27-Apr-2001 -- Visited by Rick and Anna Smeltzer
27-April-2001 –This confluence, 39 north 90 west is located northeast of St.
Louis near Dorsey, Illinois in Macoupin County in the heart of southwest
Illinois's farm country. It is located just a few feet north of the Madison
and Macoupin County line. We wondered if the county line was supposed to
have been the 39th parallel but was off slightly due to a past surveying
error. Using common courtesy, we obtained permission from the landowner to
photograph the confluence.
The owner, Richard Hurst, operates Hurst Livestock and Grain on about 300
acres in the above mentioned counties. He grows corn, soybeans, wheat and
hay. He also raises Angus beef cattle. As this is the 90th meridian, we
are a quarter of the way around the world. Richard remembers a sign on
state road 140 stating this fact. Richard also asked us to mark the
confluence, which we obliged.
Photograph one is looking due north from the confluence. Picture two is of
a hunter’s blind located just southeast of the confluence. Picture three is
looking toward the northwest at the marked confluence. Picture four is
looking at the farm fields toward the town of Dorsey. Picture five is the
obligatory GPS receiver. Picture six is of the old US Route 66 marker in
Hamel, Illinois.
This confluence is also near Alton, Illinois. Alton is home of the new 4260
foot cable-stayed Clark Bridge over the Mississippi.