite web | url = http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Teec+Nos+Pos,+Apache,+Arizona,+United+States&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=0,36.923270,-109.091620&ll=36.985826,-109.027977&spn=0.207875,0.249939&z=12 | title = Google Maps | publisher = Google using data from NAVTEQ | accessdate=2008-05-08 ] Other cities in the region include, Cortez and Durango in Colorado, Monticello and Blanding in Utah, Kayenta and Chinle in Arizona and Shiprock, Aztec and Bloomfield in New Mexico.

Transportation

Interstate 40 passes along the southern edge of the Four Corners region. The primary U.S. Highways that directly serve the Four Corners include U.S. Route 64, U.S. Route 160, U.S. Route 163, U.S. Route 191, U.S. Route 491 (previously U.S. Route 666cite web
url = http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/us666.htm
title = U.S. 666: Beast of a Highway?
accessdate = 2007-11-17
author= Richard F. Weingroff
publisher = (USDOT - FHWA)] ) and U.S. Route 550.

The main line of the Santa Fe Railroad, now operated by BNSF Railroad, 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 and the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. The Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad, which connects a power plant with a coal mine near Kayenta comes near the Four Corners.cite map
publisher = Benchmark Maps
title = Arizona Road and Recreation Atlas
url = http://www.benchmarkmaps.com
edition = 2004
year = 2004
scale = 1:400,000
isbn = 0-929591-84-4
section = D3]

See also

*List of regions of the United States
*37th parallel north
*32nd meridian west from Washington
*Quadripoint
*

imilar places

*Four Corners (Florida), an area where four counties meet in central Florida.
*Four Corners (Canada)
*No Man's Heath
*Tres Fronteras
*Triple Frontier
*Treriksröset
*Drielandenpunt

Notes