Tri-state area

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There are a number of areas in the 48 contiguous United States known as tri-state areas where three states either meet at one point (a tripoint) or are in close proximity to each other. The two best known of the latter type are for the New York and Chicago metropolitan areas. Two well-known examples of the former are Philadelphia's Delaware Valley and the Pittsburgh Tri-State.

The Tri-State Region around New York City is where New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut nearly meet. There is no tripoint, however, as Connecticut does not touch New Jersey. Chicago's tri-state region includes Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin and is commonly referred to as Chicagoland. This tri-state region also does not have a tripoint since Indiana does not touch Wisconsin. Pittsburgh's tri-state region includes Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, which meet near the Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey northwest of Pittsburgh. Philadelphia's tri-state area consists of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware, with a tripoint meeting in the Delaware River near the east end of the Twelve-Mile Arc.

Other large metropolitan areas with a tri-state area include Cincinnati and Memphis. Smaller ones include those of Dubuque, Iowa, which spills over into Illinois and Wisconsin; and of Evansville, Indiana, which includes parts of Illinois and Kentucky.

The area that includes Washington, D.C. and the nearby parts of Maryland and Virginia is sometimes loosely referred to as a "tri-state area," although Washington is not a state.

The "Joplin District", a lead and zinc mining region of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, produced mineral specimens known as "Tri-State" minerals.

Contents 1 Land tripoints 2 Water tripoints 3 Regions with no Tripoint 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Land tripoints

Of the 62 points in the United States where three and only three states meet (each of which may be associated with its own tri-state area), 34 are on dry land.^[1] They are:

State 1	State 2	State 3	Notes
Alabama	Florida	Georgia	Marker on riverbank is actually a few feet above and west of true tripoint at high-water line.
Alabama	Georgia	Tennessee	Marker on dry land at surface level but unmarked on lake in cavern directly below.
Arizona	Nevada	Utah	Marked.
Arkansas	Louisiana	Mississippi	Unmarked on silt island in river connected to west bank by riprap.
Arkansas	Louisiana	Texas	See Ark-La-Tex. Marker in process of being surrounded and absorbed by tree.
Arkansas	Missouri	Oklahoma	Marked.
Arkansas	Oklahoma	Texas	Unmarked on silt island in river, but Oklahoma-Texas state line as revised in 2000 is defective in not extending from vegetation line on south bank to pre-established tripoint.
California	Nevada	Oregon	Marked.
Colorado	Kansas	Nebraska	Marked.
Colorado	Kansas	Oklahoma	8 Mile Corner. Marker is concealed in crypt beneath removable manhole cover.
Colorado	Nebraska	Wyoming	Marked.
Colorado	New Mexico	Oklahoma	Preston Monument
Colorado	Utah	Wyoming	Marked.
Connecticut	Massachusetts	New York	See The Berkshires. Marked.
Connecticut	Massachusetts	Rhode Island	See Thompson, Connecticut. Marked.
Delaware	Maryland	Pennsylvania	See Delaware Wedge. Marked.
Georgia	North Carolina	Tennessee	Marked.
Idaho	Montana	Wyoming	Located within Yellowstone National Park. Marked.
Idaho	Nevada	Oregon	Marked.
Idaho	Nevada	Utah	Marked.
Idaho	Utah	Wyoming	Marked.
Indiana	Michigan	Ohio	Marker is concealed in crypt beneath removable iron cover.
Iowa	Minnesota	South Dakota	Marked.
Kansas	Missouri	Oklahoma	Marked.
Kentucky	Tennessee	Virginia	Tri-State Peak[2] Located within Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. Marked.
Kentucky	Virginia	West Virginia	Marked.
Maryland	Pennsylvania	West Virginia	Marked.
Massachusetts	New Hampshire	Vermont	Marker is technically on dry land, but buried within river bed.[3]
Massachusetts	New York	Vermont	Marked.
Montana	North Dakota	South Dakota	Marked.
Montana	South Dakota	Wyoming	Marked.
Nebraska	South Dakota	Wyoming	Marked.
New Mexico	Oklahoma	Texas	Texomex Marker
North Carolina	Tennessee	Virginia	Marked.

[edit] Water tripoints

Twenty-eight tripoints are under water:

State 1	State 2	State 3	Water	Notes
Alabama	Mississippi	Tennessee	Tennessee River
Arizona	California	Nevada	Colorado River
Arkansas	Mississippi	Tennessee	Mississippi River	Memphis, Tennessee metro area.
Arkansas	Missouri	Tennessee	Mississippi River
Connecticut	New York	Rhode Island	Long Island Sound	The part of New York that is in this tri-state area is Fishers Island. It is the New London, Connecticut metro area.
Delaware	New Jersey	Pennsylvania	Delaware River	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania metro area, at the east end of the Twelve-Mile Arc.
Georgia	North Carolina	South Carolina	Chatooga River	Located in river very near marker on dry land.
Idaho	Oregon	Washington	Snake River
Illinois	Indiana	Kentucky	Wabash River and Ohio River	Evansville, Indiana metro area. See Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky Tri-State Area.
Illinois	Indiana	Michigan	Lake Michigan	Known as either the Indiana Dunes or the Michigan Dunes Area
Illinois	Iowa	Wisconsin	Mississippi River	Dubuque, Iowa metro area.
Illinois	Kentucky	Missouri	Mississippi River and Ohio River	Little Egypt region popularly labeled as a tri-state area with St. Louis, Missouri, Marion, Illinois metro area, and Paducah, Kentucky being its nuclei.
Illinois	Michigan	Wisconsin	Lake Michigan
Indiana	Kentucky	Ohio	Ohio River	Cincinnati, Ohio metro area. The tripoint is near, but not precisely at, the confluence with the Great Miami River.
Iowa	Illinois	Missouri	Mississippi River and Des Moines River	Border with Lee County, Iowa
Iowa	Minnesota	Wisconsin	Mississippi River	La Crosse, Wisconsin, metro area.
Iowa	Missouri	Nebraska	Missouri River
Iowa	Nebraska	South Dakota	Big Sioux River and Missouri River	Sioux City, Iowa, metro area.
Kansas	Missouri	Nebraska	Missouri River
Kentucky	Missouri	Tennessee	Mississippi River	3 separate tripoints, due to meanders of the river (tho probably only a single tri-state area surrounding them all)
Kentucky	Ohio	West Virginia	Big Sandy River and Ohio River	Huntington (W.V.)-Ashland (Ky.)-Ironton (Oh.) Tri-State region.
Maryland	Virginia	West Virginia	Potomac River	Unmarked, at low water line, and almost always submerged.
Michigan	Minnesota	Wisconsin	Lake Superior
Minnesota	North Dakota	South Dakota	Bois de Sioux River	Not directly marked and most probably within river.
New Jersey	New York	Pennsylvania	Delaware River	Purportedly marked on left bank but actually in middle of river.
Ohio	Pennsylvania	West Virginia	Ohio River	Technically the Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey, although the actual monument is 1,112 feet north of the tripoint due to the tripoint's current location under water.

[edit] Regions with no Tripoint

The following tri-state areas are also notable, but have no tripoint:

State 1	State 2	State 3	Notes
Alabama	Mississippi	Florida	The Gulf Coast region.
Connecticut	New York	New Jersey	New York metro area. See Tri-State Region article.
Illinois	Indiana	Wisconsin	Chicago metro area
Kansas	Oklahoma	Texas	The Liberal, Kansas, area has a close relationship with the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.
Massachusetts	Maine	New Hampshire	The Boston to Portland metro area.

[edit] See also

• Four State Area
• Four Corners

[edit] References

1. ^ "Tri State Corners in the United States". Jack Parsell. http://www.bjbsoftware.com/corners/docs/parsell.pdf. 
2. ^ Tri-State Peak at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
3. ^ Eric Jones. New Hampshire Curiosities. Globe Pequot, 2006. p114-5.

[edit] External links

• Tripoint Guide
• The US Tri-Corner Home Page