the
road to the Center of it all: old US 85
I must make mention of a wonderful place near our motel that Jill and I visited to get on the Internet (I needed to get some maps and photos for our big day). Mishmash is a terrific little Internet Cafe - the perfect thing - hi-speed Internet, fresh homemade food, friendly local folks, clean bright eating area, a happy little bird, and an exceedingly pleasant hostess. If you ever find yourself in western South Dakota and want to check your e-mail and get incredible cinnamon rolls and coffee, stop at Mishmash on the right side of Hwy 85, about 1 mile south of the intersection with SD 34.
Belle Fourche seems somewhat proud of its proximity to geographical curiosities: the Chamber of Commerce is housed near the "Tri-State Museum," which holds among its treasures the "original" tri-state monument. We also picked up several brochures, including a useful locally-produced one that led us to another source of pride for Belle Fourche: the Geographic Center of the 50 United States, about 20 miles north of town. The brochure had a very handy map and a remarkably detailed account of just how the USGS determined the Center of the States. Here's a transcription of the brochure, published by the USGS in 1965.
| Now, on most published maps, including my trustworthy National Geographic Atlas, a point on US 85 about 25 miles north of town indicates the Geographic Center of the 50 States. Yet the brochure in front of us is marked that this place "does not exist." How curious. Reading the USGS description, it soon became clear that this point, which "does not exist," actually was the center in 1959 before Hawaii was added to the calculation. Hawaii's addition moved the center to the place it is now - about 10 miles to the west, and slightly south. |  |
That long exposition explains why we had to check out the "new" center first (we would, of course, visit the "old" center, too, before the day was done). The topo map, above, published in 1965, shows the Center as a "Roadside Park." How exciting and intriguing. We bounced along old US 85 for the alloted mileage on the brochure, looked carefully, and, after some serious spying: there it was! The Holy Grail! A piece of metal sticking out of the ground! Yeee-hah! About 150 feet to the east of the road. No roadside park, for sure, and clambering the barbed wire fence proved more extreme!!! than plowing through the mud to see the tri-point yesterday. Sweet!
OK, so we managed to get over there (some cows were curious what we were doing, of course), only to discover that the concrete slab, which once apparently may have held a flag, had a USGS marker with the word CENTER on it. Cool. But it wasn't THE center, either! It was a pointer marker to the REAL bench mark, about 20 feet away (I'm pointing at it below). So I took a picture of that, too. I felt like Columbus must have felt when he discovered Texas.
inside the Tri-State Museum, Bell Fourche, SD: the original tri-state marker! See the real one coming up next.
can you see it? it's a piece of metal sticking out of the ground. That's it. How very dignified! God Bless the USA!
