The Willamette Meridian
Near Dundee, Oregon
This unassuming marker sits on one of the most important lines in the Pacific Northwest. On June fourth of eighteen fifty-one, a survey crew working for John Preston, Oregon's first surveyor general, drove a wooden stake into the hills west of Portland. That stake fixed the starting point for the Willamette Meridian, running north and south, and the Willamette Baseline, running east and west.
From that single origin, every township, every section, and nearly every property line in Oregon and Washington was measured. One meridian was enough to survey both future states. The original cedar stake was later replaced by a stone obelisk.
Where you stand, the meridian line still does practical work. It divides the city of Tualatin between Clackamas County on one side and Washington County on the other.
