Minnesota
Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwest and northern regions of the United States. Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U. S. state on May 11, 1858, created from the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory. The state has a large number of lakes, is known by the slogan the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", its official motto is L'Étoile du Nord. Minnesota is the 12th largest in area and the 22nd most populous of the U. S. states. This area is the center of transportation, industry and government, while being home to an internationally known arts community; the remainder of the state consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture. Minnesota was inhabited by various indigenous peoples for thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans. French explorers and fur traders began exploring the region in the 17th century, encountering the Dakota and Ojibwe/Anishinaabe tribes. Much of what is today Minnesota was part of the vast French holding of Louisiana, purchased by the United States in 1803.
Following several territorial reorganizations, Minnesota in its current form was admitted as the country's 32nd state on May 11, 1858. Like many Midwestern states, it remained centered on lumber and agriculture. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, a large number of European immigrants from Scandinavia and Germany, began to settle the state, which remains a center of Scandinavian American and German American culture. In recent decades, immigration from Asia, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, Latin America has broadened its demographic and cultural composition; the state's economy has diversified, shifting from traditional activities such as agriculture and resource extraction to services and finance. Minnesota's standard of living index is among the highest in the United States, the state is among the best-educated and wealthiest in the nation; the word Minnesota comes from the Dakota name for the Minnesota River: The river got its name from one of two words in the Dakota language,'Mní sóta' which means "clear blue water", or'Mnißota', which means cloudy water.
Native Americans demonstrated the name to early settlers by dropping milk into water and calling it mnisota. Many places in the state have similar names, such as Minnehaha Falls, Minneota, Minnetonka and Minneapolis, a combination of mni and polis, the Greek word for "city". Minnesota is the second northernmost U. S. state and northernmost contiguous state. Its isolated Northwest Angle in Lake of the Woods county is the only part of the 48 contiguous states lying north of the 49th parallel; the state is part of the U. S. region known as part of North America's Great Lakes Region. It shares a Lake Superior water border with Michigan and a land and water border with Wisconsin to the east. Iowa is to the south, North Dakota and South Dakota are to the west, the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba are to the north. With 86,943 square miles, or 2.25% of the United States, Minnesota is the 12th-largest state. Minnesota has gneisses that are about 3.6 billion years old. About 2.7 billion years ago, basaltic lava poured out of cracks in the floor of the primordial ocean.
The roots of these volcanic mountains and the action of Precambrian seas formed the Iron Range of northern Minnesota. Following a period of volcanism 1.1 billion years ago, Minnesota's geological activity has been more subdued, with no volcanism or mountain formation, but with repeated incursions of the sea, which left behind multiple strata of sedimentary rock. In more recent times, massive ice sheets at least one kilometer thick ravaged the state's landscape and sculpted its terrain; the Wisconsin glaciation left 12,000 years ago. These glaciers covered all of Minnesota except the far southeast, an area characterized by steep hills and streams that cut into the bedrock; this area is known as the Driftless Zone for its absence of glacial drift. Much of the remainder of the state outside the northeast has 50 feet or more of glacial till left behind as the last glaciers retreated. Gigantic Lake Agassiz formed in the northwest 13,000 years ago, its bed created the fertile Red River valley, its outflow, glacial River Warren, carved the valley of the Minnesota River and the Upper Mississippi downstream from Fort Snelling.
Minnesota is geologically quiet today. The state's high point is Eagle Mountain at 2,301 feet, only 13 miles away from the low of 601 feet at the shore of Lake Superior. Notwithstanding dramatic local differences in elevation, much of the state is a rolling peneplain. Two major drainage divides meet in Minnesota's northeast in rural Hibbing, forming a triple watershed. Precipitation can follow the Mississippi River south to the Gulf of Mexico, the Saint Lawrence Seaway east to the Atlantic Ocean, or the Hudson Bay watershed to the Arctic Ocean; the state's nickname, "Land of 10,000 Lakes", is apt, as there are 11,842 Minnesota lakes over 10 acres in size. Minnesota's portion of Lake Superior is the largest at 962,700 acres and deepest body of wate
Interstate 29
Interstate 29 is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern United States. I-29 runs from Kansas City, Missouri, at a junction with Interstate 35 and Interstate 70, to the Canada–US border near Pembina, North Dakota, where it connects with Manitoba Highway 75; the road follows the course of three major rivers, all of which form the borders of U. S. states. The southern portion of I-29 parallels the Missouri River from Kansas City northward to Sioux City, where it crosses and parallels the Big Sioux River. For the northern third of the highway, it follows the Red River of the North; the major cities that I-29 connects to includes Iowa. Near its southern terminus, I-29 is concurrent with I-35 and U. S. Route 71; the interstate diverts from U. S. 71 just north of St. Joseph and follows a sparsely populated corridor along the Missouri River to Council Bluffs. During the design phase there was an alternative sending the route further along U. S. 71 through the bigger towns of Maryville and Clarinda, Iowa.
During the Great Flood of 1993 the Missouri River flooded this section and traffic was rerouted to U. S. 71 through Maryville and Clarinda. I-29 was closed again for about two months during the 2011 Missouri River Flood. All of I-29 in Missouri is in an area called the Platte Purchase, not part of Missouri when it entered the Union. Interstate 29 begins in Iowa near Hamburg, it goes northwest to an interchange with Iowa Highway 2 goes north until Council Bluffs. It runs concurrent with Interstate 80 until separating from I-80 less than a mile east of Omaha, Nebraska to follow the Missouri River north, winding its way along the western and northern edges of Council Bluffs. North of Council Bluffs, I-29 runs concurrent with Interstate 680 between Exits 61 and 71. After Interstate 680 separates, I-29 continues on a northwesterly path toward Sioux City. At Sioux City, Interstate 129 spurs off of I-29 to go west toward Nebraska. After continuing toward downtown Sioux City on a northerly route, I-29 turns west and enters South Dakota.
Interstate 29 enters South Dakota at North Sioux City by crossing over the Big Sioux River. It runs northwest until its interchange with South Dakota Highway 50 near Vermillion, where it turns north; the highway alignment is due north until just before Sioux Falls. In the Sioux Falls area, I-29 serves the western part of Sioux Falls while I-229 spurs off and serves eastern Sioux Falls. In northwestern Sioux Falls, I-29 meets Interstate 90. After that, it continues north past Brookings and an intersection with US 14. At the intersection with South Dakota Highway 28, I-29 turns northwest toward Watertown. After Watertown, the highway continues north and passes an intersection with US 12 before continuing into North Dakota. Interstate 29 enters North Dakota from the south, near Hankinson. At Fargo, it continues north along the Red River toward Grand Forks. At its northern terminus, I-29 enters Canada and becomes Manitoba Provincial Trunk Highway 75, which leads to Winnipeg; the portion from Fargo, North Dakota, to the Canada–US border was considered for designation as Interstate 31 in 1957 for present-day I-29.
No freeway was planned south of Fargo. However, it was subsequently decided in 1958 to connect I-31 between Sioux Falls and Fargo; the entire freeway was built and numbered as I-29. Residents of Missouri and Louisiana began campaigning in 1965 via, the "US 71 - I-29 Association," to extend Interstate 29 all the way to New Orleans, Louisiana following the US 71 corridor; the campaign would create a limited access highway from New Orleans on to Winnipeg. That extension came to be called Interstate 49, not part of the 1957 master plan, it was named I-49 instead of I-29 because the interstate naming rules mandate that north-south roads are odd numbered and named in increasing order from west to east. North of their concurrence, I-29 is west of I-35, but south of Kansas City Interstate 35 and Interstate 45 are to the west of the proposed route, Interstate 55 is to the east. Interstate 49 was the number chosen; when Interstate 49 is complete, the goal of the Association will have been accomplished, with only a brief gap and name change in Kansas City.
Missouri I‑35 / I‑70 / US 24 / US 40 / US 71 in Kansas City. I-29/I-35 travels concurrently through Kansas City. I-29/US 71 travels concurrently to east of Amazonia. US 69 on the Gladstone–Kansas City city line US 169 on the Gladstone–Kansas City city line I‑635 in Kansas City I‑435 in Kansas City; the highways travel concurrently to Platte City. I‑229 south-southeast of St. Joseph US 169 in St. Joseph US 36 in St. Joseph US 169 in St. Joseph US 59 north-northeast of St. Joseph; the highways travel concurrently to east of Amazonia. I‑229 / US 59 / US 71 North of St. Joseph US 59 northwest of Amazonia; the highways travel concurrently for 1.8 miles. US 59 north of Oregon US 159 south-southeast of Mound City US 59 east of Craig US 136 in Rock Port Iowa US 34 / US 275 west of Glenwood. I-29/US 275 travels concurrently to Council Bluffs. I‑80 in Council Bluffs; the highways travel concurrently through Council Bluffs. I‑480 / US 6 in Council Bluffs I‑680 west-southwest of Crescent; the highways travel concurrently to west-southwest of Loveland.
US 30 in Missouri Valley I‑129 / US 20 / US 75 in Sioux City US 77 in Sioux City South Dakota US 18 south-southwest of Worthing. The highways travel concurrently for 3.02 miles. I‑229 in Sioux Falls I‑90 in Sioux Falls US 14 in Brookings US 212 in Watertown US 81 n
U.S. Route 69
U. S. Route 69 is a major north–south United States highway; when it was first created, it was only 150 miles long, but it has since been expanded into a Minnesota to Texas cross-country route. The highway's southern terminus is in Port Arthur, Texas at an intersection with State Highway 87, its northern terminus is in Albert Lea, Minnesota at Minnesota State Highway 13. US 69 begins at its southern terminus with SH 87 in Port Arthur; this intersection is the southern terminus for US 96 and US 287, which are concurrent with US 69. US 69, US 96, US 287 continue in a northwest west, route until its intersection with Interstate 10 in southern Beaumont. At this intersection, US 69, US 96, US 287 merge with I-10. I-10/US 69/US 96/US 287 continue in a northerly direction through Beaumont for several miles. Just after the intersection with US 90, I-10 splits from the multiplex and resumes its easterly course, leaving US 69, US 96, US 287 heading northwest through Beaumont. US 69 north of I-10 is known known as Eastex Freeway, is an official evacuation route, just as Interstate 69/US 59 heading north from Houston is known as Eastex Freeway as well.
In Lumberton, US 96 splits from US 69 and US 287 and heads northeast towards Jasper, while US 69 and US 287 continue on a northwest path towards Woodville. In Woodville, US 69 splits from US 287 a few blocks north of US 190. US 287 continues northwest towards Corrigan. In this area, between US 190 in Woodville and FM 256 in Colmesneil, US 69 is a part of the Texas Forest Trail. Before reaching Lufkin, US 69 forms another segment of the Texas Forest Trail between SH 63 in Zavalla and FM 1818 northwest of Zavalla. In Lufkin, US 69 is concurrent with US 59 and State Loop 287 while the route through the city is named Business US 69. US 69, State Loop 287, US 59 continue around the east side of Lufkin until US 59 separates at the intersection with US 59 Business northeast of Lufkin. US 69 and State Loop 287 continue until the intersection of SH 103 and Business US 69 on the northwest section of Lufkin. At that point, US 69 is concurrent for a short distance with SH 103 and State Loop 287. At the intersection of US 69, State Loop 287 and SH 103, US 69 departs Lufkin and heads northwest while SH 103 and State Loop 287 head south.
US 69 continues on a north to northwest path through the towns of Alto, Rusk and Bullard. Just south of Bullard, US 69 has a short concurrency with FM 2493. US 69 continues northward into Tyler. In Tyler, US 69 continues northward through the city until the intersection of SH 110 and SH 155, where US 69 heads west and merges with SH 110 and SH 155 through Tyler. Around seven blocks from the intersection of US 69, SH 110, SH 155, SH 155 separates from the concurrency and travels in a southwesterly direction, leaving US 69 and SH 110 traveling in a northwesterly direction; this continues. At this intersection, SH 110 heads west. US 69 crosses Interstate 20 at Lindale where it is signed as "Main Street". At FM 16 in Lindale, US 69 begins its last segment as part of the Texas Forest Trail. US 69 continues north to northwest to Mineola. Before leaving town, at its intersection with SH 37, the Texas Forest Trail turns off of US 69 to share a segment with SH 37. US 69 takes a more northwest turn on its way through several small towns, including Emory, on its way to Greenville.
There, as it begins to enter the city, a Business route of US 69 turns off to the right to serve the downtown Greenville area, on to a junction with Interstate 30. At the intersection with I-30, US 69 becomes concurrent with US 380 at its terminus; the concurrency continues around the southern and western sides of Greenville until an intersection with Spur 302. At that intersection, US 380 heads west while US 69 continues north, until it reaches the northern end of its Business route, which has passed through the downtown Greenville area US 69 turns northwest, from Greenville to Leonard, where it encounters a brief concurrency with SH 78. In Whitewright, SH 11 becomes concurrent with US 69 southeast of town; this continues until the intersection with SH 160, at which time SH 11 continues on a northwestward route and US 69 continues north through Whitewright. US 69 continues north northwest until Denison, where it turns right to go north, at an intersection with Spur 503. US 69 goes north through downtown Denison at the north side of town, US 69 intersects and merges with US 75, at which time US 69 becomes concurrent with US 75.
Both head northeast across the Oklahoma/Texas border at the Red River. US 69 and US 75 pass the Oklahoma border near the tiny town of Staley, they remain concurrent all the way to Atoka, where US 69 heads US 75 heads northwest. US 69 and US 75 merge with SH-3 in Atoka but SH-3 remains concurrent with US 75 instead of US 69 when they split. In Stringtown, US 69 merges with SH-43. SH-43 crosses it. US 69 passes right by the McAlester Ammunitions Depot. US 69 passes over Eufaula Lake 6 times. Near Muskogee, US 69 merges with US 64 and SH-2. At an intersection with US 62, US 64 heads west concurrent with US 62 while US 69 and SH-2 continue to head north. South of Pryor Creek, US 69 is the westerly boundary of the MidAmerica Industrial Park, one of the largest industrial park in the nation. Near Vinita, US 69 and SH-2 interchange with Historic Route 66 and US 60; the two highways turn east and merge with HR-66 and US 60. In Downtown Vinita, SH-2 heads north while US 69, US 60 and HR-66 head east, passing I-44 a short while later.
At SH-85, the
Iowa
Iowa is a state in the Midwestern United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states. In colonial times, Iowa was a part of Spanish Louisiana. After the Louisiana Purchase, people laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy made the transition to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, financial services, information technology and green energy production. Iowa is the 26th most extensive in land area and the 30th most populous of the 50 U. S states, its capital and largest city by population is Des Moines. Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states in, its nickname is the Hawkeye State. Iowa derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many Native American tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east.
The southern border is the Des Moines River and a not-quite-straight line along 40 degrees 35 minutes north, as decided by the U. S. Supreme Court in Missouri v. Iowa after a standoff between Missouri and Iowa known as the Honey War. Iowa is the only state whose east and west borders are formed by rivers. Iowa has 99 counties; the state capital, Des Moines, is in Polk County. Iowa's bedrock geology increases in age from west to east. In northwest Iowa, Cretaceous bedrock can be 74 million years old. Iowa is not flat. Iowa can be divided into eight landforms based on glaciation, soils and river drainage. Loess hills lie along the western border of the state. Northeast Iowa along the Upper Mississippi River is part of the Driftless Area, consisting of steep hills and valleys which appear mountainous. Several natural lakes exist, most notably Spirit Lake, West Okoboji Lake, East Okoboji Lake in northwest Iowa. To the east lies Clear Lake. Man-made lakes include Lake Odessa, Saylorville Lake, Lake Red Rock, Coralville Lake, Lake MacBride, Rathbun Lake.
The state's northwest area has many remnants such as Barringer Slough. Iowa's natural vegetation is tallgrass prairie and savanna in upland areas, with dense forest and wetlands in flood plains and protected river valleys, pothole wetlands in northern prairie areas. Most of Iowa is used for agriculture; the Southern part of Iowa is categorised as the Central forest-grasslands transition ecoregion. The Northern, drier part of Iowa is categorised as the Central tall grasslands and is thus considered to be part of the Great Plains. There is a dearth of natural areas in Iowa; as of 2005 Iowa ranked 49th of U. S. states in public land holdings. Threatened or endangered animals in Iowa include the interior least tern, piping plover, Indiana bat, pallid sturgeon, the Iowa Pleistocene land snail, Higgins' eye pearly mussel, the Topeka shiner. Endangered or threatened plants include western prairie fringed orchid, eastern prairie fringed orchid, Mead's milkweed, prairie bush clover, northern wild monkshood.
There is little proof to suggest that the explosion in the number of high-density livestock facilities in Iowa has led to increased rural water contamination and a decline in air quality. In fact, covered manure storage in modern barns prevent that manure from washing away into surface water, as it does in open lots as snow melts and thunderstorms occur. Other factors negatively affecting Iowa's environment include the extensive use of older coal-fired power plants and pesticide runoff from crop production, diminishment of the Jordan Aquifer. Iowa has a humid continental climate throughout the state with extremes of both cold; the average annual temperature at Des Moines is 50 °F. Winters are harsh and snowfall is common. Spring ushers in the beginning of the severe weather season. Iowa averages about 50 days of thunderstorm activity per year; the 30 year annual average Tornadoes in Iowa is 47. In 2008, twelve people were killed by tornadoes in Iowa, making it the deadliest year since 1968 and the second most tornadoes in a year with 105, matching the total from 2001.
Iowa summers are known for heat and humidity, with daytime temperatures sometimes near 90 °F and exceeding 100 °F. Average winters in the state have been known to drop well below freezing dropping below −18 °F. Iowa's all-time hottest temperature of 118 °F was recorded at Keokuk on July 20, 1934. Iowa has a smooth gradient of var
U.S. Route 50
U. S. Route 50 is a major east–west route of the U. S. Highway system, stretching just over 3,000 miles from West Sacramento, California, to Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic Ocean; until 1972, when it was replaced by Interstate Highways west of the Sacramento area, it extended to San Francisco, near the Pacific Ocean. The Interstates were constructed and are separate from this route, it serves a corridor south of Interstates 70 and 80 and north of Interstates 64 and 40. The route runs through rural desert and mountains in the Western United States, with the section through Nevada known as "The Loneliest Road in America". In the Midwest, US 50 continues through rural areas of farms as well as a few large cities including Kansas City, Missouri; the route continues into the Eastern United States, where it passes through the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia before heading through Washington, D. C. From there, US 50 continues through Maryland as a high-speed road to Ocean City. Signs at each end give the length as 3,073 miles, but the actual distance is less, due to realignments since the former figure was measured.
US 50 passes through a total of 12 states. US 50 was created in 1926 as part of the original U. S. Highway system; the original route planned in 1925 ran from Wadsworth, Nevada east to Annapolis, Maryland along several auto trails including the Lincoln Highway, Midland Trail, the National Old Trails Road. The final 1926 plan had US 50 running from Sacramento, California east to Annapolis with a gap in west Utah, bridged by running the route north via Salt Lake City before rerouting it to U. S. Route 6 in the 1950s. US 50 was extended west from Sacramento to San Francisco in the 1930s, replacing U. S. Route 48. In addition, US 50 was extended east from Annapolis to Ocean City prior in 1949, replacing a portion of U. S. Route 213. US 50 had two split configurations into U. S. Route 50N and U. S. Route 50S, one in Kansas and another in Ohio and West Virginia. US 50 begins as a major freeway at its junction with Interstate 80 in West Sacramento and continues into Sacramento; the portion of US 50 west of and including its interchange with California's State Highway 99 in Sacramento is designated, but not signed as, Interstate 305.
The signage along this portion of the highway indicates Business Loop I-80 and a portion of the way as California State Highway 99. From Sacramento, the highway heads eastward as the William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. Memorial Highway, continuing as a freeway to the Gold Country foothills following the American River up the Sierra Nevada as a conventional highway, until cresting the Sierras at Echo Summit and descending to Lake Tahoe, where the highway enters Nevada. In Nevada, the highway crosses a series of north–south running mountain ranges that break up the Nevada desert which are called Basin and Range. East of Carson City, the road enters the heart of the Great Basin, passing by few communities and minimal services, giving it the name "Loneliest Road in America" until reaching Utah. In Utah, US 50 passes through desolate, remote areas with few inhabitants. After crossing the Confusion Range via Kings Canyon and the House Range, the road traverses the north shore of the endorheic Sevier Lake.
In Holden, US 50 shortly overlaps Interstate 15 to cross the Pavant Range. The road begins a much longer overlap with Interstate 70 in Salina crossing the Wasatch Plateau and San Rafael Swell into Colorado. US 50 leaves I-70 upon entering the state and heads southeast through Grand Junction and into the southern part of Colorado. Once there, the road climbs to its highest elevation of 11,312 feet over the Rocky Mountains and in Monarch Pass where it crosses the Continental Divide. After descending from the Rockies, US 50 passes by Royal Gorge near Cañon City joins U. S. Route follows the Arkansas River into Kansas. Upon entering Kansas, US 50, concurrent with US 400, runs along the Arkansas River to Dodge City where US 50 splits from US 400 and takes a more northerly course. US 50 continues to traverse the farmlands and small towns of the Great Plains as a straight two-lane road until Emporia where it joins Interstate 35 and splits onto Interstate 435 to bypass the center of the Kansas City Area.
In Missouri, US 50 leaves I-435 for Interstate 470 splitting at Lee's Summit. US 50 runs as a four-lane divided highway across the Western Plain to Sedalia where it continues as a two-lane road until reaching California, MO about 20 miles west of Jefferson City; the road continues as a four-lane divided highway into Jefferson City where it joins US 63 just south of the Missouri River Bridge. It continues 12 miles east of Jefferson City to the Osage River, it continues as a two-lane road as it traverses the northern sections of the Ozark Highlands east to Union where it begins an overlap with Interstate 44 which goes through Pacific. The routes separate in Sunset Hills where US 50 migrates southeast bypassing St Louis by joining Interstate 255 to cross Mississippi River into Illinois. In that state, US 50 switches to Interstate 64 before splitting onto its own alignment in eastern O'Fallon, it heads east through Trenton, Carlyle crossing the Kaskaskia River, Salem and Lawrenceville to the Wabash River along a corridor between Interstates 64 and 70.
US 50 enters Indian
Kansas
Kansas is a U. S. state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka and its largest city is Wichita, with its most populated county being Johnson County. Kansas is bordered by Nebraska on the north. Kansas is named after the Kansa Native American tribe; the tribe's name is said to mean "people of the wind" although this was not the term's original meaning. For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in the eastern part of the state lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. Kansas was first settled by European Americans in 1827 with the establishment of Fort Leavenworth; the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery debate. When it was opened to settlement by the U. S. government in 1854 with the Kansas–Nebraska Act, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine whether Kansas would become a free state or a slave state.
Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists prevailed, on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state. By 2015, Kansas was one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, corn and soybeans. Kansas, which has an area of 82,278 square miles is the 15th-largest state by area and is the 34th most-populous of the 50 states with a population of 2,911,505. Residents of Kansas are called Kansans. Mount Sunflower is Kansas's highest point at 4,041 feet. For a millennium, the land, Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans; the first European to set foot in present-day Kansas was the Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, who explored the area in 1541. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was acquired by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Southwest Kansas, was still a part of Spain and the Republic of Texas until the conclusion of the Mexican–American War in 1848, when these lands were ceded to the United States.
From 1812 to 1821, Kansas was part of the Missouri Territory. The Santa Fe Trail traversed Kansas from 1821 to 1880, transporting manufactured goods from Missouri and silver and furs from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Wagon ruts from the trail are still visible in the prairie today. In 1827, Fort Leavenworth became the first permanent settlement of white Americans in the future state; the Kansas–Nebraska Act became law on May 30, 1854, establishing Nebraska Territory and Kansas Territory, opening the area to broader settlement by whites. Kansas Territory stretched all the way to the Continental Divide and included the sites of present-day Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo. Missouri and Arkansas sent settlers into Kansas all along its eastern border; these settlers attempted to sway votes in favor of slavery. The secondary settlement of Americans in Kansas Territory were abolitionists from Massachusetts and other Free-Staters, who attempted to stop the spread of slavery from neighboring Missouri. Directly presaging the American Civil War, these forces collided, entering into skirmishes that earned the territory the name of Bleeding Kansas.
Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state on January 29, 1861, making it the 34th state to join the United States. By that time the violence in Kansas had subsided, but during the Civil War, on August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led several hundred men on a raid into Lawrence, destroying much of the city and killing nearly 200 people, he was roundly condemned by both the conventional Confederate military and the partisan rangers commissioned by the Missouri legislature. His application to that body for a commission was flatly rejected due to his pre-war criminal record. After the Civil War, many veterans constructed homesteads in Kansas. Many African Americans looked to Kansas as the land of "John Brown" and, led by freedmen like Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, began establishing black colonies in the state. Leaving southern states in the late 1870s because of increasing discrimination, they became known as Exodusters. At the same time, the Chisholm Trail was opened and the Wild West-era commenced in Kansas.
Wild Bill Hickok was a marshal at Hays and Abilene. Dodge City was another wild cowboy town, both Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp worked as lawmen in the town. In one year alone, eight million head of cattle from Texas boarded trains in Dodge City bound for the East, earning Dodge the nickname "Queen of the Cowtowns." In response to demands of Methodists and other evangelical Protestants, in 1881 Kansas became the first U. S. state to adopt a constitutional amendment prohibiting all alcoholic beverages, repealed in 1948. Kansas is bordered by Nebraska on the north; the state is divided into 105 counties with 628 cities, is located equidistant from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The geographic center of the 48 contiguous states is in Smith County near Lebanon; until 1989, the Meades Ranch Triangulation Station in Osborne County was the geodetic center of North America: the central reference point for all maps of North America. The geographic center of Kansas is in Barton County. Kansas is underlain by a sequence of horizontal to westward dipping sedimentary rocks.
A sequence of Mississippian and Permian rocks outcrop in the eastern and southern part of the state
Texas
Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Geographically located in the South Central region of the country, Texas shares borders with the U. S. states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas to the southwest, while the Gulf of Mexico is to the southeast. Houston is the most populous city in Texas and the fourth largest in the U. S. while San Antonio is the second-most populous in the state and seventh largest in the U. S. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and fifth largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country, respectively. Other major cities include Austin, the second-most populous state capital in the U. S. and El Paso. Texas is nicknamed "The Lone Star State" to signify its former status as an independent republic, as a reminder of the state's struggle for independence from Mexico; the "Lone Star" can be found on the Texan state seal.
The origin of Texas's name is from the word taysha. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, Texas contains diverse landscapes common to both the U. S. Southern and Southwestern regions. Although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10% of Texas's land area is desert. Most of the population centers are in areas of former prairies, grasslands and the coastline. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the desert and mountains of the Big Bend; the term "six flags over Texas" refers to several nations. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas. France held a short-lived colony. Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the union as the 28th state; the state's annexation set off a chain of events that led to the Mexican–American War in 1846.
A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, joined the Confederate States of America on March 2nd of the same year. After the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. Four major industries shaped the Texas economy prior to World War II: cattle and bison, cotton and oil. Before and after the U. S. Civil War the cattle industry, which Texas came to dominate, was a major economic driver for the state, thus creating the traditional image of the Texas cowboy. In the 19th century cotton and lumber grew to be major industries as the cattle industry became less lucrative, it was though, the discovery of major petroleum deposits that initiated an economic boom which became the driving force behind the economy for much of the 20th century. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy and high tech industry in the mid-20th century.
As of 2015, it is second on the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with 54. With a growing base of industry, the state leads in many industries, including agriculture, energy and electronics, biomedical sciences. Texas has led the U. S. in state export revenue since 2002, has the second-highest gross state product. If Texas were a sovereign state, it would be the 10th largest economy in the world; the name Texas, based on the Caddo word táyshaʼ "friend", was applied, in the spelling Tejas or Texas, by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves the Hasinai Confederacy, the final -s representing the Spanish plural. The Mission San Francisco de los Tejas was completed near the Hasinai village of Nabedaches in May 1690, in what is now Houston County, East Texas. During Spanish colonial rule, in the 18th century, the area was known as Nuevo Reino de Filipinas "New Kingdom of the Philippines", or as provincia de los Tejas "province of the Tejas" also provincia de Texas, "province of Texas", it was incorporated as provincia de Texas into the Mexican Empire in 1821, declared a republic in 1836.
The Royal Spanish Academy recognizes both spellings and Texas, as Spanish-language forms of the name of the U. S. State of Texas; the English pronunciation with /ks/ is unetymological, based in the value of the letter x in historical Spanish orthography. Alternative etymologies of the name advanced in the late 19th century connected the Spanish teja "rooftile", the plural tejas being used to designate indigenous Pueblo settlements. A 1760s map by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin shows a village named Teijas on Trinity River, close to the site of modern Crockett. Texas is the second-largest U. S. state, with an area of 268,820 square miles. Though 10% larger than France and twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Zambia. Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers; the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas to the south.
The Red River forms a natural border with Arkansas to the north. The Sabine River forms a natural border with Louisiana to the east; the Texas Panhandle has an eastern border with Oklahoma at 100° W, a northern border with Oklahoma at 36°30' N and a western
I-345 at Dallas, TX
I-345 in Dallas
I-635 in Dallas
US 380 in McKinney
US 82 in Sherman
US 69 in Denison. The highways travel concurrently to Atoka, Oklahoma.
US 70 in Durant
US 270 east of Calvin. The highways travel concurrently to Horntown.
I-40 / US 62 northeast of Clearview. I-40/US 75 travels concurrently to Henryetta. US 62/US 75 travels concurrently to Okmulgee.
US 266 in Henryetta
I-44 in Tulsa
I-244 in Tulsa. The highways travel concurrently through Tulsa.
I-244 / I-444 / US 64 in Tulsa. I-444/US 64/US 75 travels concurrently through Tulsa.
I-244 / I-444 / US 412 in Tulsa
US 60 in Bartlesville. The highways travel concurrently through Bartlesville.
US 166 north of Caney. The highways travel concurrently for approximately 2.7 miles (4.3 km).
US 160 west of Independence. The highways travel concurrently to Independence.
US 400 north-northeast of Sycamore. The highways travel concurrently to west-southwest of Neodesha.
US 54 in Yates Center
I-35 / US 50 south-southeast of Olivet
US 56 south-southeast of Carbondale
I-470 in Topeka. The highways travel concurrently through Topeka.
I-70 / I-470 / US 40 in Topeka. I-70/US 40/US 75 travels concurrently through Topeka.
US 24 in Topeka
US 36 west of Fairview
US 73 north of Dawson
US 136 in Auburn
US 34 east of Union. The highways travel concurrently to south of Bellevue.
US 275 in Omaha
I-80 / I-480 in Omaha. I-480/US 75 travels concurrently through Omaha.
I-680 in Omaha
US 30 in Blair. The highways travel concurrently through Blair.
US 77 in Winnebago. The highways travel concurrently to South Sioux City.
US 18 west of Hull. The highways travel concurrently to west-northwest of Hull.
I-90 in Luverne
US 14 in Lake Benton. The highways travel concurrently through Lake Benton.
US 212 south of Madison
US 12 in Ortonville
I-94 / US 52 in Moorhead
US 10 in Moorhead. The highways travel concurrently through Moorhead.
US 2 north-northwest of Crookston. The highways travel concurrently to north of Crookston.
MN 171 in St. Vincent. Exit to Canada via Interstate 29; the highway is a dead-end at Noyes.
SH 74
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K-74
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N-74
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I-74
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MN 74
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