How States Got Their Shapes

[alfaniner]

The origins of the shapes of America's states are traced, with examinations of the geographical, political and social factors that determined the borders.

I just caught the last half of this on the History Channel and found it fascinating. This is something you see all the time but don't really think about. This is the kind of interesting stuff that should be taught in school.

 

[FreshHat]

Florida- "Amerca's wang." Homer Simpson

 

[Hokulele]

It is an excellent book as well.

http://www.amazon.com/How-States-Got-Their-Shapes/dp/0061431389

 

[Alareth]

Wyoming is an ancient Indian word for "No state here"

 

[Dinwar]

Ohio and Michigan fought a war over what those states would look like. It continues to this day, in the form of the OSU/Michigan football rivalry.

As a side note, it's rare but not unheard of to find cannon balls from that war in the area I grew up in. Dad had one for nearly 20 years before we realized what it was. We thought it was a shotput shot that had wandered off (there's a school near us that has a healthy track and field team, and let's face it, a sphere of metal is increadibly interesting and infinitely likely to meander away from where you put it). It was the sprew mark that told us it was a cannonball, along with the weight (9 lbs., once you account for the rust).

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

I just caught the last half of this on the History Channel and found it fascinating. This is something you see all the time but don't really think about. This is the kind of interesting stuff that should be taught in school.

I saw it quite awhile ago. In between psychic aliens and Hitler, History does occasionally have some good shows. Too bad they don’t have more of these interesting and entertaining programs.

 

[USSManhattan]

I've given up hope of History ever doing a quality show again in a world where they give LARRY THE CABLE GUY a show.

 

[excaza]

There's in interesting divot taken out of Connecticut on the Massachusetts border (near Agawam). I see it all the time when I'm looking at driving directions, but I'm always too lazy to look up the story.

Around roughly 42.02 lat, -72.785 long

 

[NoCoPilot]

There's a part of Washington State called Point Roberts which is in Canada. You can't get there without going through Canada.

 

[dasmiller]

Ohio and Michigan fought a war over what those states would look like. It continues to this day, in the form of the OSU/Michigan football rivalry.

To quote Lou Holtz (and I'm quoting from memory, so I'm probably mangling it badly)

"There have been only two times when states took up arms against each other, and the first time was when Ohio and Michigan fought. Now, history doesn't record who won that battle but we have to assume it was Michigan because nobody would fight to keep Toledo."

ETA: Slightly less tongue-in-cheek, in keeping with a common theme in many conflicts, Ohio and Michigan fought and Wisconsin lost.

 

[Dinwar]

Is there ever any conditions in which Wisconsin WINS?

 

[excaza]

Is there ever any conditions in which Wisconsin WINS?

A cheese battle?

 

[Steve]

There's a part of Washington State called Point Roberts which is in Canada. You can't get there without going through Canada.

Well, it is not actually in Canada, but it is true that you cannot get there by land without passing through Canada. On a larger scale this is also true for the entire state of Alaska.

Speaking of state shapes, what is with that Alaska "panhandle" that extends down the coast of BC?

 

[LarianLeQuella]

Speaking of state shapes, what is with that Alaska "panhandle" that extends down the coast of BC?

It's there to help Sarah Palin keep an eye on Russia.

(I know, makes no sense, but neither does she!)

 

[Plutonium]

Speaking of state shapes, what is with that Alaska "panhandle" that extends down the coast of BC?

For that matter, how did Oklahoma get its panhandle? How did Maryland get its peculiar shape, with a panhandle nearly pinched off by the Mason Dixon line, and another bit separated by Chesapeake Bay which should really be in Delaware. Except for the end of the peninsula, which is in Virginia, although you could not get to it overland except by travelling through Maryland.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Well, it is not actually in Canada, but it is true that you cannot get there by land without passing through Canada. On a larger scale this is also true for the entire state of Alaska.

Speaking of state shapes, what is with that Alaska "panhandle" that extends down the coast of BC?

Alaska was claimed by Russia in 1795. They set up fur trading and attempted a colonization but it never really got going. But they got some trading towns set up along the coast. The U.S. owned the land to the south and British Canada owned land to the west.

The Treaty of Saint Petersburg (aka Anglo-Russian Convention of 1825) established the western border between Russia and the British. That set the border along the 141st line of longitude, but Russia also got to keep the coast (although the exact border was not well defined).

The Russo-American Treaty of 1824 (aka Convention Between the United States of America and His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russians, Relative to Navigating, Fishing, Etc., in the Pacific Ocean) set the U.S. northern border at the parallel 54 40’ North. That is the southern tip of Alaska. That basically set the shape of Alaska. The U.S. bought Alaska from Russia in 1867.

The western border of the panhandle was not clearly defined. Nobody seems to have cared too much until gold was discovered. It was settled by arbitration in 1902-03. The British caved to the U.S. and Canada didn’t get a convenient port for the gold mines. That contributed to grumbling from Canadians about their British affiliation.

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

That is a great series. It's where I learned about a number of states or proposed states that never came to grace the map.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Proposed_states_of_the_United_States

 

[BowlOfRed]

For that matter, how did Oklahoma get its panhandle?

It used to be part of Texas. Texas wanted to join the US as a slave state, but the Missouri Compromise prevented slavery (with some exceptions) in former Louisiana Territory north of 36-30. So the land north of that was surrendered and was "No Man's Land" for some time. Then the other sides got set by various actions (New Mexico territory, Kansas Territory). Finally (after some attempts to make it a new territory), it was assigned to the Oklahoma Territory.

The topic of the post ruins it as a surprise, but I'll bring it up anyway. I always enjoy asking if someone can guess the location of the only county in the US that borders counties in 5 different states. It's right there.

 

[stilicho]

There's a part of Washington State called Point Roberts which is in Canada. You can't get there without going through Canada.

The British and Americans had a fondness for drawing straight lines across the maps of North America. Hence the pene-exclave at Point Roberts. I can't find it now but there's a survey map extending most of the original thirteen American colonies straight across the country to the west coast, most of which the British had not even seen.

Welcome to Fresno, Virginia!

 

[stilicho]

Alaska was claimed by Russia in 1795. They set up fur trading and attempted a colonization but it never really got going. But they got some trading towns set up along the coast. The U.S. owned the land to the south and British Canada owned land to the west.

The Treaty of Saint Petersburg (aka Anglo-Russian Convention of 1825) established the western border between Russia and the British. That set the border along the 141st line of longitude, but Russia also got to keep the coast (although the exact border was not well defined).

The Russo-American Treaty of 1824 (aka Convention Between the United States of America and His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russians, Relative to Navigating, Fishing, Etc., in the Pacific Ocean) set the U.S. northern border at the parallel 54 40’ North. That is the southern tip of Alaska. That basically set the shape of Alaska. The U.S. bought Alaska from Russia in 1867.

The western border of the panhandle was not clearly defined. Nobody seems to have cared too much until gold was discovered. It was settled by arbitration in 1902-03. The British caved to the U.S. and Canada didn’t get a convenient port for the gold mines. That contributed to grumbling from Canadians about their British affiliation.

Much ado about nothing. As we now know, the fisheries are more important than gold anyhow.¹
The boundary disputes in the western part of North America were a function of that area being among the last areas of the habitable world discovered by European explorers. It took over 300 years for the whole thing to be settled and much of the nineteenth century was spent squabbling over places the decision-makers had never seen and hadn't much interest in.

The Alaska Boundary Dispute was the last in about a dozen boundary adjustments that (fortunately) were resolved peacefully. It wouldn't have made any sense to act any differently since the gold rush was over by the time the dispute was resolved. Maybe some people were or are upset about the decision but I'll gamble that most of them have never even been to the region.

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1. Apologies to Tippit. Gold is very important to his schemes.