The State Line May Jump East—and Put Two Blocks of Idaho in Washington
A new survey suggested Newport’s border with Idaho was off by hundreds of feet, raising hopes and anxieties in a town that did not want to be handed to Idaho.
Newport, Washington, people who do not like the idea of the state line survey throwing us into Idaho may find some hope in a report which reached Newport this week. It is to the effect that the surveyors, after progressing 70 miles with their work, have found that the true line veers 50 feet to the east of the old line. The surveyors are now about 110 miles from Newport, so that if the ratio is kept up the state line at this place will be between 500 and 600 feet east of its present location, throwing almost two blocks of Idaho into Washington.
“if the ratio is kept up the state line at this place will be between 500 and 600 feet east of its present location, throwing almost two blocks of Idaho into Washington.”
Long before today’s “Greater Idaho” movements, Newport residents were watching surveyors to see which state their streets belonged to. Border surveys still decide taxes, schools, and political identity for communities along the Washington–Idaho line.
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