Kansas High Spots

[Janet Harrington]

We took this picture Saturday at a family reunion.  This spot is northwest of Manhattan, I think.  Maybe it's straight west of Manhattan.  Wherever it is, it belongs to my cousin and he has a lovely log cabin home on it.  I have no idea how high it is, but it seemed as if we could see forever.

[kdfrawg]

< nod, nod >

Like I said, if you can see to the horizon and nothing is taller, you're in the highest spot that matters to you right then. It might be higher in the Alps, but that doesn't matter when you're not in the Alps.

[W. Gray]

Most local people are probably aware the Osage were in the Elk County area when this area was Howard County.

However, the Osage were not native to this area. They were moved into eastern Kanzas by federal treaty from Missouri and Arkansas to prepare those areas to become a state. The tribe had already moved from the Ohio River Valley because of losing wars with other stronger tribes.

After the Osage were moved to eastern Kanzas, the government then reduced their reservation to southeast Kansas to make room for as many as 20 other eastern tribes. An area above what is now Elk County is designated on early maps as "New York Indian lands."

Finally, in 1870, the government moved the Osage to Oklahoma to make way for Howard County settlers--although many settlers were already here in disregard of the Osage legal land title to the area.

The last Indian tribe moved to Oklahoma from Kansas was the Kanza in 1873. But, there are still four Indian reservations left in the state.

[kdfrawg]

W. Gray - You sound like you're as big a map fan as I am. How do you like Google Earth? I heard a rumor a while back that they were planning on adding a topo layer to the satellite photography and street/road mapping that is already there. That would make it an even better package.

[Marcia Moore]

     By an act of Congress on July 15, 1870, the Osage Trust Lands in Kansas were opened to white settlement.  Isaac T. Bullock was one of the first to stake a claim in the Severy area, and he immediately went into business, opening up a trading post one mile west of present Severy.  At the same time, Bullock began working to secure enough signatures of his neighbors to establish a post office in his trading post.  He was successful in his effort, and a post office was established and officially given the name, "Valley Post Office," because it was located in the community then known as Valley.  The community of Valley was so named because it was established in the Salt Creek Valley. 

[W. Gray]

Janet - I could not find anything other than around 1400 feet or so northwest of Manhattan. Manhattan is in Riley county and the highest point in that county is at 2000 feet near Fort Riley.

Kermit-Using Google, the resolution is fine enough that I can zero in on my driveway before the resolution becomes blurry. However, if I try to zero in on Elk County there is nothing but a blur. Will be glad when the down to earth resolution will apply to everywhere. I hope they add a topo layer and then governmental townships and then land townships, sections, ranges, etc. Not sure how they are paying for this but I will take it.

[kdfrawg]

W. Gray - The more populous the place, the better the resolution. You can almost see shoe color in Seattle and New York. But they are replacing the old blurry stuff from the early nineties very slowly in rural areas. And, hey, how does Google pay for anything? As the new Microsoft, I think they are just printing their own.

[Diane Amberg]

  W. Gray.  We still have the Nanticoke Tribe downstate now, and used to have Lenni Lenape also. I'm not sure what else. Actually I thought the Delaware Indians were from Ohio. I guess I've forgotten. Time to get  the Del history book out again.         Al is a MAP MAN, (ta-dah) too. Loves the compuer stuff. Working as a New Castle County planner, he was all about maps and census data. Al told me that early on, he could zoom down (at work) and tell what kind of car you had in your driveway, but homeland security stopped it.

[ddurbin]

Waldo,
Just thought I'd join in and mention that if you continue north from the point you listed as Osage Cuestas, there are several
elevations that go on up into the 1500's and some into the 1600's.  In the very NW corner of Elk County, in section 22, there
is a plateau over 1600.  Right next to it to the east in section 23, there is a point listed as 1635.  Whether it has a name or
not, I can't say.  There may be a spot even higher that I overlooked when scanning over that area on TopoZone.  

[Wilma]

That spot west of Manhattan where we were yesterday was not the highest spot around as the back yard continued uphill aways.  Wish I were able to climb it.

When we were first married we lived in the NW part of Elk County and out to the northwest of us was a hill that seemed to go up forever.  I would bet it was a half mile to the top.  I would liked to have climbed it but it was someone else's property.  My husband's grandmother wanted to climb it, too.  We should have done it together instead of just wanting to.  But several miles west of us the hills were even higher.