Castle Rock is a 70-ft-tall (21 m)

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

pillar landmark in

Gove County, Kansas Gove County is a county in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat is Gove City, and its most populous city is Quinter. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 2,718. The county was named for Granville Gove, a captain of Compa ...

, United States. The formation and the nearby

badlands Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, ...

are located in the

Smoky Hills The Smoky Hills are an upland region of hills in the central Great Plains of North America. They are located in the Midwestern United States, encompassing north-central Kansas and a small portion of south-central Nebraska. The hills are a diss ...

region of Kansas, which is about south of

I-70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to I-695 and Maryland Route 570 (MD 570) in Woodlawn, just outside Baltimore, Maryland. I-70 appr ...

near

Quinter, Kansas Quinter is a city in Gove County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 929. History The city of Quinter is built at the location of an old railroad switching site called Melota. A commun ...

Description

Castle Rock was a landmark on the

Butterfield Overland Despatch {{distinguish, text = the Butterfield Overland Mail, an unaffiliated company with a similar name The Butterfield Overland Despatch was a mail and freight service operating across the Great Plains of America in the 1860s. Due to increased travel t ...

route (

Overland Trail The Overland Trail (also known as the Overland Stage Line) was a stagecoach and wagon trail in the American West during the 19th century. While portions of the route had been used by explorers and trappers since the 1820s, the Overland Trail w ...

). The

was deposited in the area by an ancient inland sea. The formation was carved by the weathering of the chalk by wind and water. It received its name because it is said to look like a castle rising above the prairie. Weathering of the rock formation is increasing due to visitors climbing on the rocks. In 2001, following a thunderstorm, the tallest spire fell. On January 29, 2008, Castle Rock and Monument Rocks 31 miles to the west were jointly named as one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas.

Images

File:Castle Rock, Kansas, on the Smoky Hill, 385 miles west of Missouri River. (Boston Public Library).jpg, Castle Rock, 1867 File:108_Castle Rock,_KS_14.jpg, Castle Rock, 2009 File:Badlandsnearcastlerock20052.jpg File:Badlandsnearcastlerock20053.jpg File:Castlerockbadlands2005.jpg File:Bluffsnearcastlerock.jpg

References

External links

{{Commons category, Castle Rock (Kansas)
Gove County Map
KDOT Rock formations of Kansas Landforms of Gove County, Kansas Tourist attractions in Gove County, Kansas

Description

Images

See also

References

Further reading

External links