Geographic Center of North America - Rugby, North Dakota
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 48° 21.265 W 099° 59.884
14U E 426060 N 5356174
Cairn marking the the Geographic Center of North America in Rugby, North Dakota.
Waymark Code: WM2NDQ
Location: North Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 11/25/2007
Views: 124
From the North Dakota - A Guide to the Northern Prairie State
Tour 6 section:
At 163.5 m. is the junction with ND 3, a graveled highway. At this
crossroads is a stone cairn marking the GEOGRAPHIC CENTER OF NORTH AMERICA.
In 1931 the U. S. Geological Survey determined that the geographic center of the
continent is in Pierce County, N. Dak., and the marker at the highway junction
is in the approximate center of the country The survey states, "The
geographic center of an area may be defined as that point on which the surface
of the area would balance if it were a plane of uniform thickness, or in other
words, the center of gravity of the surface... It would not be feasible,
therefore, to specify for such a large irregular area as that of North America
the exact section, township and range in which the geographic center lies."
Some years before 1931 Pierre, S. Dak., claimed to be the approximate center of
the continent, based on the fact that two lines drawn from corner to corner of a
map of North America intersected near Pierre.
The cairn was relocated in 1971 across the Hwy 2 when the highway was
expanded to four lanes. The old location is now a frontage road northwest
of the current location. Rugby has embraced its status as the geographic
center and includes that fact in its city seal and slogan.