Black Mesa
Oklahoma
March 2013
Ahead, we see something with straight lines subtly sticking up perpendicular from the straight horizontal line of the horizon. I’ll bet that’s our ultimate destination: The marker at the high point.
Another ten minutes. After an anything-but-grueling 600-foot climb, we comfortably arrive at the summit, in the midst of the flat highland. Or would that be a high flatland? In the clearing, which is to say, more dirt than brush, stands a nine foot tall native granite obelisk, marking the one point that is higher than any other place in the 70 000 square miles of the state of Oklahoma.
This obelisk does more than just mark the high point. The four-sided rock, if you don’t include the top and the bottom, yields the following important information. On the east face…
CIMARRON COUNTY
IS THE ONLY ONE
OF AMERICA’S 3,070
COUNTIES THAT TOUCHES
AS MANY AS FOUR STATES
Carved on the other three sides are tidbits about how high we are (4972.97 feet) and the land distance to three cities and three other states.
Let’s talk about the value, the inviolability, of the phrase carved in stone. You’ve heard this phrase and you understand it to mean that something is set as is, and it is intended to stay set as is. Carving in stone is a laborious process and the results can be expected to last for eons, give or take twenty minutes.
So when we read, carved in stone, “Cimarron County is the only one of America’s 3,070 counties that touches as many as four states,” we tend to believe it.
Such a fun fact! I have a fondness for statistics (trivia) like this and I love the magic of it. Although love and magic are closely related, and we seek them wherever they may be, this ain’t the place. Something about the claim makes me skeptical — love and magic can fool you — so I check it out. To wit…
1
I’m not going to verify whether this is the only county in the United States that touches as many as four states. Too much busy work. But yet, I have determined that our statement carved in stone is in fact, incorrect. Cimarron County in Oklahoma touches not four states, but five states including Oklahoma, the state it is in. It borders on Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and in the very northeastern corner, cops a quick feel of Kansas. Would that then be pronounced “Kans-ass”?
2
America probably does not have 3070 counties. It may possibly have had that many when this marker was placed, but we can’t know that. To state the exact number of counties to be found in America is problematic; it depends on who you believe, or how you count. One source lists the number of counties as 3077. Another source says 3009, while a third lists 3035 counties. No source I checked, other than the carved-in-stone marker, claims 3070.
Which brings up a key point. A county is a geographical, political, administrative region. But not every state calls what they have “counties.” Louisiana, for example, has no counties. It has parishes. Alaska calls theirs boroughs or census areas. Several states have cities that are not in any county. For convenience, these are called county-equivalents. Is a county-equivalent equivalent to a county?
No matter how many ways you figure it, the “3,070” that is etched in our current favorite stone is nothing more than a semi-random number etched in stone. The same is true of the amount of contiguous borders. Heck, if they can’t count to five accurately, how are we to accept 3070!
Better to believe what you read on the internet.