The Coolidge examiner., 1932-05-13

In 1910 it was at the point where the parallel
of latitude of 80 degrees 10 minutes L seconds
n. intersects the meridian of longitude Sc de-
grees 81 minutes 20 seconds W.. and for the first
time In its history was located in city
Bloomington. Ind. From 1900 to 1910 it moved
Z of a mile north and $50 miles west the west
ward movement being nearly three times as
great from 1890 to 1900. but less than the
westward movement for all previous decades,
except between 1900 and 1910.
In the decade 1910 to 1920 1t moved only 9S
mes-the smallest movement 1t has ever shown,
being only about one-fourth of the movement
from 1900 TO 1910. The center has been in
Indiana for 40 years now and 1t is probable that
1t will still be in the possession of the Hoosiers
In 1940 for the historic banks of the Wabash"
the eastern boundary of Indiana, are still %
miles away and the center is not likely TO go
more than % miles westward In the next 10
years.
But II Indiana has a hold on one "center"
which 1t eventually will have to relinquish there
is one state which has another center that 1t
will never lose That state is Kansas and 1t has
permanent possession of the geographical center
of continental United States" For the United
States Coast and Geodetic survey has deter
mined that this center is located at Ogden on
the Fort Riley reservation in Smith county KAN
and Is located in latitude 80 degrees, so minutes
longitude 9S degrees, 80 minutes and monu-
ment has been erected there to mark the spot.
How this geographical center was determined
is described by officials Of the survey as follows
For land bounded by true circle the
center of the circle is the geographic center
also: for an area bounded by a square or
rectangle the intersection of the dagonals is the
true center; but for irregular area the CEN
ter Is not so easily found. One method of find
ing II, a method sufficiently exact for all prac-
teal purposes is to mount map on the area on
piece of stiff paper or cardboard and then cut
this paper cardboard to the exact outline
The point at which this figure will exactly bal
ance on pencil or pin point, If left free to
move, indicates the location of the geographic
center" 1t was by this method that the survey
not only found the geographical center of the
United States whole but also that of each
state.
Kansas also has permanent possession of an
other center which Is Of even more importance
than its geographic center for it has aptly
been called the hub of the United States" Out
in COW pasture on the Meade ranch in Osborne
county, Kansas, is a three-foot cube of concrete
in which is set a metal plate on which point
is engraved. And this is the dominant point 4"
the primary station" the "geodetic capital of
America" the king PIN of all United States
map-making and surveying and from it is cal
culated the latitude and longitude of a sixth of
the worlds land surface. since both Canada and
Mexico have adopted this point and its SUD-
porting system the North American Datum. z"
| 1t was established by the United States Coast
and Geodetic survey in 1901 as the initial sta
ton for the vast network of surveys that was to
be spread not only over the United States but
over the entire continent. 1t was designated as
the primary station" after the coast and
geodetic survey had employed intricate mathe.
matical calculations in extending its "triangula
tion network" across the country and had shifted
| the rigid network of its measurements about
very slight distances until the errors in longi-
tude and latitude of all the various stations
were brought to the least possible quantity. When
the network was ''pegged down." the mother
station established on the Meade ranch
in north central Kansas
1T would seem from historic and scien-
tific standpoint" says r. s. Patton, acting di-
rector of the coast and geodetic survey that the
Meade ranch trangulation station is worthy of
monument at least as conspicuous and artistic
as the zero milestone in Washington which
marks the beginning of the Lincoln highway"
% by Western Newspaper Unon)