Cast Iron Monument-Northeast Corner

Location:  From the Junction of Hwy US 36 and Hwy K 7 between Highland and Troy, follow scenic Hwy K 7 north past the village of White Cloud to the Kansas/Nebraska border.

Nearest Towns:  White Cloud, Highland, Troy

Fee:  None

Photo Copyright Harland J. Schuster.  Please do not use without permission.

Perched on a high bluff above the Missouri River in a small clearing rests a cast iron obelisk.  The mysterious object was placed here by the government land survey team in 1854 when the Kansas-Nebraska Territory was opened to settlement.  Before the settlement could be allowed, however, a land survey and base line would have to be established.  Working in wilderness conditions, with primitive equipment, with sometimes hostile Indians thrown in for good measure, the surveyors established a line from the cast iron marker to a point about 100 miles west, the Sixth Principal Meridian Marker.   Considering that it's at least 150 vertical feet to the base of the bluff, just getting the marker to the top was an accomplishment.

Strangely enough, the marker was soon forgotten by all but a few.  The surrounding timber claimed the monument as its own until a group of volunteers, mostly from Falls City, Nebraska, learned of the monument.  A path from the highway to the summit was cleared, and a small information booth was constructed.

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