We are all interested in Latitude/Longitude and coordinate grids. It is at the heart of Geocaching. But before the advent of GPSs, latitude/longitude was determined by reference points, a solar compass, surveying equipment, tables of data… and a lot of trigonometry and bushwhacking! This Adventure Lab will take you on a journey along part of the original survey of the Willamette Meridian. It will take 2-3 hours to complete. As part of the Oregon Donation Land Act of 1850, a survey was required to allow parcels to be accurately measured, defined and sold. Public lands were to be divided into townships (6x6 miles) and subdivided into 1x1 mile squares. President Fillmore appointed John Preston for the task. In 1851, Preston selected this exact site as the reference for the survey, so that the north/south Willamette Meridian would pass west of Vancouver Lake and the east/west Base Line would pass below the Columbia River. At last waypoint, view journal entries for coordinates to bonus cache.
Use your phone's native QR code scanner to open this Adventure in the Adventure Lab® mobile app. Learn more.
