The 34th meridian west from Washington is an archaic meridian based on the Washington Meridian and hence 111°2′48.0″ West of Greenwich.[1] The meridian is most notably used as a boundary for four states. The east-west continental divide of North America crosses the 34th meridian at the tripoint between Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
Usage as a boundary
The meridian was first used as a boundary when the Montana Territory was created in 1864. It served as Montana Territory's extreme southwestern boundary.[2] The next usage of the boundary came when the Wyoming Territory was established in 1868, with the meridian as its western boundary.[3] It was also at this time that it became much of the then-Idaho Territory's eastern boundary, as well as the extreme northeastern boundary of the then-Utah Territory. Montana became a state in 1889, with Idaho and Wyoming following the year afterwards.[4][5][6]Utah became a state in 1896.[7]
In the present day, the meridian is used as Wyoming's western border with Montana, Idaho and Utah.
^Ron Rood and Linda Thatcher (2014). "Statehood". A Brief History of Utah. State of Utah. Archived from the original(HTML) on November 10, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2014. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)