Cimarron National Grassland

About forestry service, 66773, Scammon, KS, US, Kansas

Elkhart is a city in and the county seat of Morton County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,888. The southern edge of the city is the Kansas-Oklahoma state border, and the city is 8.5 miles (13.7 km) from the Kansas-Colorado border. == History == Elkhart was founded in 1913, and was named after Elkhart, Indiana. Elkhart was the starting point of the Elkhart and Santa Fe Railway. This line, both leased to and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, was built in 1925 to Felt, Oklahoma, and extended into New Mexico in 1932; but, was abandoned in 1942. In 1961, the county seat was moved from Richfield to Elkhart. == Geography == According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.11 square miles (5.46 km2), all land. === Climate === Elkhart has a cool semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) characterized by generally dry winters with extreme temperature variations, and hot summers with occasional heavy precipitation from thunder showers or storms. During winter, because western Kansas lies both on the edge of the subtropical anticyclones and in the rain shadow of westerly winds crossing the Rocky Mountains, the region is generally dry: no measurable precipitation fell in Elkhart between 25 December 1903 and 2 April 1904, while monthly precipitation above 2 inches or 50.8 millimetres has never been recorded during January and is observed fewer than one year in ten during November, December or February.