Pole of Inaccessibility Experience Or Not? Then and Now Cartographic Features the Pole of INACCESSIBILITY

FEBRUARY 2015

MONITORING Licensing Exam 100 Years Too Late Pole of Inaccessibility Experience or not? Then and now Cartographic features the pole of INACCESSIBILITY

Using a handheld Garmin 12, we were able to pinpoint the exact location.

he most challenging location to miles from the nearest land. Individual locations reach due to its remoteness from have also been determined for every continent. geographical features is known as a The continental pole of inaccessibility for North pole of inaccessibility. Generally, this America is located in Bennett County in the south- calculated position is furthest from western region of South Dakota. When considering Tany coastline and would be the location where you the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, would least like to be placed if you had to walk your and Hudson Bay, there is no other location that way out to the nearest coast due to distance and not would be further to reach to any one of these coasts. considering difficult terrain. By definition, a pole of inaccessibility is determined The location on the earth that is furthest from any by the three closest shoreline points. In North coastline is situated in the northwestern Chinese America, these three points from the pole of inacces- province of Xinjiang, approximately 1,560 miles sibility are located at Port Nelson on Hudson Bay in from the nearest coastline. Similarly, the pole of Manitoba, Canada; Everett, Washington, providing inaccessibility in water that is furthest from land, access to the Pacific Ocean; and the shoreline of the often referred to as “Point Nemo”, is located in the Gulf of Mexico between Galveston and Port Arthur, South Pacific Ocean. This pole is a staggering 1,670 Texas. Mathematicians have calculated the distance

» JERRY PENRY, PS

Displayed with permission • The American Surveyor • February 2015 • Copyright 2015 Cheves Media • www.Amerisurv.com A convenience store and water tower are among the few structures at Allen, the nearest town to the pole.

from the pole of inaccessibility of North take with us lasting memories of being at a America to be approximately 1030 miles location much removed from the populated to any of these three locations. The error coastlines of the third largest continent on of uncertainty is estimated to be around 9 the earth. ◾ miles due to ambiguity of coastline defini- tions or river mouths. Jerry Penry is a licensed land surveyor in The geographic location for the pole of Nebraska and South Dakota. He is a frequent inaccessibility of North America has been contributor to the magazine. determined to be 43°21'36"N 101°58'12"W. This location was published in the Scottish Geographical Journal, Vol. 123, No. 3, 227-233, September 2007, in an article titled “Poles of Inaccessibility: A Calculation Algorithm for the Remotest Places on Earth” by Daniel Garcia-Castellanos and Umberto Lombardo. In the Public Land Survey System, the location is just south of the NE Corner of Section 18, Township 39 North, Range 39 West of the Sixth Principal Meridian. The nearest towns are Allen, located 6 miles to the south, and Kyle, located 11 miles to the northwest. Allen, with a population of 420 in the 2010 census, is considered the poorest place in the United States. Despite its remote location near the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the North American pole of inaccessibility is situated in a beautiful canyon lined with pine trees and native grasses. Buffalo belonging to the Oglala Sioux roam this area on tribal ground just as they did hundreds of years ago. On a fall day in early October 2014, I traveled to the pole of inaccessibility along with my wife, Jenny, and 12-year-old nearby resident named Joey. A red-tailed hawk circled overhead as we walked across the prairie, over a stone covered ridge, and finally down into the ravine. A slight breeze provided a peaceful sound through the needles of the pines while we The took pictures to commemorate author and our short expedition. At the local resident designated location, we found Joey hold a pre- nothing nor did we leave made sign at the picturesque anything. We did, however, location.