Category: U.S. States
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The Transpeninsular Line
I’ve been traveling recently, in fact, I’ve been closer to the Twelve Mile Circle than I’ve been in quite some time. During those travels I was able to stop by the Transpeninsular Line. In this blog I discuss various odd geographic topics that happen to interest me. The Transpeninsular Line is certainly one of those.…
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River Headwaters and Sources
Long is the history of adventurers who explored distant lands and tangled jungles to find the true origin of mighty rivers. But rivers are not simple contiguous lines that trace back easily to a single spot. Rather they are widely spread watersheds that drain to a common outlet. There can be hundreds of liquid tendrils…
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USA States Called Commonwealths
The term “Commonwealth” breaks down into two basic components to understand its meaning. The “common” portion refers to the people or to the public. Meanwhile, “wealth” refers to well being or welfare. So commonwealth is a system of government that performs in the interests and well being of the people. It exists through their consent…
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Arkansas (finally) Checks In!
Many of you will recall my recent posting about Google Analytics. It’s a wonderful tool that Google provides for people who like to leaf through maps for hours on end. It serves as such a delightful diversion. In that post I whined a bit about a lack of traffic from Arkansas. I’d installed Google Analytics…
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Maps on Google Analytics
I enabled Google Analytics recently on my web pages. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this tool, it involves the addition of a few lines of javascript to each page which in turn reports basic information back to the great Google mothership. It allows me to gain a better understanding of web traffic…
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Grotian Traditions, Thalwegs and Winner Take All
Rivers are a natural boundaries and a pretty obvious way to determine who controls land on either bank. Well, not withstanding occasional riverbed shifts. However rivers are also natural resources in their own right. They provide drinking water, irrigation, food and transportation. Those who control territory abutting a river naturally want to own and control…
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Carter Lake, Iowa
Strange Maps recently featured “Shifting Like A Snake: Ancient Mississippi Courses” [link no longer works] with a beautiful rendition of its meandering riverbanks over time. The relatively flat middle portion of the United States seems particularly susceptible to these types of changes along its grand watersheds, whether the Mississippi, Missouri, Platte or others. I believe…
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Corners
I have a fascination with political boundaries, whether national, state/provincial, county, or town. Especially, I like corners where three or more join together at a point. On my website I’ve compiled trip reports about a few of those locations. Most well known, it includes the renowned 4-Corners of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Additionally I…
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7 Flags Over Texas?
In a recent entry I provided a listing of the six flags that make up the famous “Six Flags Over Texas.” What is less known — and what many Texans along the southeastern border with Mexico believe — is that there were actually SEVEN flags over Texas. Had history gone a little differently another flag…
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6 Flags Over Texas
Conventional wisdom notes that six national flags flew over the State of Texas at one time or another. It’s colloquial to the point of the Six Flags amusement parks taking their name from it. But what are the six flags? Spain France Mexico Republic of Texas Confederate States of America United States of America