Introduction to Geography of Kansas
Kansas, a state in the central United States. It is bordered by Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Colorado. The geographic center of the United States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii, is in Smith County, Kansas. The total area of Kansas is 82,282 square miles (213,110 km 2 ).
Kansas is one of the nation's leading agricultural states and is sometimes called the “Breadbasket of the Nation.” Its economy, however, has become increasingly diversified, and manufacturing and services are now more important than agriculture. Kansas is known for sunflowers, vast fields of wheat, seemingly endless plains, and, historically, such frontier cattle towns as Dodge City and Abilene.
Kansas state bird - Western meadowlarkKansas in briefGeneral informationStatehood: Jan. 29, 1861, the 34th state.State abbreviations: Kans. or Kan. (traditional); KS (postal).State capital: Topeka, since 1861. Earlier capitals were Fort Leavenworth (1854), Shawnee Mission (1854-1855), Pawnee (1855), and Lecompton (1855-1861).State motto: Ad Astra per Aspera (To the Stars Through Difficulties).Popular name: The Sunflower State.State song: "Home on the Range." Words by Brewster Higley; music by Daniel Kelley.Symbols of KansasState bird: Western meadowlark.State flower: Native sunflower.State tree: Cottonwood.State flag and seal: Kansas's state flag, adopted in 1927, has the state seal centered above the word Kansas on a blue background. The state crest-a twisted blue and gold bar with a sunflower, the state flower, is above the state seal. The flag was modified in 1963. On the state seal, adopted in 1861, the rising sun represents the East, from where most Kansas settlers came. The 34 stars stand for Kansas as the 34th state. The farmer plowing and the settlers' cabin symbolized the future prosperity of the state through agriculture.Land and climateArea: 82,282 mi2 (213,110 km2), including 459 mi2 (1,189 km2) of inland water.Elevation: Highest--Mount Sunflower, 4,039 ft (1,231 m) above sea level. Lowest--680 ft. (207 m) above sea level along the Verdigris River in Montgomery County.Record high temperature: 121 °F (49 °C), at Fredonia on July 18, 1936, and near Alton on July 24, 1936.Record low temperature: –40 °F (–40 °C), at Lebanon on Feb. 13, 1905.Average July temperature: 78 °F (26 °C).Average January temperature: 30 °F (–1 °C).Average yearly precipitation: 27 in (69 cm).PeoplePopulation: 2,688,418.Rank among the states: 32nd.Density: 33 persons per mi2 (13 per km2), U.S. average 78 per mi2 (30 per km2).Distribution: 71 percent urban, 29 percent rural.Largest cities in Kansas: Wichita (344,284); Overland Park (149,080); Kansas City (146,866); Topeka (122,377); Olathe (92,962); Lawrence (80,098).EconomyChief productsAgriculture: beef cattle, corn, grain sorghum, hay, hogs, soybeans, sunflowers, wheat.Manufacturing: chemicals, food products, machinery, transportation equipment.Mining: natural gas, petroleum.GovernmentState governmentGovernor: 4-year term.State senators: 40; 4-year terms.State representatives: 125; 2-year terms.Counties: 105.Federal governmentUnited States senators: 2.United States representatives: 4.Electoral votes: 6.Sources of informationFor information about tourism, write to: Kansas Department of Commerce, Travel and Tourism Development Division, 1000 S.W. Jackson St., Suite 100, Topeka, KS 66612-1321. The Web site at http://www.travelks.com also provides information. The Department of Commerce and Housing also handles requests for information about the state's economy.The state's official Web site at http://www.accesskansas.org also provides a gateway to much information on Kansas's economy, government, and history.Places to visit in KansasFollowing are brief descriptions of some of Kansas's many interesting places to visit:Boot Hill Museum, in Dodge City, is on the original site of the Boot Hill cemetery. The site consists of historic and reconstructed buildings, including the one-block reconstruction of Front Street, the original business district of Old Dodge City.Eisenhower Library and Museum, in Abilene, house the mementos and papers of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. His boyhood home and the Place of Meditation, where Eisenhower and his wife Mamie are buried, are also there.Exploration Place, in Wichita, features interactive exhibits and activities related to flight, health and human life, people, places, and the environment of Kansas.Fort Larned National Historic Site, near Larned, includes a fort built in the 1860's to protect travelers on the Santa Fe Trail. Many of the buildings have been restored.Fort Riley, near Junction City, became famous as a cavalry center. Many buildings, including a cavalry museum, an early Kansas Capitol, and the home of General George A. Custer, still stand on the grounds of the fort. It is also an active U.S. military base.Fort Scott National Historic Site, in Fort Scott, is a restored cavalry post of the 1840's. Eleven historic buildings, including a hospital, guardhouse, barracks, and officers' quarters, stand on the site.Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, in Hutchinson, is a wide-ranging museum that features a large space exploration exhibit. The exhibit contains original spacecraft, space suits, and a lunar roving vehicle.Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, in the Flint Hills region in the Southeastern Plains, has almost 11,000 acres (4,500 hectares) of rolling hills covered with one of the nation's last unplowed areas of tallgrass prairie. The preserve includes a nature trail and a historic ranch and one-room schoolhouse.State parks and lakes. Kansas's system of state recreation areas includes 23 state parks, about 50 state lakes, and many small roadside parks. For information about the parks and lakes, write to Director, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, 900 Southwest Jackson, Suite 502, Topeka, KS 66603.Physical Geography
Kansas is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States.LandKansas occupies part of two great physiographic divisions of the United States: the Great Plains and the Central Lowlands. The land slopes downward from west to east—from about 4,000 feet (1,200 m) above sea level near the Colorado border to less than 700 feet (210 m) in the southeast.
The Great Plains section spans the western two-thirds of the state. It lies at elevations between roughly 1,500 and 4,000 feet (450 and 1,200 m). The extreme west is part of the region known as the High Plains. In some localities the general flatness of the Great Plains is broken by fairly deep river valleys, belts of hilly land, mesas, buttes, and sand dunes. Among the hilly belts are the Smoky Hills, north of the Arkansas River, and the Red Hills, to the south.
The Central Lowlands section covers the eastern third of the state. Landforms are mainly low-lying plains and prairies, with broad river valleys and some hilly areas. In the southeast are the Flint Hills, which rise as much as 400 feet (120 m) above the adjoining land. Northeastern Kansas is the only part of the state that was glaciated during the last Ice Age.
WaterThe Kansas and Arkansas rivers drain most of the state. The Kansas, fed largely by the waters of the Smoky Hill, Saline, Solomon, Republican, and Big Blue rivers, drains the north and empties into the Missouri River at Kansas City. The Arkansas River, together with its tributaries the Cimarron, Verdigris, and Neosho, drains nearly all southern Kansas. Flowing eastward into Missouri is the Marais des Cygnes River.
Kansas has no large natural lakes but there are more than 20 reservoirs, impounded by dams. Among the largest are the Glen Elder, Tuttle Creek, Milford, Kirwin, Cheney, and Cedar Bluff reservoirs.
ClimateBecause of the state's inland location, its varying elevation, and its exposure to air masses from the north and the south, Kansas has a continental climate with highly variable temperature and precipitation. Normally, winters are cold and summers hot. Average January temperatures range from about 26° F. (-3° C.) in the northwest to about 35° F. (2° C.) in the southeast. Average July temperatures are near 80° F. (27° C.) throughout the state. Temperatures above 100° F. (38° C.) and below 0° F. (-18° C.) occur several times each year.
Precipitation decreases from about 35 to 40 inches (890 to 1,020 mm) annually in the east to about 16 to 18 inches (410 to 460 mm) in the west. Droughts of varying severity periodically occur. Depending on locality, the annual snowfall is between 10 and 24 inches (250 and 610 mm).
Storms frequently strike Kansas. Among these are tornadoes; violent thunderstorms; blizzards; and wind, dust, and hail storms.
Vegetation and WildlifeWhen settlers arrived in Kansas the vegetation consisted largely of grasses—tall grasses in the east and short grasses in the west. The only major exception was in the southeast, where there were deciduous forests as well as grasslands. Today, little remains of the native grasslands, except in a few scattered areas, mainly in the Flint Hills. Most of the forests are gone, although native trees are still found in farm woodlots and along rivers and streams.
Most of the large animals that once roamed Kansas' plains, including buffalo, elk, and deer, are gone, largely because of indiscriminate hunting and the destruction of the natural habitat through farming. Only small animals, such as the coyote, fox, skunk, squirrel, jackrabbit, and prairie dog, remain in significant numbers. There are many kinds of birds and fish.
Kansas state flower - Native sunflowerInteresting facts about KansasProhibition first became part of a state constitution in 1880, when Kansas passed an amendment prohibiting the manufacture, distribution, and sale of liquor.A newspaper called the Siwinowe Kesibwi (Shawnee Sun), was established in Kansas in 1835. The monthly publication was the first newspaper published in Kansas and the first in North America to be printed entirely in an Indian language. The newspaper was published in the Algonquian language for members of the Shawnee tribe by the missionary Jotham Meeker.The first woman mayor in the United States, Susanna Salter, was elected mayor of the town of Argonia in 1887. The election also marked the first time women in Kansas were allowed to vote in city elections.Helium was first found in natural gas in 1905 by University of Kansas scientists Hamilton Perkins Cady and David Ford McFarland. Because helium can be removed from natural gas easily, the discovery led to the development of the commercial helium industry.The state tree of Kansas is the cottonwood.Economy
The Kansas quarter features images of the native sunflower, the state flower, and the American buffalo, the state animal.Historically, agriculture has dominated the state's economy. Since World War II, however, other industries such as finance, government, and trade have gradually surpassed farming in terms of revenue and employment. Agriculture remains important because many of the state's other industries are directly dependent on farming, especially those that provide services to farmers and those that produce farm equipment and processed foods.
Both in terms of total revenue and total employment, the state's leading industries are the service industry, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, and services. Service industries account for the largest portion of the state's gross domestic product—the total value of all goods and services produced in the state in a year.
AgricultureKansas, with vast expanses of fertile soil, has been a major farm state since it was settled in the 19th century. About 90 per cent of the state's area is in farms. The state has 64,500 farms. Farming in eastern Kansas is diversified; the drier western section is used mainly for raising cattle and wheat.
Kansas ranks among the United States' leaders in wheat production and beef cattle. These products account for nearly four-fifths of the state's farm income. Wheat is grown throughout the state, but production is greatest in the central and western sections. Beef cattle outnumber all other farm animals combined. Many hogs are also raised in Kansas. Corn is the second-ranking crop of the state. Grain sorghum, which is tolerant of hot, dry weather, is widely grown. Other leading crops, by value, include soybeans, hay, and sugar beets. Kansas is also a leading producer of sunflowers. Commercial truck farming, fruit growing, poultry raising, and dairying are carried on mainly in the east.
ManufacturingAbout one-sixth of Kansas' labor force is engaged in manufacturing, largely in or near Wichita and Kansas City. The state's chief manufactured product is transportation equipment, with Kansas producing over half of the general aviation aircraft manufactured in the United States; mainly military planes, missiles and aircraft parts. Kansas also produces railroad freight cars, locomotive parts, passenger cars, snowplows, trailers, truck parts, and construction and farm equipment.
The second leading manufacturing activity, by value, is food processing, especially meat packing and flour milling. Kansas is a leading state in the production of flour. The grinding of feeds for livestock and poultry is an industry found in many areas.
Petroleum refining is a major industry in a number of cities. The largest refineries are in El Dorado, McPherson, Augusta, and Coffeyville. Among other industries are printing and publishing and the manufacture of chemicals, clay and glass products, industrial machinery, cement, and fabricated metal products. Factories in several cities make a variety of plastics products. The state also produces motor vehicle tires, and a plant in Topeka is one of the largest producers of school yearbooks in the United States.
Minerals and MiningKansas is one of the country's more important mineral-producing states. By value, crude petroleum, natural gas, and natural-gas liquids are the chief products. Petroleum, commercially produced from Kansas' portion of the mid-continent oil region, is pumped from thousands of wells scattered throughout much of the state. Kansas ranks among the nation's 10 leading producers of oil. Most of the natural gas that Kansas produces comes from gas fields in the southwest, especially the large Hugoton field. Other minerals and mineral products include salt, stone, sand and gravel, helium, clays, and coal.
TransportationIn pioneer days, two important westward routes passed through Kansas —the Santa Fe and Oregon trails. Today, one of the nation's chief east-west routes— Interstate 70—passes through Kansas City, Topeka, and Salina. Other Interstate highways and the Kansas Turnpike serve the state. The turnpike, a northeast-southwest route, links Kansas City, Topeka, and Wichita.
Kansas is served by several trunk-line railroads. Kansas City has long been a major railroad junction with large freight classification yards. The state has more than 360 airports, the busiest of which is Wichita Municipal Airport. There is commercial barge traffic on the Missouri River. The largest river ports are at Atchison, Kansas City, and Leavenworth.
The People
Kansas is 32nd in rank among the states in population. Whites make up 86.1 per cent of the population of Kansas and blacks, 5.7 per cent.
Annual events in KansasJanuary-AprilCuba Rock-A-Thon in Cuba (March); International Pancake Day in Liberal (Shrove Tuesday); National Junior College Men's Basketball Tournament in Hutchinson (March); National Junior College Women's Basketball Tournament in Salina (March); Civil War Encampment at Fort Scott (April); Mennonite Relief Sale in Hutchinson (April); Messiah Festival at Bethany College in Lindsborg (Easter week); William Inge Festival in Independence (April).May-AugustChisholm Trail Festival and Rodeo in Caldwell (May); Santa Fe Trail Days in Larned (May); Beef Empire Days in Garden City (June); Dalton Days Festival in Meade (June); Wichita River Festival in Wichita (May); Good Ol’ Days at Fort Scott (June); Grassland Heritage Festival in Elkhart (June); Flint Hills Rodeo in Strong City (early June); Midsummer's Day Festival in Lindsborg (June); Prairie Band Potawatomi Annual Pow Wow in Mayetta (June); Smokey Hill River Festival in Salina (June); Amelia Earhart Festival in Atchison (July); Pretty Prairie Rodeo: Kansas's Largest Night Rodeo in Pretty Prairie (July); Wild West Festival in Hays (July); Emancipation Celebration in Nicodemus (July-August); Ellsworth Cowtown Festival in Ellsworth (August); Flint Hills Beef Fest in Emporia (August); Pickin’ on the Plains Bluegrass Festival in Colby (July); Pony Express Festival in Hanover (August); State Fiddling & Picking Championships in Lawrence (August).September-DecemberHistoric Fort Hays Days in Hays (September); Kansas Championship Ranch Rodeo in Medicine Lodge (September); Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson (September); National Flat Picking Championship/Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield (September); Renaissance Festival in Bonner Springs-Kansas City (September-October); Dalton Defender Days in Coffeyville (October); Wild Wild West in Olathe (October); Trail of Lights in Great Bend (November and December); Frontier Candlelight Tour at Fort Scott (December); Lucia Fest in Lindsborg (December).Education
Public education is administered by the state department of education, which is supervised by the commissioner of education. The commissioner is appointed by an elected board of education and serves an indefinite term. Children from 7 to 16 years of age are required to attend school.
Kaw Indian Mission at Council Grove, opened in 1851, was reorganized in 1854 to become one of the first white schools in Kansas. Haskell Indian Nations University, opened in 1884 at Lawrence on land donated by residents, is the largest Indian school in the nation. (
The University of Kansas, the state's largest institution of higher learning, was opened at Lawrence in 1866. Its medical school and related facilities are in Kansas City. Kansas State University was established as Kansas State Agricultural College, a land-grant institution, in 1863 at Manhattan. The present name dates to 1959.
Government
The State Capitol of Kansas is in Topeka, the capital since 1861.Kansas is governed under its original constitution, adopted in 1859 and effective in 1861, and the many amendments that have since been adopted. The state Legislature consists of the Senate (40 members, elected for four-year terms) and the House of Representatives (125 members, elected for two-year terms). The legislature meets annually. The governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, attorney general, and commissoner of insurance are elected for four-year terms. The judicial branch consists of the Kansas Supreme Court of seven justices, the Kansas Court of Appeals with 12 judges, and district courts, and various minor courts.
Kansas has 105 counties. The state sends two senators and four representatives to the U.S. Congress.
Governors of KansasNamePartyTermCharles Robinson Republican1861-1863Thomas Carney Republican1863-1865Samuel J. Crawford Republican1865-1868Nehemiah Green Republican1868-1869James M. Harvey Republican1869-1873Thomas A. Osborn Republican1873-1877George T. Anthony Republican1877-1879John Pierce St. John Republican1879-1883George W. Glick Democratic1883-1885John Alexander Martin Republican1885-1889Lyman Underwood Humphrey Republican1889-1893Lorenzo D. Lewelling Populist1893-1895Edmund Needham Morrill Republican1895-1897John W. Leedy Populist1897-1899William Eugene Stanley Republican1899-1903Willis Joshua Bailey Republican1903-1905Edward Wallis Hoch Republican1905-1909Walter Roscoe Stubbs Republican1909-1913George Hartshorn Hodges Democratic1913-1915Arthur Capper Republican1915-1919Henry J. Allen Republican1919-1923Jonathan M. Davis Democratic1923-1925Ben S. Paulen Republican1925-1929Clyde M. Reed Republican1929-1931Harry H. Woodring Democratic1931-1933Alfred M. Landon Republican1933-1937Walter A. Huxman Democratic1937-1939Payne Ratner Republican1939-1943Andrew F. Schoeppel Republican1943-1947Frank Carlson Republican1947-1950Frank L. Hagaman Republican1950-1951Edward F. Arn Republican1951-1955Fred Hall Republican1955-1957John McCuish Republican1957George Docking Democratic1957-1961John Anderson, Jr. Republican1961-1965William H. Avery Republican1965-1967Robert Docking Democratic1967-1975Robert F. Bennett Republican1975-1979John W. Carlin Democratic1979-1987Mike Hayden Republican1987-1991Joan Finney Democratic1991-1995Bill Graves Republican1995-2003Kathleen Sebelius Democratic2003-