Willamette Stone State Heritage Site

With the exception of portions of the eastern United States and Texas, the United States is divided into a grid of six-mile squares called Townships and Ranges, commonly known as the rectangular survey system.

The Willamette Stone is the "Initial Point" or Point of Beginning of the Willamette Meridian.

Preston, the first Surveyor General of the Oregon Territory, the surveys completed from this location promoted settlement of the Northwest and began the transfer of land from government ownership to private ownership.

After a short walk down a hill in the park, you can see, touch and read about this important marker.

This property was acquired in 1945 to preserve the origin point of the land survey system for Oregon and Washington. The park is a small forest tract surrounding the site of a stake in a concrete apron marking the point of intersection of the Willamette Meridian and Willamette Baseline as established June 4, 1851, by John B. Preston, the first Surveyor General of Oregon. It was from this fixed point that all lands in the public domain in Oregon and Washington were sectioned. There is a parking area and trail to the current monument, re-dedicated in 1988.