| Show U il e V er i ir a I 1 M I 1 0 THE 0 16 gj ian ra i C 1 10 1 ire ox C 51 89 67 4 41 S 5 4 79 77 75 73 0 0 c 4 wis 0 41 4 1 I 1 chisin N M AA buffal 0 teas T E W y R I 1 IG GO avento 1 IT oie do 41 fo a wa C N ti 5 L V A 0 1 A I 1 I 1 pill urn 1 oj 3 0 0 1 0 e la id oncy erre 0 apolis 0 q 0 11 1 aute 0 1 too BA I 1 ma 14 39 P r latits IM IN 1 n Z P S N kw evanov ae nj 0 arld D 0 G ch 37 t 37 T OC 0 0 S S knorth se amil e A 0 50 51 89 87 85 83 81 79 77 75 L I 1 population centers from 1790 to 1930 4 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON A I 1 rf I 1 the came name ot the ton of 0 1 LI linton at ton I 1 ind ad 9 appeared in la tho the head lines line 0 of f news newspaper in every part athe i the country and the reason was not because it had been the scene of some crime come some event of po lotical significance scientific discovery or other happening which for a ft brief throws the limelight on some little municipality the reason wag that the united states bureau of the census completed the compilation of certain statistics les obtained by the 1930 census announced that the center of population of the united states Is near linton ind As a matter of fact this center Is located at a point in stockton township oreene greene county ind which Is 29 miles northeast of linton 31 miles southeast by south of terre haute and 33 miles northeast by north of vincennes Vla cennes but since it Is nearest linton that town received whatever distinction there accrues to being enon as the center of population and it beame became the successor to another indiana town whitehall in holding that honor for after the he census of 1920 1020 the center of population was wax designated as a point 19 miles west nest of IN whitehall life in owen county and in the ten years from 1920 1020 to 1930 it moved westward 22 miles to the point near linton isow now what Is this center of population and how Is it computed probably most of us have rater ratter vague idea ideas about that and the chances are that such ideas are erroneous as well for the thing we e have in mind when we gay center of population is probably what the census ex ports call the median point it if yon you draw a line dividing the population of the united stater into equal parts north and south and another line dividing it equally east ana west then the be point of intersection Is the redlan point in III every one of the four quarters thee theo will be the same number of people but the center of population as used by the census bureus Is that P point int that may be con human the anter of human gravity of the united states the census bureau picture the united states as a rigid level plane and oat our odd people each one weighing the same game irrespective of age sex and ot other her dis ills lons then the center of population would be the point at which the plane roust pivot in order to balance perfectly literally then the center night might be described w a the decennial pivot of the americk Ameri cw lattin playing seesaw p obviously this point has no definite relation ship with the geographical center or the numerical center of the population because the lever r age given western sections of the country offsets the weights ot larger populations of the eastern sections on this hj teeter totter the westward advance of the center of lation by 22 3 miles since 1920 la Is the smallest registered in any census except two in 1900 1000 the advance was only 14 4 miles and la in 1000 1920 it wag was down to DS 08 miles on the oilier other hood the southward advance of 7 70 6 miles recorded in 1930 1030 Is far above the average indeed it Is a trifle more aa than tho net southward movement since 1790 1700 that Is to say the excels of southward mileage over northward the westward advance la Is a reflection le reflection of the development of the nation the tremendous strides made by atri apiculture cultura in the states west of the mississippi the of the great oil industries in texas and Okli hema and other parts of the west and the steady growth of in austry in general in those areas all alt these are in the picture oil olt cattle wheat manufacturing moving pa pictures t u r have all had and ddll e exert an important cil influence n fi u CO on tl the it itee ly 0 o arit into the th 1 es t A fact in the shang da 0 the center of population is the closeness with which through out its westward path it has clung to the thirty ninth parallel of t latitude since 1700 it hat ha progressed almost la in a cht ht line une reaching its furthest point north 23 miles east of balti more in 1700 and iti its furthest south point in 10 1030 1010 10 in areene county Ind indiana laun yet the span was only 21 4 miles the greatest movement west ras was during uie do decade immediately preceding the ahll war when the advance was soo nilles miles hile the least movement was in the decade from rora 1910 1010 to 1929 when it was less than 10 miles in the years covered by the census records the advance has totaled miles an average of a little more than three miles annually or about 11 miles a decade that does not sound very big but it means a lot in the development of the united states Ite reference was made previously to the high south southward wad advance and the reason for the south nard ard pull of the last 10 years Is 1 chiefly california south a as 9 w well e 11 as west we stand and florida south as well as east the increases in the populations of texas and oklahoma may appear also to have had some influence but the increases in pennsylvania and new ew york probably offset that growth in to the fc A if it be asked whether the california florida increase in population was greater reater than the growth in michigan and the north atlantic states the answer Is the technical definition of center of population given above an increase of persons in los angeles more than 2500 allies miles from the old center of population in indiana would counterbalance an increase of in detroit only a compla of hundred miles away oae oie of the most interesting results of each decennial census censes Is the graphic picture which it paints of uncle sams westward march across the continent here in brief Is that picture over the period of years from 1700 1790 the date of ue first census to 1930 the date of the last one from tie the 1790 position in maryland the benier center bovea la in ten years almost directly west to a point about IS 18 miles west of Bilt baltimore imore and from 1800 it continued hs westward swing dipping slightly to the south to a point in virginia 40 miles northwest by west of washington washing ton in this decade demile it shifted 40 miles the movement being due principally to the a annexation x at I 1 on of t the he territory of louisiana in the next ten years 1810 to 1820 it reached a point about 13 miles east of c moorfield in what Is 6 now the state of west virginia here again there was a slight southward movement which was due mainly to the increasing population of georgia alabama and mississippi from ir 1820 0 to 1830 the movement moT ement west and south to a point rout 10 aji eljes es west s of moor this being the decided movement to tha the south in any d dada ade the reao 1 I 22 tha the annex annexation aton of alor a and find increasing se beetle tie ments in the south southwest t notably alabama ana mississippi and arkansas rk ansas from 1830 to the center continued west but slightly chan changed d its course to the north reaching a point I 1 iff miles south of clarksburg Clarks burg IV V va during ama decade population had in creased rapidly rapid in abe r airle stats stat s and in the southern parts of Michl michigan ban and wisconsin from 1840 to 1850 ft A moved west and slightly south again reaching a point about 23 miles southeast of IV va the changa ct direction to tie the south being largely doe due to the annexation of texas I 1 from 1850 to esgo it moved west and ell slightly fitly north reaching a point 20 miles south by east if of Chilli chillicothe ohio while from to 1870 it noved moved west and sharply north reaching a point about 48 ralles miles east by north of cincinnati this northward lort hward movement was due in part to the waste and aad destruction in the south consequently upon the civil war and in part to the fact that he the census of 1870 40 wib was in its of the people eap lall of the newly enfranchised negro population in ISSO the center of had returned south to nearly the latitude occupied in 1800 b ing in kentucky just jus south of the ohio river e acht ht mile west by uth of cincinnati but arf 1890 to the grat at increase of population io 16 the cities of the northwest thweat in the state of washington and also in new NewEn benj laiad the center moved north to a point 20 miles mile baht of colum bus bu ind during the dec decade ade from 10 to VEM it moved west to a point elx six miles southeast of col colum ta bue bus ind the great reat In increase creast IP the population of indian territory oklahoma and texas being largely offset by an increase in the population of the north atlantic states M JL aln d in 1010 it was at the point where the parallel of 0 latitude of SO 39 degrees 10 in minutes 12 seconds N intersects the merl meridian dlan of longitude 80 degree degrees 32 minutes 20 seconds IV and for the first time in it its history was located in a city bloomington ind from 1900 to 1910 it moved 7 of a mile north and 38 9 miles vest west the westward movement being nearly three times as great as from 1890 to 1900 but less than the westward movement for all previous decades except between 1800 and 1810 in 11 the decade 1910 1010 to 1920 1020 it moved only 98 miles ralles the sm allet moi movement ement it has ever shown being only about one fourth of the movement from 1900 1000 to 1910 the center has been in indiana for 40 years now and it Is probable that it will still be in the posse possession ion of th j hoosiers in 1940 for the historic banks of 0 tho IN abadzh 11 the eastern boundary of Ju indiana dlana n ae ne e still 25 miles away and the center Is not dot likely to go more than 25 miles westward in the next 10 yeara bat but it indiana has a hold on ono center cente which it eventually will have to relinquish th there r Is one state which has another center tha that it will never lose that state Is kansas and it has 9 permanent possession of the geographical center cf of continental united state states for the united states coast and geodetic survey has deter mined that this center Is located at ogden on the fort elley riley reservation in smith cc nty kan it Is at a point which Is 1100 feet above sea level and Is 1 located in latitude 39 degrees 50 minutes longitude 03 08 degrees 35 minutes and amona a bonu ment has been erected there to mark the spot now how this geographical center vas was determined Is described by officials of the survey as follows for a land area bounded by a true circle thi center of the circle Is tb the 0 geographic center also for an area bounded by a square or a rectangle the intersection of the diagonals Is the true center but for an irregular area the me cen ter Is not so easily found one method of find lc it a method sufficiently exact for all practical purposes Is to mount a map on the area on a piece of stiff paper or cardboard and then cut this paper or cardboard to the exa exact ct 4 outline the point at which this figure will elac exactly t ly bal ance on a pencil or pin point if it left free to move indicates the location of the geographic center it was by this method that the survey not only found the geographical center of the united baates as a whole but also mat of cuch state kansas also has permanent pi pt eslon of another center Is of even more importance than its geographic center for it has aptly been called the I 1 hub of the united states out in a cow pasture on the meade ranch in osborne county kansas Is a threefoot three foot cube of concrete in which Is set a metal plate on which a point Is engraved and this Is the dominant point the primary station the geodetic capital of america the kin king pin of all united states map mal mat ng and surveying and from it Is cal tie the latitude and ion longitude 1 tuda of a sixth of the world worlds i land surface since both canada and mexico have bare adopted this point and its sup porting system as the north american datum 1 it was established by the united states coast and geodetic survey surrey in 1901 1001 as its the initial sta tion for the vast network of surveys that was to be spread not only over the united states but over the entire contin continent cont lint ont it wa was designated as the primary station after the coast and ani geodetic aricy had employed intricate mathe magical calculations in extending its tion network across the country and slid had shifted the rigid network of its about very slight distances until tho errors in longi tude and latitude of all ie various Stat stations lons were brought to the least pos possible sibIA quantity when the network was wits pegged peg ged down I 1 the mother station MS iraq established on the meade ranch in north central kansas it would seem from a it historic and scientific standpoint says 11 S 8 patton acting dl ill rector of the coast and geodetic survey surrey that the mcade meade ranch triangulation StAtI station ort Is 1 worthy of a monument at least as conspicuous and ar artistic a as the zero milestone in washington which mark marks the beginning of the lincoln h highway Q Q by western ution wdell 10 A s 1 el |
