Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-03-06
Gigantic Comparisons.

The United States owns within her
two ocean frontiers more than three
million square miles of land; fourth
part of million square miles of water,
either salt or fresh; range of Alps,
a range of Pyrennes, range of Amen
mines; forests, by the side of which the
Schwarzwald and the Ardennes would
be no more than German TOYS; rivers.
exceeding the Danube and the Rhine.
as much as these rivers exceed the
Mersey and the Clyde; truly the repub-
lie is a BIG COUNTRY! Here in England
we have no lines of sufficient lenotb.
no areas of sufficient width, to convey
any idea of its size! Our longest line
is that running from Lands Edoe to
Berwick, line which is some miles
shorter than the distance from Wash
ington to Lexington! Our broadcast
valley is that of the Thames, the whole
of which would lie hidden from sipht
in the Sierra Madre! The state of Or
egon is bigger than England Texas
is larger than France! If the United
States were parted into equal lots. they
would make tifty-two Kingdoms as
large as England! fourteen empires as
large as France! Then look at their
rivers, and you will be able to form
some idea as to measurement and size
in talking of this country. A steam
boat can 60 80 miles up the Thames;
200 up the Seine; $50 miles up the
Rhine. In America the Thames would
be a creek, the Seine brook, the
Rhine local stream, soon lost in a
mightier river! Some of these great
rivers, like the Kansas and the Platte,
flowing through boundless plains, are
nowhere deep enough for steamers,
though they are sometimes miles in
width, yet the navigable length of
many of these streams is surprise.
The Mississippi is five times longer
than the Rhine; the Missouri is three
times longer than the Danube; the Co.
lumbia is four times longer than the
Scheldt! From the sea to Fort Smelling
the Mississippi is ploughed by steam
ers a distance of 2, 131 miles, vet she is
but the second river in the United
States! Looking at the map we cannot
fail to notice the group of great North
American lakes. Our English notion
of lake is derived from ConistOn,
Killarney, Lomond, Windermere, Lee
man or Garda. But these sheets of
water give us no idea of what Huron
and Superior are like; Coniston, Kill
larney, Lomond, Windermere, Leman,
and Garda, all put together, would not
cover tenth part of the surface occu-
pied by the smallest of the five great
American lakes! All the waters lying
in English, Scotch, Irish, Swiss, Ital-
ian, and German lakes, might be pour
ed into Lake Michigan without making
any perceptible addition to the waters!
Yorkshire might be sunk out of sight
in Lake Erie! Ontario browns as much
land as would make two duchies equal
in area to Schleswig and Holstein!
Denmark could be washed by the wa
ters of Lake Huron! Many of the mi
nor lakes in America would be reckon
ed inland seas in the old world! For
instance, Salt Lake, in Utah, has a sur
face of 1000 square miles, while that
of Geneva has only $50; that of Como
only 90; that of Killarney only s; a
kingdom like Saxony, duchy like Co.
burg, if thrown in one heap into Lake
Superior, might add an island to it's
beauty, but would be no more conspic-
uous in its vast expanse of waters than
one of those pretty green islets which
adOrn Loeb Lomond.-EngLiSb En-.