Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-06-13


then the schedules were bound in wall
paper.
AS a consequence Of requiring marshals
! to supply their own blanks the volumes
, containing the schedules vary in size
| from about inches long. inches wide,
and 1-2 inch thick to II inches long. "a
! inches wide. and inches thick Some Of
the sheets In those volumes are only 4
| inches long. but n few are feet in
! length. nocessitating several folds In
some cases leaves burned at the edges
have been covered with transparent silk
| to preserve them.
THE UNITED STATES IN 1890.
In March, 1870, the Union consisted Of
! 70 States Rhode Island tho last Of the
original thirteen to enter the Union, being
admitted May 20. Vermont. the first ao-
dItion, was admitted in the following
year before the results Of the first census
were announced. Maine was n part Of
Massachusetts, Kentucky was part Of
Virginia. and the present states of Ala
bama and Mississippi were parts Of Geor-
gia. The present States OF Ohio. Indiana,
Illinois. Michigan and Wisconsin. with
!
Northwest Territory. and the present
State of Tennessee. then part OF North
Carolina. was soon to be organized as
the Southwest Territory.
The United States was bounded on the
west by the Mississippi river. beyond
which stretched that vast and unexplored
wilderness belonging to the Spanish King,
which was afterward coded to the United
/
chase. and now compriscs the great and
populous States Of Louisiana. Arkansas,
Indian Territory. Oklahoma. Missouri
Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota
North Dakota and Montana and most of
Colorado, Wyoming and Minnesota. The
Louisiana Purchase was not completed
for mere than a decade after the first CEN
sus WAS taken. On the south was another
Spanish colony known as the Flordas
Texas. then a part of the colony of Mex
leo, belonged to Spain; and California,
Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. also the
property Of Spain. although penetrated
here and there by ventursome explorers
and missionaries were. for the most part.
an undiscovered Wilderness.
The gross area OF the United States was
SH,S4i square miles. but the settled area
was only $50, 935 square miles. or about %
per cent of the total Though tho
area covered by the enumeration in 1910
seems very small when compared with
the present area of the United States.
the difficulties which confronted The
census taker were vastly greater than
in 1900 III many localities there were
no roads. and where these did exist
they were poor and frequently inn
passable; bridges We're almost un-
known Transportation was entirely
by horseback. stage, or private coach.
journey as long as that from New
York to Washington was serious un-
| dcrtaking, requiring eight days under
the most favorable conditions. Wes-
tern New York was Wilderness Ell
mira and Binghamton being but do
! tached hamlets. The territory west OF
the Allegheny mountains. with the eX-
cepton of portion of Kentucky. was
unsettled and scarcely penetrated. De-
troit and N!ncenne9 were too small
and isolated to merit considera ion.
I Philadelphia was the capital OF The
United States. Washington was a
mere government project. not even
named. but known as the Federal City.
Indeed. by the spring of 1893. only one
wall Of the White House has been con-
structed, an the site for the capitol
had been merely surveyed. New York
city in 1890 possessed n population OF
only s3.131. although it was the lar
gost city in the United States; thila-
dolphia was second. with 2s.522; and
Boston third. with 1880, Mails were
transported in very irregular fashion,
! 4
uncertain.
There were, moreover, other dim
culties which were of serious moment