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The real center of the U.S

gadling.com — Its not where you would think...

Who dugg this? Made popular Aug 20, 2007

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  • SmackMyMac, on 10/10/2007, -5/+89"One more good reason to visit South Dakota."

    There are reasons to go to South Dakota?
  • Barbarino, on 10/10/2007, -6/+42this is so dumb..
  • TeamoSupremo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+37Doh! Alaska just throws everything off.
  • NeoCortex, on 10/10/2007, -0/+35If Alaska was any more north, we would be travelling to Canada to visit the center of the US.
  • drizzlelicious, on 10/10/2007, -4/+27I'm sorry, but thats STILL not a good reason to visit South Dakota
  • rgodfrey, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12Ask, and ye shall receive.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_Center_of_the_Contiguous_United_States
    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.828175,-98.5795&ie=UTF8&ll=39.842286,-98.613281&spn=30.17031,78.310547&z=4&iwloc=addr&om=1
  • strutin, on 10/10/2007, -5/+17"15. Well, that may be the center,but Texas is the BIGGEST. And you can't count Alaska. If the ICE melted,what would be left of it? From Michele, near the Johnson Space Center(a proud Texan)
    Posted at 3:05PM on Aug 19th 2007 by Michele Beaver"

    heck no, you'd be left with a bunch of dirt and rock and trees and lakes...just like anywhere else in the states looks when the snow melts..

    ..wow, not very bright in Texas, are they?
  • Jwoey, on 10/10/2007, -3/+13Mt Rushmore?
  • noahhoward, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9learn math. It is very possible to have a center. Take some geometry.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10Actually, hawaii was included, if you read the article.
  • acdcfanbill, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9I live in Rapid City, not too far from Belle Fourche and really, the state sucks. :(
  • elnerdo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Are you kidding, or did you just not read the article at all?
  • hydratedsquash, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7While you're up there in tha Dakotas(say with accent from Fargo), don't forget to see the worlds largest quilt!
  • gl77, on 03/31/2008, -0/+7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_points_of_the_United_States

    "Geographic center of the 48 contiguous states — approximately 6 km (4 mi) west of Lebanon, Kansas, at 39°50′N, 98°35′W"

    there you go.
  • adrianmonk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Yeah, this kind of silly trivia never happens in other countries. That's why there were recently a bunch of digg articles about stuff like Welsh towns that specifically changed their name so they'd have the longest place name in the world and could attract more tourists. And then a Maori town in New Zealand that claims to have a longer name. And a Norwegian town that claims to have the shortest place name.

    So yeah, the US is the only place where stupid stuff like this goes on, and you should definitely feel justified in your attitude of superiority.

    And by the way, Europe is not the only place in the world that has good food. Ever had, say, Moroccan food? Or Indian food?
  • stupidbrowner, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8I'm pretty sure they are not factoring in Canada or Mexico
  • Mhykol, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Yup to come see me...really!
  • Enlightenment, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6The geographical center of the lower 48 states lies outside of Lebanon, Kansas, in the middle of a hog farm.

    The geographical center of all 50 states is located 17 miles west of Castle Rock, South Dakota.

    The geodetic center of the U.S. is found approximately 42 miles south of Lebanon, Kansas. (Note: A geodetic survey makes corrections to account for the curvature of the Earth.)

  • bumbledragon, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7There are all sorts of great reasons to visit South Dakota. There are lots of cows. Mitchell has the Corn Palace. There are four guys on a mountain. Fields of wheat? Badlands maybe? Okay, I really have nothing. I spent 18 years living in the state and it is a wonderful place to live, but I don' t think I want to visit.
  • noahhoward, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6He didn't fail georgraphy but he did fail geometry.
  • anonym41414, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8No, idiot. It's the geographic center of the United States. Only land within the borders of the United States is taken into consideration.
  • noahhoward, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8I'm having trouble figuring it out so I'll just ask. Are you a complete idiot or are you just trying to act like it?
  • supermanred, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Those Russian pussies don't have a chance, too cold for them.

    Our Canadian soldiers are up there drinking cold beer in their swim shorts while the russians sit in their huts sucking on hot chocolate and vodka.

  • montiff, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Learnin' stuff is for queers hur yuk !
  • falstaff, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4That's not how it's figured. Exactly half of the total land mass of the US is north of that point, and half is south. Also, half is east and half is west. The physical layout of the boundaries has nothing to do with it.

    You can do the same with population: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_center_of_U.S._population
  • samadam, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4looking at the mercator projection in google maps makes me think its in montana.
  • NoTiG, on 10/10/2007, -5/+9it is impossible to have an exact center since not all outer boundaries are equidistant. You can take the greatest northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest values and make an X ... but it would only be the center if the united states was a circle
  • psykiv, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Taking Guam, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico into account, I'd argue that the center of the US is actually about 500 miles north of hawaii.
  • annonimality, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Yeah, we here in America are too busy concerning ourselves with small things... like going to the moon and inventing the Internet. (all in good fun, don't mean to start any xenophobic debates here :) )
  • alanmarchman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5A LOOONG time ago, when I was a mere child. My class did book reports on the states, and I was assigned South Dakota. From my humble research that only a 10 year old could muster with an outdated copy of the World Book Encyclopedia, I learned that South Dakota was the geographic center of NORTH AMERICA, NOT the US. Even the crude little map gadling shows in the article somewhat confirms this.

    Does it really matter, anyway? I mean, really. Come on. I can post on Wikipedia that my butthole is a nexus to another dimension, and as long as 20 people agree, then its true, right?
  • noahhoward, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6Hungarian, you're wrong Alaska is both the most eastern and western point of the United States
  • elnerdo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Hawaii is also really, really small.
  • AbsurdParadox, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Us Wichitans just have nothing going for us :(
  • swhite76, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3By the way, the town's name is pronounced Bell Foosh. Just remember, this is the same state that pronounces its capital Pierre as Peer, not Pee-air.
  • aniketnp, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I don't think so, but the article wasn't very clear, does this include territories like Samoa, Puerto Rico, and Guam?
  • whatthefu, on 10/10/2007, -7/+10What is it when you don't count Hawaii and Alaska I wonder?
  • Alex2, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4I will take this as an admittal that the US has no claims to the North Pole.

  • ThE0eNiGmA, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Don't feed this troll
  • Rickler, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Don't forget Guam.

    Also I think this is supposed to be a center of gravity type of thing. If you were to spin the US it would spin at that location maybe.
  • Zephkiel, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Neil Gaiman's American Gods says the center of the Continental US is several miles from Lebanon, Kansas. Kansas > South Dakota.
  • EXreaction, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3As long as you don't hand out candy from your van. My mommy told me to say NO to people like that.
  • cesclaveria, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2you really missed the point, don't you?
  • kuzotz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The U.S. supports Canada 100%
  • drlha, on 10/10/2007, -8/+10How come they get to include Alaska to skew things, but not Hawai'i then? Seems pretty selective to me.
  • maz2331, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Yeah. We're letting Canada and Russia fight that one out.
  • adrianmonk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2To help our ego's what?
  • 3rdragon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I couldn't agree more!!!! This should be buried, as usless information. And the internet may aswell be the center of the universe.
  • Ramble, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Oh snap.
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