The centuries long dispute that erupted began with boundary discrepancies across many surveys within which were valuable mineral deposits; Nevada also had a wish that California would assent to cede its land east of the pacific crest as had been preauthorized by Congress in 1850.[2] The first consequential attempt to mark the California-Nevada boundary was the 1863 J.F. Houghton and Butler Ives line. An 1867-1868 survey of the California-Oregon border by Daniel G. Major for the General Land Office found the 120th meridian more than two miles west of the prior line, so it was followed by the 1872 survey by Allexey W. Von Schmidt. Against initial instructions, Von Schmidt began his survey with the 1872 California-Nevada State Boundary Marker[60] which was six-tenths of a mile east of the Houghton-Ives line.