- 40th Parallel Baseline
(KS/NE line at the River)
- First Guide Meridian East
(KS/NE line 60 miles from the river)
- 6th Principal Meridian
(KS/NE line 108 miles from the river
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 Soon
after the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, a survey was commissioned
by the US Government so that the lands newly opened for settlement could be
properly and legally plotted out for the homesteaders. The survey was carried
out by Charles Manners who started by erecting a
Cast Iron Monument on the west bluff of the Missouri River in 1855 at
40 degrees North latitude--the Northern boundary of Kansas. From this point, he
surveyed 108 miles west and placed a red sandstone marker at the location of the
6th Principal Meridian. The imaginary line between these two markers marked the
border between the two future states. The original sandstone marker is still
intact under the manhole cover in the middle of the road, though part of it has
been carted of to the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka. {Source] |
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A cast iron marker marks the 40th Parallel--the
dividing line between Kansas and Nebraska. The marker was placed at this
location May 8, 1855 by Charles Manners and Capt. Thomas J. Lee of the U.S.
Army Corp of Engineers. The marker is 500 to 600 lbs., hollow, 1" thick,
with a 16" square base. It was cast in St. Louis, MO in 1854. The 40th
Parallel played an important roll in the Kansas-Nebraska Act and demarked
disputed areas--slave and free--precipitating the American Civil War.
The 40th
Parallel, the 6th Principal Meridian, is the longest baseline in the
U.S., marking state boundaries to the Colorado-Utah border.
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Anyone
interested
in seeing the
marker in person must be willing to hike upward--150 feet vertically--on a
trail maintained for that purpose. Using switchbacks, a cleared path and
handrails, one can climb to the marker which sits atop the Missouri River
Bluff on Highway 7 just west of the Missouri River.
See more details From the
Junction of Hwy US 36 and Hwy K 7 between Highland and Troy, follow scenic
Hwy K 7 north past the village of White Cloud to the Kansas/Nebraska border. |
Chronology of the Kansas Nebraska Baseline:
May 8, 1855
Charles Manners sets the Cast Iron Monument at the River on the the 40th
Parallel Baseline and starts west. Ledlie
out west at the First Guide Meridian East discovers the huge error in the Baseline.
May 21, 1855
Manners and Ledlie arrive back at Fort Leavenworth to await the
return of Calhoun for instructions.
June 14, 1855
Manners starts the resurvey of the Baseline.
June 24, 1855
Manners sets stone at the 60 Mile corner with Ledlie.
June 28, 1855
Manners and Ledlie start surveying the First Guide Meridian East North and South,
respectively.
June 11, 1856
Manners sets the stone at the 6th P.M. by running 48 miles west
from the First Guide Meridian East stone. Ledlie goes South into Kansas and Manners into Nebraska to
survey the 6th P.M.
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Manners had been ordered by John Calhoun, Surveyor General for the Kansas and
Nebraska Territories (appointed August 26, 1854), to proceed west on the 40th
parallel of latitude north (now the Kansas-Nebraska border) for 108 miles, from
the point of beginning on the west bank of the Missouri River, to reach this
point. Why 108 miles? a surveyor can survey a line for nine miles before having
to resort to using spherical geometry and trigonometry to correct for the
earth's curvature. After nine miles, the surveyors could stop and make
corrections from astronomical observations, then continue on. The number 108 is
divisible by nine, thence the number was chosen.
The Initial Point of the 1st Guide Meridian East was run before the
6th P.M. and was used as the initial Meridian for all of Kansas to the East.
After determining this point, located between ranges 8 and 9 east, in Marshall
County, Joseph Ledlie and Charles Manners parted company; Ledlie went south and
Manners headed north to begin to run the parallels. For those in the eastern
part of Kansas, the 1st Guide Meridian East is actually more significant than
the 6th P.M. which is the primary guideline for the rest of Kansas. Many KSLS
members are also members of “ Surveyors of the 6th P.M.” which was responsible
for re-monumenting the initial point of 6th P. M. in 1987.
Links:
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The important of this stone on the Baseline is that it marked the furthest
west the General Land Office decided to survey before it started the dividing of
Nebraska and Kansas into Townships and Ranges and then into Sections so that
private sale and location were possible. The First Guide Meridian East line was
the first Public Land Survey System lines run into KS and NE. This 1855
survey also corrected a serious error in the location of the Baseline made by
Johnson the year before. The resurvey of the Baseline was commenced from the
Cast Iron Monument on the West High Bank of the Missouri River, as shown in the
great photo above. John C. Calhoun, Surveyor General for this Area, had already
decided that from the Cast Iron Monument that our Deputy Surveyors would started
the surveying of Kansas and Nebraska.
After the lines were run north and south and then east by Charles Manners (NE)and
Joseph Ledlie (KS) from this First Guide Meridian East (1GME) stone, then
Manners came back the following year to this stone (referred to then as the 60
Mile Corner), and extended the 40th Parallel 48 more miles west and then set the
stone at the 6th Principal Meridian. That is why the 1GME stone is on the Range
line between Ranges 8 and 9 East (8 Ranges East of the soon to be monumented 6th
P.M. corner and 10 Ranges west of the Cast Iron Monument). Townships are number
from the Baseline North (NE) or South (KS). That was June 11, 1856, not 1855 as
shown on the BLM map above. BTW, both Manners and Ledlie were using Bert's
Improved Solar Compass to determine their lat/long and to run their "true"
lines. The compass was only used on overcast days!
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6th Principal Meridian
Marker
at Base Line (40th Parallel North Latitude)
South of Fairbury, Nebraska
http://www.pmproject.org/6pm.htm
6th Principal Meridian Marker at Missouri River
Top MAP
| Satellite
View
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First Guide Meridian
East
Marker
at Base Line (40th Parallel North Latitude)
West of Summerfield, Kansas
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