The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1924-01-03
FACTS ABOUT AMERICA
THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
VALUABLE PUBLICATION AT
SMALL COST BY U. S. GEO.
LOGICAL SURVEY.

know America First should be a
maximum OF wide appeal to Ameri-
cans in these days. and Govern
ment publication just issued ahords
notable contributions to the general
knowledge OF some of our national
domain and history. This publication
Is entitled boundaries, areas, geo.
graphic centers, and attitudes Of the
United States and Of the several
States, with a brief record OF inn
portant changes in their territory" by
L. Nj. Douglas. and has been issued
by the Department oi the Interior as
Bulletin 6S9 OF the Geological Survey.
The report is sold by the Superin-
tendent OF Documents, Washington,
ID. c., at nominal cost. 1t also gives
numerous litue-known facts relating
to the organization of the original
after the Revolution. For example,
how many know that the Colony of
Virginia once included the Bermuda
Islands and also the country west
ward to the Pacific coast, then called
Balboa in 1913. because at the place
where he first saw it the shore line
runs nearly east and west-or that
the area now called Vermont once
belonged to New York and that Mas
sachusetts controlled the area now in
cluded in Maine.
State Boundaries.
The reasons for the peculiar irreg-
ularities and joys in some Of the
boundary lines are explained. For
example. the nose" projecting into
Canada at the Lake of the Woods, on
the Minnesota boundary. is due to
the use of inaccurate maps by the
makers of the treaties by which this
area became United States territory.
The panhandle at -the southeast
corner of Missouri is said to be the
result of efforts of a prominent prop
erty owner to have his plantation in
Guided in the new State.
The indebtedness OF some of the
early boundary lines is illustrated by
a quotation from Rufus Choate, who
in the boundary dispute between
Massachusetts and Rhode Island said
before the Massachusetts Legislature:
The commissioners might as well
have decided that the line between the
States was bounded on the north by
a bramble bush, on the south by a
blue jay, on the west by a hive OF
bees in swarming time, and on the east
4
tied to their tails"
The State of California has within
its boundaries the highest and the
lowest points of dry land in the United
states proper, and Alaska has the
highest mountain peak in the pos
session of the United States. Colo
RADIO is the State having the greatest
average altitude, Delaware has the
least.
Outlying Possessions.
The bulletin describes the outlying
possessions Of the United States and
tells when and how they were ac-
Quired. OF the newly added posses
sions ALASKA, bought in 1867 not
included) the 1000 or more islands
comprising the Philippine group cover
the greatest area. The Virgin Islands
are the most recent acquisition and
also the most costly. To obtain
sovereignty over these islands, which
have combined land area of trifle
less than 1873 square miles, the United
States paid nearly $500 an acre. For
Alaska, which has been an important
source of revenue. the United States
paid less than cents an acre.
1t is generally supposed that the
United States has never relinQuished
territory once acquired, but this is
not the case. The United States gave
up more than 20,0o9 square miles of
western land when it purchased Flor
ida from Spain by the treaty of 1913.
The bulletin contains a facsimile re-
production of a map of the British and
French possessions in America as
they were known in 1865. a copy of
that map was used in the preparation
of the treaty with Great Britain in
1882. when the United States was first
recognized as an independent nation.
The book also contains numerous
other maps illustrating the growth of
the United States and the changes in
its boundaries from early colonial
days up to the present time.
Gold valued at S1.SO6.S9 was recov-
cred from a trunkful of black mud
purchased at a sale of unclaimed eX-