Four Corners marker, where states meet, is off by 2½ miles

Tourists who think they're putting a hand or foot in each of four states at the Four Corners area are apparently missing the mark — by about 2 ½ miles.

National Geodetic Survey officials say the Four Corners marker showing the intersection of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah is about 2 ½ miles west of where it should be.

The only place in the United States where four state boundaries come together was first surveyed by the government in 1868 during the initial survey of Colorado's southern boundary. The survey was inaccurate.

Officials said Monday the accurate location lies to the east of U.S. 160 in Colorado and northeast of the San Juan River as it flows into New Mexico.

San Juan County surveyor David Bronson said of the present monument, "That's the accepted location."

"That's a long ways to be off," he acknowledged of the 2.5-mile discrepancy, but stressed to Utah's Desert News that once it was set, it remained.