{"nrhp_refnum":"75000459","name":"Washington, Henry, Survey Marker","other_names":[],"category":"object","location":{"address":"S of Big Bear City in San Bernadino National Forest","address_restricted":false,"city":"Big Bear City","county":"San Bernardino County","state":"CA","lat":34.12029157000006,"lon":-116.93037799999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-05-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A surveying monument south of Big Bear City in the San Bernardino National Forest, California, built in November 1852 by Deputy Surveyor Col. Henry Washington. It is a pile of rocks about 4 feet high around a hewn wooden post, set between three small pine trees.","why_significant":"The monument was the first initial point built for the land surveys of Southern California, marking the start of the San Bernardino Base and Meridian. Two later initial points were set east of it in 1892 and 1907 because of survey errors. The form argues that Washington's point lies on the baseline and is part of the U.S. Public Land Survey.","narrative":"Located south of Big Bear City within the San Bernardino National Forest, this surveying monument is a pile of rocks about four feet high and thirty feet around, set between the remnants of three small pine trees. A hewn post installed by Deputy Surveyor Col. Henry Washington in November 1852 rises from the center; about eight feet of it still stands. Washington built it as the first initial point for the San Bernardino Base and Meridian, the starting point for dividing the lands of Southern California into sections. Later surveyors set two further initial points to the east in 1892 and 1907, and a federal engineer in 1917 accepted those two but not Washington's. The monument remains significant as the earliest initial point for the region's land surveys. Three of the four bearing trees Washington described still survive, and the site has changed little apart from a nearby trail and burn spots from 1949 bonfires.","period_of_significance":"1852","architect_builder":"Col. Henry Washington, Deputy Surveyor","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition and described as unaltered and on its original site; about eight feet of the original post remains standing. Two of the three surviving bearing trees are in excellent condition and one is in poor condition.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:32.116337-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/75000459.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000459/a9d9532e73-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000459/a9d9532e73-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Bomotobo","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washington_Survey_Marker_(looking_NW).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bomotobo</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washington_Survey_Marker_(looking_NW).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860805","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Washington_Survey_Marker","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19868103"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-bernardino-county/washington-henry-survey-marker-75000459/"}