Denver
Colorado
June 2018
You know darn well that cities are not flat. Right? Then how the heck do you tell what the altitude of a city would be!
Take Denver, Colorado, for example. Everybody knows that Denver is nicknamed the “Mile High City.” Well, everybody except for perhaps a few Broncos fans. Nonetheless, how do you measure such a thing? I mean, there are hills and dips all over the place. Denver, like just about every other population center in the world, is not flat.
Here’s me at the marker indicating 5280 feet above sea level, one mile high. Denver. Ta-da! Lisa is taking the photo so she is high too.
But just what does it mean to be a mile high?
In Denver, yes, the State Building is at 5280 feet, or at least this step is. But clearly the steps go up from here — to a higher altitude — and the steps go down from here — to a lower altitude. More, several blocks to the southeast from this point is Congress Park at 5400 feet. What is this mishigas!
N’wait, it gets better. The answer to this confusing mess is crystal clear and leaves no room for controversy. The answer is — y’ready? — it’s arbitrary! Each city and town gets to decide for itself! There is no standard.
Well, wait a second. There is a standard. It’s called City Datum and is designed for cities to be a “standard height.” This number is useful for engineers, architects, planners and such. But each city gets to decide what its standard height is.
In addition, if they so choose, cities get to pick a particular spot and use the altitude of that spot — the height of the bottom of City Hall, the front steps of City Hall, the average for the downtown area, the elevation of a sidewalk in front of a prominent entrance, whatever — as the official number.
Which means, it’s not just arbitrary, it’s bullshit! Ha!
Let’s pretend we’re not talking about the height of a city. Let’s talk about a point in a city; specifically the mile high point in the ersatz Mile High City.
To my left in the photo you can see the marker. I am sitting on the step carved with the words…
ONE MILE ABOVE SEA LEVEL
This is today. Over the past 100 years however, three different steps have made the same claim.
Two possible reasons for the discrepancy are…
1
Constantly improving technology, giving us a more accurate read.
2
A 600 000 ton granite building might actually be sinking into the ground. Whoa, that’s heavy.
I’m going to declare my house in Pittsburgh (altitude 985 feet) as being at the standard height, and proclaim it to be, like Denver, one mile high. And then I’m going to charge admission. The city of Pittsburgh is rated at 1365 feet. My house is standard height so I have reason to expect large crowds.
Let’s just throw this in. Pittsburgh is famous for its steps — in fact, they are called the Steps of Pittsburgh — 712 sets of outdoor public stairways. They climb 24 090 vertical feet. Top that, Denver.