Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1895-04-15
FACTS ABOUT COUNTIES.
Imaginary Lines and Not Natural Bounda-
rles Used to Mark Most of Them.


Imaginary Lines and Not Natural Bounda-
r1es Used to Mark Most of Them.
Few even Of the New England states
have made use of natural features for
county boundaries. British kings set
the fashion in the New World of mark
ing political divisions by imaginary
lines, and the fashion has been followed
faithfully i'll states old and new. Its
final development is found in the west
ern states and territories, where natures
boundaries, mountain ranges and rivers
are neglected for the sake of the paral-
Iels and meridians. Maine, whose coun-
ties are as irregular in shape as any i'll
the world, has not made use of natural
landmarks to any considerable extent.
Vermont and New Hampshire have here
and there used mountain ranges and
streams for county boundaries Massa-
chusetts and Connecticut have disregard
ed natural boundaries in great degree.
Even the great Connecticut river flows
across counties and is boundary line
only between parts of AIiddlesex and
New London counties in Connecticut.
Rhode Islands chief county boundaries
are imaginary lines.
Massachusetts has two island coun-
ties, Dukes and Nantucket. Island cOun-
ties occur also in New York and Wash
ington, but not elsewhere, though the
larger part Of Door county, Wis, is an
island in Lake Michigan. Washington
island county bears the name of Island
and is surrounded by the waters of Pu-
get sound, Names counties average
nearly 500 square miles each in area,
and there are several each of which is
larger than the state Of Rhode Island.
New York has few natural county
boundaries save in the lake regions and
along the Hudson. New Jersey has arti-
fetal boundaries for many counties, but
Pennsylvania has used mountains and
rivers III many instances. Delaware has
used small streams to bound her coun-
ties and even her townships, or hun
dreds as they are called. Maryland,
Virginia and West Virginia, having
plenty Of streams and mountain ranges,
use such natural fea5ares for county
boundaries. Virginia's counties are I'M
usually small in both area and popula-
ton. Natural boundaries are usual in
the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama,
but Mississippi has many imaginary
county lines, and her counties are Notch
ed in way to suggest that they were
made with view to the production Of
one of those wooden puzzle maps that
are held together by the notches. Louisi
ana, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky
have the characteristic rectangular
county forms with many imaginary
boundary lines, though creeks and riv-
ers are used to some extent in kentucky
and Tennessee. Florida has boundary
lines of each sort, and so has Texas,
save in the northwest, where natural
boundaries are almost entirely disre-
garded. Buchel county, Tex. is a right
angled triangle and perhaps the only
one in the United States.
The states Of the middle west have
comparatively few natural county
boundaries, and those Immediately be-
You'd the Mississippi almost disregard
landmarks in the choice of county lines,
the counties being piled mathematically
tier on tier. Even the great river Platte
flows across Nebraska much of its way
through counties.
The Rocky mountain states, unable to