Mahaska, Kansas Hosted the Sixth Principal Meridian
150th Anniversary Celebration
On June 10, 2006

PROGRAM CONSISTED OF:

9:00 a.m. CHAINING RE-ENACTMENT AT SITE OF THE MARKER
Marker Location is one mile West and one mile North of Mahaska

10:00 a.m. PLANNED ACTIVITIES IN MAHASKA

11:30 a.m. *LUNCH AT MAHASKA COMMUNITY CENTER

12:30 p.m. A BRIEF PROGRAM ON THE "HISTORY OF THE SIXTH P.M. AND,

PONY EXPRESS RIDERS AND MOCHILA EXCHANGE

  • There were displays of Antique Equipment
  • Period Re-enactors
  • History of Surveying Information
  • Additional Geocaching Opportunities

    • The Kansas Society of Land Surveyors have planned to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Monumentation of the Sixth Principal Meridian on June 10, 2006 at Mahaska, Kansas. The celebration will begin at 9:00 a.m. at the marker site one mile West and one mile North of town. The Kansas Society of Land Surveyors has prepared the activites and program and will also be placing new road signs in the immediate area of the monument to assist motorists. The Sixth P.M. is a feature geocache site on the www.geocaching.com website.

    HISTORY:The Sixth Principal Meridian or 40th Parallel Marker came about on May 30, 1854, as Congress agreed to establish and survey the Kansas and Nebraska territories.

    This surveyor’s point is the site from where more than 200 million miles of land was surveyed. The monument is the banchmark from which all property in Kansas, Nebraska, and parts of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado are referenced. The surveyor's benchmark on the Kansas-Nebraska border is surrounded by the Kansas counties of Washington and Republic and Nebraska counties of Jefferson and Thayer.

    Above Information Provided By:
    Washington County Tourism Director, Gloria J. Moore,
    785-325-2116