Existing comment:
The State of Utah:
When Utah was created as a state, the Constitution established the boundaries (in Article II) by using degrees of longitude "west from Washington." This Washington meridian, established by Congress in 1850, measured longitude by having the Prime Meridian set at the Old Naval Observatory in Washington, DC about 77 degrees longitude from the present Prime Meridian located in Greenwich, England. The Washington system continued until the international Meridian Conference of 1884, though it was still used in creating state boundaries for Utah, Idaho, Nebraska, Wyoming and others. |