2017 Map of Ames

About this map

Ames sits at a rural crossroads in Hand County, serving as a primary marker in this section of the Great Plains. The landscape is defined by the Public Land Survey System, with a rigid grid of section lines and roads such as Co Rd 7 and Co Rd 6 carving the terrain into predictable plots. This geometry is broken only by the natural hydrology of the region, where seasonal and permanent basins dot the prairie. Notable water bodies include Wall Lake in the southeast and Collins Slough in the northwest, which represent the typical depressional wetlands found throughout this glacial landscape. The distribution of these water features among the surveyed sections highlights the persistence of native prairie hydrology even amidst decades of agricultural development.