#2: [27-Oct-05]

#1: [16-Apr-00]

08-Jun-2024 -- As I had just completed the University consortium for Geographic Information Sciences symposium at The Ohio State University, and as the focus was on the Earth, climate, education, and geotechnologies, a confluence visit seemed like the perfect capstone. Plus, eastern Ohio is where the public land survey system for the USA began, as detailed in Linklater's book entitled The Measuring of America. I highly recommend that book.

Hence the morning after the conference ended saw me aiming eastward, toward 40 North 81 West. I have never been to Wheeling West Virginia, and seeing that I was not far away from it today, it was tempting to continue on. However, I remained focused on this latitude-longitude point: I departed I-70 south on State Highway 149 to the lovely community of Belmont, which contained a former bank building in faded magnificence, and then I continued up ridges and down valleys on State Highway 147. An added treat for me as a geographer is that Ohio is one of the small-ish number of states where the state outline shape is used as the highway shield. This is one of the most scenic areas I have visited over 25 years traveling to a confluence point, though others rank right up there too--my trip to Austria last year, a mountainside in Taiwan, a yellow field of canola in England, and last month in eastern Montana overlooking the Missouri River valley. At the property where the confluence lay, I pulled over, careful not to block the driveway of the landowners. Knocking at the door, I was happy to find the landowner at home. After we chatted, and the landowner sounded amenable to permitting me to walk to the point, I invited the landowner to visit the point with me.

We soon set out across the newly cut hay field, aiming to the southwest. It was a fine spring morning. We were so intent on discussing land-use practice, geography, and agriculture, that we overshot 81° west by about 60 paces. We then tacked to the northeast toward the edge of the field. I was thinking that confluence would be in the trees, and therefore difficult to zero out the unit: We surely would just call it "close enough" at the edge of the field, rather than losing signal in the trees to the north. However, to my surprise, we found the confluence about 3 feet or 1 meter shy of the forest. Thus we were able to zero out the GPS unit and there was much rejoicing with accompanied feelings of centered-ness. I do use this project frequently to teach students about biomes, ecoregions, climate, population density, geomorphology, water, language, and other aspects of the physical and cultural environment.

Thus the confluence point lies on land slipping off to the north at the edge of a large hilly field of hay. It was late morning in late spring, the temperature about 80° F (27 C). I saw no birds or animals and no buildings are visible from the site. The forest contains a nice variety of trees and shrubs. As always on these treks, I thought about the indigenous population, roaming these hills for centuries, and the settlers, and have great respect for all who live, farm, and take care of the land including this landowner. I also thought about David McCullough's magnificent book entitled The Pioneers, about the original settlement of Ohio which took place not far from here, to the southwest, over 200 years ago, and I highly recommend that book as well.

Having visited this point, I now have a long nearly-unbroken stretch from east to west, across 40° north; with only a few short breaks, all the way from New Jersey, into Pennsylvania, across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, all the way to Kansas and Nebraska with many more points in Colorado and even into the Sierra Nevada of California. I also have stood on 81° west many times from here in Ohio, in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, on down south into Florida. I have visited most of the points in Ohio by now, including all the points along 40 North; I am only missing a few points in the entire state. I took pictures and filmed this video: 40 North 81 West.

It is always bittersweet to leave, knowing I would not be back, though I would like to visit the state park just north of here someday. Before departing company with the landowner, we verified on the website that I was only the third visitor to this point, and the first in 19 years. I appreciated the landowner's hospitality: The landowner respectfully requests that no further visits be made to this point. Please respect the landowner's wishes.

Coordinator's Note: Since the landowner requests that no further visits be made to this point, this confluence is "locked" and no more visits will be accepted.