America's Basement

America's Basement: Guide to America's Lowest Points

Here's my pet goldens Lila and Zephyr at the low point. The temperature was around 120 (it was a dry heat).

DISCLAIMER: These maps and longitude/latitude are based on online mapping programs. They may not be exactly the official spots.

This list was originally compiled by Jack Parsell, who has completed all 50 state high points as well as all the state low points. You can buy his guide (updated in 2000) for $2 (including shipping and handling) by writing him at

Box 97, 1892 Main Street
Beaver Falls, NY 13305

Specific low points are not listed for the 21 states with ocean lowpoints; and 4 states (Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Vermont) with major lake low points. 2 states (California and Louisiana) have low points below sea level! California and Louisiana, incidentally,are the only states that don't have a low point on a state or international border (sea level counts here).


State	Lowest Point	County	Description	Elevation (feet)	North Latitude	West Longitude	Topozone Map	Trip Reports	Terraserver Aerial Photo	Mapquest Street Map	Buy This Topo Map
Alabama	Gulf of Mexico			Sea Level
Alaska	Pacific Ocean			Sea Level
Arizona	Colorado River	Yuma	Mexican Border near San Luis	70	32.4942	114.8127	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Arkansas	Ouachita River	Ashley	Louisiana border near Crossett	55	33.0374	92.1081	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
California	Bad Water	Inyo	Death Valley	-282	36.2297	116.7666	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Colorado	Arikaree River	Yuma	Kansas border near Nebraska line.	3320	39.9777	102.0515	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Connecticut	Long Island Sound			Sea Level
Delaware	Atlantic Ocean			Sea Level
District of Columbia	Potomac River		Jones Point on Maryland/Virginia Border	1	38.7903	77.04	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Florida	Atlantic Ocean			Sea Level
Georgia	Atlantic Ocean			Sea Level
Hawaii	Pacific Ocean			Sea Level
Idaho	Snake River	Nez Perce	Intersection with Clearwater River on Washington border near Lewiston	710	46.4265	117.0382	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Illinois	Mississippi River	Alexander	Intersection with Ohio River (Kentucky border) near Cairo	279	36.9847	89.1337	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Indiana	Ohio River	Posey	Intersection with Wabash River near Mount Vernon	320	37.9998	88.0279	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Iowa	Mississippi River	Lee	Missouri border at intersection with Des Moines River near Keokuk	480	40.40958	91.40351	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Kansas	Verdigris River	Montgomery	Oklahoma border near Coffeyville	679	37.0551	95.5962	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Kentucky	Mississippi River	Fulton	Tennesse border near Tiptonville, TN	257	36.508	89.5312	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Louisiana	Ponchartain Park	Ponchartain	New Orleans (off Press Drive)	-8	30.0271	90.0384	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Maine	Atlantic Ocean			Sea Level
Maryland	Atlantic Ocean			Sea Level
Massachussetts	Atlantic Ocean			Sea Level
Michigan	Lake Erie			571
Minnesota	Lake Superior			600
Mississippi	Gulf of Mexico			Sea Level
Missouri	St. Francis River	Dunklin	Arkansas border near Kennett	230	35.99748	90.37561	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Montana	Kootenai River	Lincoln	Idaho border near Troy	1800	48.6214	116.0842	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Nebraska	Missouri River	Richardson	Kansas border near Falls City	840	95.3096	40.0002	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Nevada	Colorado River	Clark	California border near Needles	479	114.635	35.0088	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
New Hampshire	Atlantic Ocean			Sea Level
New Jersey	Altantic Ocean			Sea Level
New Mexico	Pecos River	Eddy	Texas border (Red Bluff Reservoir) near Carlsbad	2840	32.0026	103.9793	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
New York	Atlantic Ocean			Sea Level
North Carolina	Atlantic Ocean			Sea Level
North Dakota	Red River	Pembina	Canadian border near Pembina	750	49.0008	97.2297	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Ohio	Ohio River	Hamilton	Intersection with Great Miami River on Kentucky and Indiana border near North Bend	455	39.1053	84.8211	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Oklahoma	Little River	McCurtain	Arkansas border near Eagletown	289	34.0342	94.5747	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Oregon	Pacific Ocean			Sea Level
Pennsylvania	Delaware River	Delaware	Marcus Hook Park on Delaware River on Delaware border	Sea Level	39.8026	75.4155	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Rhode Island	Atlantic Ocean			Sea Level
South Carolina	Atlantic Ocean			Sea Level
South Dakota	Minnesota River	Grant	Big Stone Lake on Minnesota border near Big Stone City	966	45.3023	96.4521	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Tennessee	Mississipi River	Shelby	Mississipi border near Lake Cormorant	178	34.9961	90.3105	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Texas	Stell-Lind Banco No. 128		Lake near where Rio Grande enters Gulf of Mexico	-2	25.96	97.19	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Utah	Beaver Dam Wash	Washington	Arizona border near Littlefield, AZ	2000	37.1747	114	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Vermont	Lake Champlain			75
Virgnia	Atlantic Ocean			Sea Level
Washington	Pacific Ocean			Sea Level
West Virginia	Potomac River	Jefferson	Virginia border near Harpers Ferry	240	39.3211	77.7194	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo
Wisconsin	Lake Michigan			579
Wyoming	Belle Fourche River	Crook	South Dakota border near Belle Fourche, SD	3099	44.7684	104.6961	Topo	Trip Reports	Photo	Map	Buy Topo