Places to Visit—Meade State Park

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color photo of man drinking water from pipe drilled into flowing artesian well, with park shelterhouse in background
small drawing of Kansas map with Meade County highlighted in red

Meade County, Kansas

Meade State Park is located in the High Plains of southwest Kansas, just west of the Red Hills. The state park and wildlife area comprise 803 acres of land and water. The dam at Meade State Fishing Lake was built in the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). This site was chosen for the lake because of numerous springs in the area; a fault east of the lake has created artesian conditions in this part of Meade County. A test well drilled near the lake in 1939 had an artesian head of 17.4 feet--that is, water rose under its own pressure in a pipe that far above the land surface. Today, because irrigation has lowered the water table, flow from the springs and flowing artesian wells has diminished or stopped altogether. A flowing artesian well in the park (photo) just west of the lake flows at a rate of about 5 gallons per minute. Meade State Park is located eight miles south and five miles west of Meade on Kansas Highway 23. For more information, contact the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife and Parks, Box K, Meade, KS 67864-9801 (620-873-2572) (from The Geologic Record, vol. 9.1).

Other places to visit in the Kansas High Plains.

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