Indian Meridian Initial Point

Tami and I were making our way down to Texas for our nephew Ryan's wedding and I decided to make a detour or more accurately...take the road less traveled!  I had made my plans to visit the Indian Meridian Initial Point monument which is in the Arbuckle Mountains just west of Davis, Oklahoma.  Since I am an Oklahoma Licensed Professional Surveyor, I figured it was a once in a life time opportunity.

For the "Land Surveyingly Challanged" reading this blog, the initial point was a position (randomly chosen, designated by the Land Commissioner or as in the case of the Louisiana Purchase, mandated by the US Congress) from which General Land Office (GLO) surveys were begun.  A baseline was run east and west by compass based on true or astronomic north, with monuments being placed every one/half mile at the section, quarter section and township corners.  A meridian line was run north and south by compass also based on true or astronomic north and monuments placed as outlined above.  Six mile square (square in name only) townships were then established from the township monuments on the baseline and meridian line.  This is extremely simplified but the point is (no pun intended) the initial point is a very important....point.  The Indian Meridian Initial Point controls all of the surveys in the state of Oklahoma, except the panhandle which is based on the Cimarron Meridian Initial Point.

We drove west of Davis Oklahoma on Highway 7 to the road that led south to the monument.  Big Problem!  It was the entrance to the "Lazy" something ranch and was gated and locked!  Using an old indian trick (tire tracks in the dust) I ascertained that no one had been in or out of the gate in a couple of days.  Since we couldn't see anyone at the ranch buildings we had to leave without visiting the monument.  It was disappointing but I found some good pictures of it here.  We did get some pictures of the area which are posted below.

If you want to read more detail about the "Indian Meridian Initial Point" go here

Road Sign on Meridian Line

Looking North

Looking South

Looking southerly toward the Arbuckle Mountains