Every Lake
Kansas
A near-perfect rectangle, nicked only where the Missouri River refused to follow the survey.
Kansas in relief
The land itself, cut in six steps of birch from the lowlands to the high ground — the cities starred, the summit and rise on the title block. No counties, no roads: just the shape of Kansas.
About Kansas
Kansas is the surveyor's state: straight lines on all four sides except the northeast, where the Missouri River bends in and takes a bite out of the corner. The land tilts steadily upward from about 680 feet on the eastern border to more than 4,000 in the far west, though it does it so gradually that the eye never catches it. The Flint Hills run north to south through the east — the last big stand of tallgrass prairie in America, saved because the rock under it broke plows. One hundred five counties, laid out in rows.
Kansas entered on January 29, 1861 as the 34th state, admitted free just weeks before the Civil War began and after years of border fighting that earned the territory the name Bleeding Kansas. Topeka, on the Kansas River, was a free-state town from the start and became the capital with statehood. The board holds the trail country — the Santa Fe and Chisholm trails, the cattle towns at Abilene and Dodge City — plus I-70 running dead west and the geographic center of the contiguous states near Lebanon.
- Six layers of birch — the land in elevation steps
- The summit and total rise on the title block
- The major cities, starred and named
- Title block with the admission date and capital
- A double rule engraved around the edge
- Every county line and the state border
- The interstates with their shields — 6 on this board
- The major cities, starred and named
- Title block with the admission date and capital
- A mile ruler engraved around the frame
