Willamette Stone marks the intersection of the Willamette meridian and baseline in Portland’s West Hills, the reference point for the township-and-section grid used to measure land in Oregon and Washington after the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850. First established as a red cedar stake on June 4, 1851, by Surveyor General John B. Preston, it anchored a survey system laid out by James E. Freeman and William Ives. In 1885 the stake was replaced by a stone obelisk, later replaced again after vandalism in the 1980s. The site remains significant for its lasting role in regional land surveying and geography.

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

West Haven-Sylvan, Oregon · USA