Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1880-11-17
A LESSON IN GEOGRAPHY.
VAST DOMAINS SECURED BY THE DEMO.
Gratis.


From the New Haven Regisier.l
In 1888 the thirteen original State
with their reserves" or terrtoria
possessions, extended westward to th
Mississippi river, and southward to th
= line Of the Spanish Possessions o
Florida. Massachusetts comprised b,
State of Maine, goodly share of tn,
State of Wisconsin and Michigan th,
Connecticut reservation took in th,
southern coast line OF Lake Erie, now
tho thrifty "Cleveland district" o
Ohio, slices Of the northern portion o
Indiana aud Illinois, including the sit
of Chicago and the southern portion
Of Michigan and Wisconsin; Virgins
owned the largest par. Of the three
great middle western States, Ohio, In
diana and Illinois, as well as.the entire
= State of Kentucky; North Carolina
owned Tennessee, and South Carolina
had a narrow strip running along the
northern line Of Georgia, Alabama and
Mississippi The coast line of the
country was confined to the Atlantic
seaboard, extending only to the north
ern line of Florida and the great lakes,
which at that time had not achieved
commercial importance The cession
OF these territories TO the General
Government occurred between the
years 1884 and 1902, Virginia being
the first State to cede its lands and
Georgia the last We have thus stated
as briefly as possible the geographical
outline of the whole country at the
time TO give general idea Of the con-
formation Of the several States, or at
least, those States which possessed
territory outside of which is now in
their boundaries 1t is our purpose in
this article to note the subsequent ter
ritonal growth Of the country, how
the lands have been acquired, and to
suggest the Importance Of accession in
completing q country that now reaches
from ocean to ocean, and is unparal-
leled by any in the world for the great
variety Of its products, both agricul-
tural and mineral,
The first and most important ac-
QUESTION was the "Province of Louis.
lana" which was purchased from
France, that country having only
three years previous taken possession
Of it by treaty with Spain, in 1903,
for s23 100000. This tract comprised
LII ,93l square miles Of land, and is
now covered by the entire States of
Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa,
Nebraska, Oregon, small portion of
the States Of Alabama and Mississippi,
that part Of the State of Minnesota
lying west Of the Mississippi river, and
the part of the State of Kansas on the
north of Arkansas, east Of the twenty
third meridian; by the entire terrific
ries Of Dakota, Washington, Idaho and
Montana, the part of the State Of
Colorado east Of the Rocky Mountains
and north of the Arkansas river, the
largest part of the territory Of Wyom-
ing and the Indian territory. This
purchase, it will be seen, gave us first
control of the mouth Of the Mississippi
river, and across the Gulf Of Mexico
for the then just beginning commerce
OF the Ohio river gave us undisputed
control o. the great Mississippi basin,
the most fertile tract in the world
opened up the Missouri and Arkansas
rivers, and gave us ourfrstshort coast
line on the Pacific. When it is con
sidered that the great sugar and cotton
interests Of Arkansas, and the great
wheat producing States west OF the
Mississippi, the vast mineral resources
OF the mining region, and the lumber
regions on Puget Sound, which is now
shipping largely to Asia from its pro-
ducts, were included in this purchase,
the wise and iarseeing policy that sag.
gested and consummated it appears to
be one of the most brilliant strokes OF
craftsmanship in the career of the
country. The "Louisiana Province
is tho wealth OF the country, yet
scarcely developed
TO complete the Atlantic seaboard
and give us still further coastline on
the Gulf in 1919 the "Treaty of Wash.
ington" resulted in the cession of west
and east Florida, district comprising
59,26S square miles and costing the
United States nearly sG,5OO,000.
The boundary line of the country re-
mained from 1919 to 1915 as it was
lett by the Florida eession, the struggle
over the 49th parallel being ended in
1856, and the San Juan difficulty with
Great Britain being settled in our favor
by the German Emperor in 1872.
The Republic OF Texas having
achieved independence in 1886, it was
recognized by our Government as an
independent Republic, and in 1916 it
was admitted as State This was an
annexation of 376, ,l63 square miles Of
territory, and was accomplished with
out the direct expenditure of dollar.
The Cult line was then completed, and
great cotton producing State, and
the wonderfully rich grazing lands of
the pampas of the northern and west.
ern portion were added TO our terri.
tory. The recent census shows that
this State has grown in population and
material wealth in the past decade in
greater portion than any other, with
the possible exception OF Kansas
In the annexation of Texas, Mexico
insisted that the boundary line should
be the river Nuoces. The Texas Re.
public, however, maintained that in its
annexation TO the United States the
western boundary should be tho Rio
Grande, and the United States man.
tanned that boundary. The Mexican
war resulted from this claim, and at
its close, by the treaty OF lS4S, Mexico
not only ceded the territory in dispute,
but all that tract OF land west of the
Rio Grande, and Of meridian from
its source to the 42d parallel Of north
latitude, south Of that parallel, cast TO
the Pacific ocean and north of the
present boundary of the United States,
excepting the Mesilla Valley south of
the river Gila. This territory ia now
covered by the States Of California
and Nevada, tho territory of Utah,
and a portion Of the territories OF
Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and
Wyoming, the richest gold and silver
bearing region in the world.
The Mcsilla Valley was in 1858
added to the country by what is known
as tho Gadsden purchase. 1t looked
insinnifcant on the map when com.