The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-08-28

the eastern end of Alaska to the western than
it is from New York to San Francisco? Well,
1t is, and more than that if this territory could
be picked up bodily and laid down upon the
continental United States in true north-south
position it would touch the Canadian boundary
a short distance west of the Lake of the Woods
in Minnesota, it would reach the Atlantic ocean
near the boundary line between Georgia and
South Carolina, it would extend over the Next
can boundary in southwestern New Mexico and
1t would touch the Pacific ocean in southern
California. In thus sprawling over the face Of
the United States 1t would cover the whole
state of Iowa, nearly all Of Wisconsin, Illinois,
Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas and the eastern
half of Nebraska South Dakota and North Da-
kota. 1t would blot out large part Of the CEN
trail portion of Kentucky and eastern Tennessee
as well some Of Georgia and nearly half
of South Carolina.
That peninsula which extends southwest from
the main part of Alaska would cover several
hundred square miles Of Oklahoma, cut off the
Panhandle of Texas from the rest of the Lone
Star state and extend (by virtue Of its islands)
clear New Mexico, Arizona and Cali
fornia. Incidentally, some of it's other islands
would dot Wyoming and Colorado. And this
vast area Of 5S6,400 square miles, a total nearly
as great as the three largest states, Texas Cali
fornia and Montana, is the land which some
Americans contemptuOusy referred to as Sew
ards Folly" when Lincoln's secretary Of state
purchased it in 1867 for only $7,2O0,OO0!
But even more interesting than these geo.
graphical facts in Bulletin S17 is the American
history which you will learn from reading about
the boundaries of the individual states and look
ing at the maps which illustrate it's pages.
Have you ever wondered why some Of our
states have the queer shapes that they have?
The peculiar irregularities of some of the
state boundaries are due to compromises made
to adjust differences between the representa-
tives of the states. The "Southwick jog" for
example, which appears on the boundary be-
tween Connecticut and Massachusetts, was estab-
lshed because in adjusting errors in the bound
airy, as previously run by compass, long, mar
row strip of land was given to Connecticut and
the Jog" ceded to Massachusetts, was intended
to be equivalent area.
The panhandle at the southeast corner of
Missouri is said to be the result of efforts of a
prominent landowner to have his plantation IN
cluded in the new state. The projection on the
northern boundary of Minnesota which includes
land Of about 124 square miles sepa-
rated from the main part of Minnesota by the
Lake Of the Woods resulted from the use Of
inaccurate maps by the treaty makers and has
been described as a "politico-geographical Curl
osity of boundary that glance at the map
will show that no one could have foreseen and
that would be inexplicable without some knowl-
edge of the steps in the process by which it
was brought about"
Probably the most widely-known boundary In
the United States is the mason and Dixon line"
between Pennsylvania and Maryland, run by
two famous English mathematician in 1868
1867. Their work was stopped by Indians, but
they had run from the Delaware river to point
about 80 miles beyond the northwest corner Of
Maryland.
The accuracy Of their survey Is shown by the
fact that in a resurvey 40 years later, with
kI>Ic 1,4 @Dcfff4
found for the northeast corner of Maryland
differed only $50 feet from their position The
original stones for ive-mile marks on this line
were carved in England from limestone and are
still standing, with Lord Baltimore's coat Of
arms on the Maryland side and the Penn arms
on the Pennsylvania side.
The east-west part of the boundary between
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island was for more
than 200 years matter of dispute that was In
some respects the most remarkable boundary
question with which this country has had TO deal
Twice the question went to the Supreme court