| New! The Geocenter is "Moving" By Stu Whitney, USA TODAY March 22, 2007 Article excerpt: "When Alaska and Hawaii joined the union in 1959, the National Geodetic Survey designated Belle Fourche, a ranch town of 4,500 residents in western South Dakota, the geographic center of the USA. Truth is, the marker for the center — as determined by the same agency — lies about 20 miles north of the town on an uninhabited parcel of private pastureland. "It's off a gravel road, and you have to go into a ditch, cross a barbed-wire fence, and maneuver amongst the cactus and cow pies to find it," said Teresa Schanzenbach, executive director of the Belle Fourche Chamber of Commerce. Roughly 6,000 travelers come through the town's Center of the Nation Visitors Center each year, she said, but only about 1,500 are adventurous enough to seek out the marker. "Basically," Schanzenbach said, "it's a red-tipped fence post that stands up in the ground. We feel like we need something more worthy of being the center of the nation." So local leaders have a solution. They're "moving" the geographic center of the USA about 20 miles south, to get it closer to town. The new "Center of the Nation" monument — with a planned picnic area and flags of all 50 states — will be located off U.S. Highway 85, along the banks of the Belle Fourche River. That puts it near the visitors center, which houses the Tri-State Museum." Back to Q & A Back to Tarol's Homepage |
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| Where is the eeriest place I've ever been? Geographical Center of the United States, just north of Belle Fourche, SD on Hwy 85 Thanksgiving Day 2001 |
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| I went on a road trip on Thanksgiving Weekend, 2001. I was living in Laramie, WY at the time and did not have nearby family or friends to spend the holiday with, so I went a travelin'. Great time to travel, by the way, you pretty much can have any place you want to yourself! So I went through the Thunder Basin National Grassland and up to Devil's Tower and then over to Belle Fourche, SD for the first night. The next morning I woke up early and pondered the map a bit and saw that the geographical center of the United States was just up the highway a little bit. On the map there was a picnic ground symbol, so I figured there'd be a few picnic tables, maybe some interpretive signs, you know, the usual for this sort of touristy thing. Well, I headed up the highway and in no time at all came to where this picnic ground was supposed to be. But there was nothing there... Nothing. No tables, no signs, only an old gated drive leading up a hill. So like the adventurous person I am, I hopped the gate and walked up the hill. I thought maybe the site was just closed for the season... Well, the drive made a circle a little ways up, but there was absolutely nothing there. I felt cheated. I mean, you advertise that this is the geographical center of the United States, and don't even put up a sign? What gives? Ah, well, there were some interesting rocks, just stuck out on the hill like an erratic or something. All in all it was all quite eerie... |