Kansas

I

Introduction

Kansas, state in the western part of the central United States. Kansas is usually designated as a Midwestern state. However, it is commonly referred to as a plains state, and sections are often considered part of the Southwest or West. Such variations in terminology reflect the fact that Kansas does not belong wholly to one region and is an area of diversified relief, climate, economy, and patterns of settlement. The landscape of the east, with its hills, woodlands, grain-and-livestock farms, and comparatively large cities, contrasts sharply with the dry treeless plains and vast wheat farms of the sparsely populated west. In addition, the High Plains of the west include areas of canyon country and sand dunes reminiscent of New Mexico and other parts of the Southwest, while the rolling grasslands of the Flint and Smoky hills, in central Kansas, resemble the rangelands of the West. Kansas entered the Union on January 29, 1861, as the 34th state. Topeka is the capital of Kansas. Wichita is the largest city.

Kansas, which has been called the Wheat State and the Breadbasket of the Nation, leads all other states in production of wheat. However, wheat dominates neither the landscape nor the economy of Kansas. The sale of livestock, especially beef cattle, provides a larger percentage of annual farm income than the sale of wheat. Moreover, manufacturing and service industries are far more valuable to the state’s economy than agriculture.

The state is named for the Kansas River, which, in turn, was named for the Kansa people, who once inhabited northeastern Kansas. The word Kansas means “people of the south wind.” The nickname preferred by most Kansans is the Sunflower State. The helianthus, or native wild sunflower, grows profusely throughout Kansas and is the official state flower. Kansas is also referred to as the Jayhawk or Jayhawker state. The origin and meaning of the term “Jayhawker” are disputed. In Kansas it was used at the beginning of the American Civil War (1861-1865) to refer to the bands of guerrillas and irregular troops that were active along the Kansas-Missouri border. The name was taken up by some regular troops in Kansas. Eventually it became a nickname for all Kansans.

Until Alaska and Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959, the geographical center of the United States was located near Lebanon in Kansas. Although the center subsequently shifted to North Dakota, Kansas is still recognized as the site of the geographical center of the coterminous United States, that is, of all the states except Alaska and Hawaii. The geodetic center (which takes into account the curvature of the earth’s surface) of the United States is located at Meades Ranch Triangulation Station in Osborne County in north central Kansas. The station serves as the basic reference point for all government mapping undertaken in the United States (except in Hawaii), Canada, and Mexico. Selected in 1901, it has also served as the geodetic center of North America since 1913.

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II

Physical Geography

Kansas ranks 15th among the states in size. It has a total area of 213,096 sq km (82,277 sq mi), including 1,197 sq km (462 sq mi) of inland water. The state is rectangular in shape, except for a small section in the northeast where it is bounded by the Missouri River. It measures 661 km (411 mi) from east to west and 335 km (208 mi) from north to south.

The surface of Kansas can, in a very broad sense, be described as a plain. However, it is neither entirely flat nor entirely level, and minor variations in relief are conspicuous. The state’s surface elevation increases gradually from east to west, rising from a minimum elevation of 207 m (679 ft) above sea level in the Verdigris River valley to 1,231 m (4,039 ft) at Mount Sunflower, the highest point in the state. The approximate mean elevation is 610 m (2,000 ft). Hills, ridges, and wooded river valleys abound in eastern and central Kansas. Farther west they give way to the flatter, generally treeless High Plains, which are frequently but inaccurately thought of as characteristic of the entire state.

A

Natural Regions

Kansas includes parts of two physiographic provinces, or natural regions, of the United States, the Central Lowland and the Great Plains. Together these two natural regions constitute part of the major physiographic division of North America known as the Interior Plains. In addition, a small area in extreme southeastern Kansas is part of the Ozark Plateau physiographic province.

The Central Lowland covers the eastern third of the state. It can be divided into two sections, the Dissected Till Plains and the Osage Plains. The Dissected Till Plains occupy the northeastern corner of the state. This section differs in appearance from the rest of the Central Lowland in Kansas. The only part of the state that was glaciated during the Ice Age, which ended about 10,000 years ago, it exhibits the gently rolling hills, broad shallow valleys, boulder-strewn plains, and other landforms characteristic of glaciated plains. It more closely resembles the typical prairie areas of Iowa and other Midwestern states than do the other sections of Kansas. The Osage Plains section is an area of varied relief, with flat or gently rolling plains broken by a series of low, linear ridges that trend north-south. The most prominent of these ridges are the Flint Hills, which lie just east of the 97th meridian and extend from the Kansas River southward into Oklahoma. The Flint Hills, which rise more than 120 m (400 ft) above the surrounding plains, are composed primarily of limestone but derive their name from a form of chert commonly called flint that is scattered over their surface.

The Great Plains cover the central and western portions of the state. This region can be divided into two sections, the Plains Border and the High Plains. The Plains Border, which forms a transitional zone between the Central Lowland and the High Plains, includes several broad belts of hills. North of the Arkansas River they include the Smoky Hills and the Blue Hills. South of the river, in the great loop between Wichita and Dodge City, lies a broad plains area that forms, in effect, an eastward extension of the High Plains. Much of this region is quite sandy. The sand plain is bounded on the south by the Gypsum Hills, or Cimarron Breaks, a scenic area of mesas and buttes that are composed of red shale capped with gypsum. The High Plains section is a dry, gently rolling tableland. Some of the section’s most prominent physical features are found where the rivers, especially those of the northwest, have cut valleys well below the general surface, creating steep-sided bluffs. Throughout the High Plains section are numerous shallow saucerlike depressions. Some of these are products of wind erosion. Others have been formed by the sinking of the land, which has been caused by the action of underground water on soluble rocks.

A number of unusual geologic formations in Kansas occur on the Great Plains, an area that is also noted for its abundant fossils. In Gove County, Monument Rocks, also called the Kansas Pyramids, rise abruptly above the valley of the Smoky Hill River. Sculpted by wind and water, they represent the remnants of shale and chalk that, eons ago, covered what is now the Smoky Hill Valley. Castle Rock, in Gove County east of the Monument Rocks, is the most prominent of these formations, standing 21 m (70 ft) high. About 30 km (about 20 mi) north of Salina lies Rock City, an area of more than 200 eroded sandstone concretions that resemble huge eggs.

B

Rivers and Lakes

Kansas lies within the drainage basin of the Mississippi-Missouri river system. The chief streams in the state are the Kansas River (sometimes called the Kaw) which is a tributary of the Missouri River, and the Arkansas River, which is a major tributary of the Mississippi.

The Kansas River, together with its headstreams and tributaries, drains most of the northern half of the state and flows generally eastward to enter the Missouri River at the adjoining cities of Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri. Its chief headstreams are the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers, which join to form the Kansas River at Junction City. Each of the headstreams has numerous tributaries. The Kansas River proper is only 270 km (170 mi) long, but the Smoky Hill River has a length of 870 km (540 mi), and the Republican River has a length of 720 km (450 mi). The main tributary flowing into the Kansas River is the Big Blue River.

The Arkansas River, which rises in Colorado, flows generally eastward and then southward across the southern half of Kansas. Between Dodge City and Wichita the river curves northward in a wide loop, which is known as the Great Bend of the Arkansas River. A small section of the Cimarron River, a major tributary of the Arkansas, arcs through the southwestern corner of the state. Southeastern Kansas is drained mainly by the Verdigris and Neosho, which flow southward to join the Arkansas River in Oklahoma.

There are no large natural lakes in Kansas. The largest bodies of water have been created by the damming of rivers. The largest is Tuttle Creek Lake, a long winding reservoir behind Tuttle Creek Dam on the Big Blue River. Other major bodies of water include Cedar Bluff and Kanopolis on the Smoky Hill River; Milford on the Republican; Lovewell on White Rock Creek and Keith Sebelius on Prairie Dog Creek, both tributaries of the Republican; Wilson on the Saline River; Cheney on the North Fork of the Ninnescah; John Redmond and Council Grove on the Neosho; Toronto on the Verdigris; Waconda on the Solomon, and Webster and Kirwin on the forks of the Solomon; Perry on the Delaware; Clinton on the Wakarusa; Marion on the Cottonwood; Pomona, Melvern, and Hillsdale on the Marais des Cygnes system; and Fall River Lake, a reservoir on the river of that name.

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