I returned from my much-anticipated Center of the Nation journey about a week ago. Those readers who followed the 12MC Twitter already received a steady dose of foreshadowing about this event. It’s my final installment from the 2015 Twelve Mile Circle “season of travel.”
I took a lot of great trips over the last several months. It will be nice to stay at home for awhile before I plan the next set of adventures.
Conflicted
So I faced a bit of a quandary. The entire premise of this adventure focused on my efforts to chauffeur a participant in Mainly Marathon’s Center of the Nation race series from site to site. This involved six running races (with Marathon, Half-Marathon or 5K options; my participant chose Half-Marathon) in each of six states in six days; September 14-19.
I’d spent very little time in these remote corners of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado. Naturally I agreed with the concept immediately. First, I could pad my County Counting score. Additionally, I hoped to scrounging a handful of fascinating sites scattered amongst the desolate, empty terrain.
Traveling wasn’t the issue. Rather, I’d promised to avoid any further Center of Anything articles after I posted Centre of Australia way back in 2009. At that time I noted at least five major calculations plus several minor variations could conceivably claim title to the center. And they all producing different values! So I threw my hands in the air and said, “any claims to being the centre of anything on a landmass would be somewhat bogus, more entertainment than science.”
I continue to stand by that statement. Potentially, the United States could have a huge number of different “centers”. Someone could claim one for each of the myriad mathematical models for the Lower 48 States. Then they could repeat it again for the 48 States plus Alaska and Hawaii. Yikes!
Yet the whole inspiration for the race series focused on proximity to one of the several supposed Centers. I had no choice but to revisit that topic.
Tangent Alert
You thought six races in six states in six days was crazy? Check out this climber I photographed scaling Devils Tower in Wyoming (map). We spotted several climbers, tiny little dots slowly working their way up the massive cylinder. The complete audacity of their extreme physical efforts could only be fully appreciated at the other end of a telephoto lens. I couldn’t even imagine how someone could scale something so steep.
Now back to the rest of the article…
The Fake Center
South Dakota’s race in Belle Fourche (pronounced FOOSH as I quickly learned) incorporated the Center of the Nation marker within its course, a nice touch I thought (map). The course began uphill at the Visitor Center. Then it ran past the marker amid flags from every state. Finally it continued onward towards a path along the town’s Riverwalk before returning to the start.
It was clear that the central marker in Belle Fourche had been based upon the inclusion of all 50 US States — because the center for the 48 contiguous states fell farther south and east in Kansas — and I understood the method of calculation thanks to the Center for Land Use Interpretation.
“This was determined as the point at which an arc connecting the geographic center of the 49 states and the geographic center of Hawaii would balance. This point was established on the admittance of Hawaii into the Union, in 1959…”
The U.S. National Geodetic Survey determined and recognized this spot. Thus it seemed as good as any Center of the Nation, and maybe better than some. However I’ve also engaged in a bit of deception. The actual spot wasn’t located in that attractive park along the gentle river flowing through Belle Fourche. As someone quoted in a 2008 New York Times article, “In the Middle of Nowhere, a Nation’s Center” explained, “We’re not pretending to be the actual center… We’re providing a convenience.”
I’d agree, it was convenient.
The Real Center
No surprise, I felt a natural compulsion to visit the real center. Or at least the real center as defined by one of several possible calculations that also happened to included Alaska and Hawaii. It sat about 20 miles north of Belle Fourche in a farmer’s field, with the last several miles requiring a drive down a dusty gravel road (map).
Then I noticed a pickup truck parked at a pullout as I approached. I hadn’t seen another vehicle since I’d left the highway, and amazingly someone else happened to be visiting that obscure marker at the same time. I think we both displayed the same dumbstruck look, of awed fascination that somehow we weren’t alone in our pursuit of geo-oddities.
Center of the Nation articles
See Also: The Complete Photo Album on Flickr
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