Lower 48 facts

While investigating facts about Lower 48, I found out little known, but curios details like:

In 2013 the Minnesota Court of Appeals revoked a man's license after he repeatedly ignored warnings from law enforcement that he was driving too slowly on two-lane highways. He told a lower court judge that 48 mph is his Ford Ranger pickup truck’s “sweet spot” for gas mileage.

Jellyfish have developed the most efficient form of swimming among all animals. They manage to achieve a 48% lower cost of movement than other aquatic animals.

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 23 of the best facts about Lower 48 I managed to collect.

1. Bird populations are plummeting, and cats alone are responsible for killing billions of birds every year in the lower 48 states.

2. The furthest you can get by car from a McDonald's in the lower 48 US states is 145 miles.

3. The Homesteading Act still existed in the U.S. in the lower 48 until 1976, and in Alaska until 1986.

4. Alaska is not included in the reference "the lower 48", which means it is not part of the contiguous U.S.

5. The largest grizzly bear population in the lower 48 states is in Montana.

6. By 1890 the U.S. announced that westward expansion had been achieved and the west had been explored. Only 4 more states had yet to join the United States lower 48.

7. The most isolated, wild, and hard to reach place in officially designated wilderness in the lower 48 states of the USA is less than 20 miles from roads, machines, or motors

8. Located in Arkansas, the Buffalo River is one of only a few remaining unpolluted rivers free-flowing in the U.S. lower 48 states.

9. Yellowstone National Park "is home to the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48. Yellowstone's wildlife is abundant and diverse with an estimated 300 species of birds, 16 types of fish and 67 species of mammals -- the largest number of mammal species in the contiguous United States."

10. Smith County in Kansas is the geographical center of the Lower 48 States.

Lower 48 data charts

For your convenience take a look at Lower 48 figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.

What is true about lower 48?

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Badwater Basin (lowest point in North America) and Mount Whitney (highest point in the lower 48) are only about 85 miles apart.

There is more free-roaming wildlife in Yellowstone than there is in the 48 lower states combined.

About Snowy Owl Irruption. When food sources in the Arctic collapse, snowy owls migrate by the thousands to Canada and the Lower 48. I also learned the word "irruption."

There are more than 300 glaciers in North Cascades National Park. This is equal to one third of the glaciers found in the lower 48 states in the U.S.

There is a family traveling to the most remote spots in each of the 50 States of the Unites States. The most remote spot in all of the lower 48 is in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

It only took 100 years for grizzly bears to be eliminated from 98% of their original range in the lower 48 States.

A section of the North Cascades contains half the snowfield area in the lower 48 states.

There are 8,348 glacies in the lower 48, with 3,101 in Washington state alone.

If all the lower 48 states were ironed out flat, Idaho would be the largest of the contiguous United States

There is only one ice airport in the lower 48 approved by the FAA