- 100th meridian west
The meridian 100° west of Greenwich is a line of
longitude that extends from theNorth Pole across theArctic Ocean ,North America , thePacific Ocean , theSouthern Ocean , andAntarctica to theSouth Pole .Starting at the
North Pole and heading south to theSouth Pole , the 100th meridian west passes through::
United States
In the
United States the meridian 100° west of Greenwich forms the eastern border of theTexas panhandle withOklahoma (which traces its origin to theAdams-Onís Treaty in 1819 which settled the border betweenNew Spain and the United States between the Red River andArkansas River ).In the central
Great Plains , the meridian roughly marks the western boundary of the normal reach of moist air from theGulf of Mexico . The type ofagriculture west of the meridian typically relies heavily onirrigation . Historically the meridian has often been taken as a rough boundary between the eastern and western United States. White settlement, spreading westward after theAmerican Civil War , encroached in the meridian in the1870s .A sign across
U.S. Highway 30 in Cozad,Nebraska prominently marks the place where the meridian intersects the routes of theOregon Trail ,Pony Express , transcontinental railroad, and theLincoln Highway .Wallace Stegner 's "Beyond the Hundredth Meridian" (1954), is a biography ofJohn Wesley Powell , an explorer of the American West.The song "At the Hundredth Meridian" byThe Tragically Hip is about the 100th meridian west, specifically in Canada, and how it has traditionally been considered "where the great plains begin."ee also
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Rain follows the plow
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