Emporia and silt-laden John Redmond Reservoir (lower left), part of which is included in the Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge, are visible in this west-looking, low-oblique photograph. Located in the Flint Hills between the Neosho and Cottonwood Rivers, Emporia is a commercial and shipping center for the surrounding cattle and farm region. The city has grain elevators; stockyards; industries processing beef and soybeans; and plants producing printing equipment, baked goods, cheese, and steel tanks. Emporia is the home of William Allen White who made the Emporia Gazette a nationally known newspaper. Northeast-southwest-oriented Interstate Highway 35 cuts through the western edge of the city.