The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1922-05-18
Survey of the
State OF Kansas
The Geographical Center of the Unit
ed States
The Greatest Wheat. State in the Union
Produces all Other Grains in
Abundance
Alfalfa and Other Forage Crops Grow
IN Kansas
(By R. Kenneth Evans)

14eIS - LlS uSdIJ OI IIle continent,
and to him who passes there comes
the calm of the great spaces, where
his vision is unbounded save by the
, horizon, and wherein lies the gran
airy of the nation.
Of mountains, none, but of hills,
with outlined beauty and picturesque
environment, there are many. Mount
Dread, crowned with the stately
structures of the University at Law
renee, beams welcome to the pill
grim who has entered the state,
while Blue Mount stands with friend
ly greeting to the worlds Greatest
Agricultural college at Manhattan.
The buttes of the Verdigris river are
touched with romance, the shifting
sand dunes of the Arkansas, a wilder
ness uncommon on the continent,
while Pawnee Rock stands monu-
ment to untold tragedies.
Its Geographical Location
In the geographical center of the
United States, the grassy parallelo-
gram, called Kansas slopes, from the
Missouri River, with an elevation of
$50 feet above the sea, westward and
upward towards the foothills of the
Rockies, where an altitude of 1000
feet is obtained. 4
The state is 408 miles long from
east to west, and 2O8 miles from
,,o,tb - so,,+I, To- o-a,,4I,, II;,, - 49,.
face is marked by the broad, level
valleys of its rivers, so that one may
travel it's entire length from the
mouth of the Kansas river to the
Colorado state line with never a hill
to climb.
With the northeast corner clipped
off by the Missouri river, the state
has an area of 82,O8O square miles,
or 52,499,O78 acres. of which 94,sO2
is in water surface, 1,O15,O45 acres
in prairie grass and 21,234, 4,594 acres
are under cultivation.
The population of the state is l.
769,257. The four largest cities are
Kansas City, with population of
1O1,177; Wichita, with 1927; To-
peka, 5O,O22, and Hutchinson, with
%, ,298.
Topeka is the capital, with a $3,-
100000 capital building, Washburn
college, Bethany College for girls,
the railroad shops and offices of the
Great Santa Fe system, the State Re-
formatory for boys, the state hospital
for the insane, numerous flour mills,
manufactures, creameries, etc.
The Greatest Wheat State
Kansas is the principal wheat rails
ing state of the -union and is the
largest producer of the unrivaled
hard winter wheat of any political
unit in the world. During the past
twenty years Kansas has averaged
more than S5,OOO,OOO bushels of
wheat per year. 1920 years produc-
ton approximately 15O,OO0.0OO.
The climate of the state is gener-
ally mild, with few excessively hot
or cold days. There is an average of
more than 200 days of sunshine in
the year. In the eastern and low lY-
ing sections of the state the rainfall
is well over thirty-six inches a year.
This gradually decreases as the Colo
rado line is approached until the
average is about nineteen inches.
This variation in rainfall and altitude
from east to west makes the broad
developments of the agricultural re-
sources, for which the state is noted.
The low altitude and heavy rainfall of
the eastern third of the state are
especially favored to the growth of
all farm crops and fruits of the tenn
perate zone. The middle third of the
state, in which Ellis county is includ-
ed, is the great producer of wheat,
alfalfa, and corn, while the western
third lends itself especially to wheat,