Sunday, October 1, 2017

Doing silly things in North Dakota

Since we already had been to the geographic center of the US which was in South Dakota, we decided to check out the geographic center of North America, which is in North Dakota. Well, it turned out to be a bit more challenging than we first suspected. According to the USGS it lies about at the intersection of 1st Street West and Lakota Avenue North in Center North Dakota. Sadly, there is no marking whatsoever in the town of where the acknowledged geographic center is. Interestingly, the name Center was given to the town in 1902, not because the USGS had proclaimed it the geographic center of North America, but because it was roughly in the dead center of the state of North Dakota.

While exploring town, we discovered this interesting monument dedicated to Hazel Miner. The monument is just that, a monument, although it has the appearance of a tombstone, which it is not. Hazel Miner was a 15-year-old from Center who got lost in a blizzard on March 15, 1920, along with her younger brother and sister, on her way home from school. As night fell she lay on top of them, saving their lives while sacrificing her own. The monument is a dedication to her bravery.
So, there are two other alleged geographic centers of North America, and we decided we needed to check them out. One was in Hanson’s Bar in Robinson North Dakota. Bill Bender was the mayor of Robinson in the 1960’s, when the town of Rugby North Dakota about 85 miles North and near the Canadian border had made claim to that distinction. Bender decided that with the melting of the polar ice caps the geographic center was logically moving South, so he filed for and was awarded a trademark as the geographic center of North America.
As is often true in a town with a population of 37, Bender also owned the only bar in town, Hanson’s Bar. Interestingly enough, when they determined where the actual geographic center of North America really was, it was pretty much in the center of Bender’s (or should I say Hanson’s) Bar. Man, how lucky can a guy get! Of course, Hanson was clever enough to send in a copyright application for the name “Geographic center of North America” and was granted it. Lucky and smart!
The other alleged, but inaccurate, geographic center of North America is in Rugby North Dakota. The town of Rugby invested some money in actually building a cairn on the corner they claimed was the spot. They had some issues develop when Hanson was able to get a copyright on the name, but fortunately for them, a copyright has a term, Hanson died in the meantime, so nobody was able to get the copyright renewed. Maybe not so lucky after all.
Talk to you soon!

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