In the previous edition of “The Way West,” we visited dramatic days of framing of the Wyandotte Constitution, the document that serves today as the Constitution of the State of Kansas. During the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention, the official borders for the intended state needed to be identified.

Kansas Territory was carved out of the earlier designation of Indian Territory west of the Missouri River.

“Beginning at a point on the western border of the state of Missouri, where the 37th parallel of north latitude crosses the same, thence running west on said parallel to the 25th meridian of longitude west from Washington... ”(In other words, today’s Oklahoma border with Kansas.) “Thence north on said meridian to the 40th parallel of north latitude, thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of the state of Missouri...” (Our present border with Nebraska.) “Thence south with the western border of said state to the place of beginning.”

The Missouri River served as the western border for the state of Missouri, but I suppose for simplicity’s sake that part of the description was not included in the official description.

The northern border had actually been located soon after the Kansas-Nebraska Act went into effect May 30, 1854. The territory was to be surveyed according to the U. S. Public Land Survey System the northsouth, east-west rectangular grid that had been official government policy since the establishment of the Land Ordinance of 1785.

The “base line” boundary between Kansas and Nebraska was determined on the parallel of 40 degrees north latitude. Through astronomical calculation with the latest instruments available, Captain Thomas J. Lee, U. S. Topographical Engineers, located the official point of survey on a bluff above the west bank of the Missouri River. To protect the survey point from being washed out, a survey point was marked 52,55 chains west of the river. A cast iron monument now marks the location near present-day White Cloud, Kan.

Consequently, the actual northeastern border, while not described as such, follows the meandering Missouri River to the confluence with the Kansas River. The western border of Missouri was then described as extending south from the longitude of the confluence of the two rivers. Thus, the boundaries of Kansas were described to obtain statehood in what would become the 34th state of the Union.

But wait a minute! Have you ever tried to find the western border of Kansas by looking for the 25th meridian of longitude west from Washington? Instead of 25 degrees west longitude, our maps identify the western border as 102 degrees. So, what gives? What happened to 25 degrees?

As it turns out, an International Meridian Conference was held in Washington, D. C., in 1884 with 41 delegates from 25 countries in attendance. It was decided that a uniform expression of time, as well as a unform system of land description and measurement, was needed.

Time and place are intimately related. Each meridian of longitude is associated with a specific local time. Both longitude and latitude are measured by degrees divided into portions of 60 minutes, each minute consisting of 60 seconds. Time and place exist as one.

The standardization of time required agreement on the position of the prime meridian and its relationship to each and every other meridian around the globe. That was the primary function addressed by the 1884 conference. The Greenwich (England) Meridian was recognized as the International standard for zero degrees longitude. Thus, the western border of Kansas is at 102 degrees west longitude from the prime meridian at Greenwich, England.

But what of the Washington Meridian? At the time Kansas Territory was being carved up to form the boundaries for the state of Kansas, the Public Land Survey System of the United States located its prime meridian at the nation’s capital of Washington, D.C. Meridian measurements were essential to nautical positioning. Therefore, just as the Greenwich Meridian was located at the Royal Observatory, the Washington Meridian was fixed by Congress at Washington, D.C.’s, U.S. Naval Observatory on Sept. 25, 1850. Although the U.S. continued to use the Greenwich Meridian for nautical positioning, the Washington Meridian was used for astronomical purposes, evident in Captain Thomas J. Lee’s location of the starting point of the baseline boundary between Kansas and Nebraska.

On the surface (pun intended) it is all very confusing, and that was the very reason that standardized units of time and distance were deemed necessary in 1884. Finding the Washington Meridian was a unique element of American history, and specifically played a large part in describing and positioning the boundaries that became the state of Kansas on The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray can be reached at 220 21st Rd., Geneseo, KS 67444, (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.