Monthly Archives: August 2011

Nevada has a point

Posted on August 30, 2011 by

Why does Nevada come to a point at the bottom?  It didn’t always look that way.  When the territory of Nevada was first being formed the boundary lines created a more rectangular shape with a sideways notch cut out to … Continue reading →

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A few words from Dirkle Smat and The Explorers Club

Posted on August 25, 2011 by

I’ve been asked to talk a bit about my series of children’s books, so this post will be a brief hiatus from the states research. When I first conceived the idea for my Dirkle Smat series I thought they were going … Continue reading →

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Alabama looks in a mirror

Posted on August 18, 2011 by

Alabama looks almost exactly like Mississippi in a mirror.  Previous to Alabama becoming a state the country had admitted 21 states to the union and not one of them looked like any of the others.  Why did Alabama end up … Continue reading →

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Alaska and its panhandle

Posted on August 9, 2011 by

Unlike the lower 48 states, there weren’t too many border decisions when the United States bought Alaska in the 1867 transaction that came to be known as Seward’s Folly.  The space was essentially already defined because Russia and Canada had … Continue reading →

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Did we steal a chunk of Canada?

Posted on August 3, 2011 by

  When you look at the map of the United States, Maine looks like it was a late add-on, as if the original settlers wanted to tack on another state to extend as far into the other British territory (Canada) … Continue reading →

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