Tourism - Geographic Center of North America - Rugby, North Dakota
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 48° 21.265 W 099° 59.884
14U E 426060 N 5356174
Quick Description: Cairn marking the Geographic Center of North America in Rugby, North Dakota.
Location: North Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 11/25/2007 3:01:38 PM
Waymark Code: WM2NE7
Views: 82
Long Description:The Geographic Center of North America is marked with a stone cairn
withe the flags of United States, Canada and Mexico arranged by it.
The site is a popular place for tourist to get their photos taken.
The geographic center was determined in January, 1931 by the
U.S. Geological Survey. The Survey stated, "The geographic center
on 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 went on
further to state that because of large irregular shape of the
continent it is not possible to get location exact and it should be
viewed as only approximate. The cairn was built in 1932 and was
originally located across the highway from its current location. In
1971 it was moved to its current location when the highway was
expanded to four lanes and the original location was in the path of
the frontage road.
Come to central North Dakota and be in the center of it all.
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