San Clemente Longitude Station, San Clemente Island

San Clemente Longitude Station, San Clemente Island is a triangulation station set by George Davidson in 1852 and relocated by Stehman Forney in 1878. Forney notes:

“At the San Clemente anchorage, on the sand bench about 50 yards from high water mark. To the eastward are small sand dunes covered with old shells and Indian mounds. The station was marked by a flat, irregular-shaped stone with a leaden bolt and a copper tack in the top, buried 2 feet underground. Above this was a redwood post 4 feet long and 3 by 4 inches, projecting 2 feet above the surface, with a copper nail in the top, marking the center of the station. our smaller redwood stubs, each with copper nail in the top, were buried beneath the surface of the ground, 2 feet distant to the north, south, east and west.” [Annual Report of the Director, U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey, 1904]