Lost States

Last week I wrote about How the States Got Their Shapes. It turns out that the fifty states we know and love were not the only states that we might have seen... Over the course of our history, many other states have been proposed, only to be shot down or ignored.

Michael Trinklein has written a book about these failed attempts: Lost States: Real Quests for American Statehood. Heavily illustrated, this book tells the tale of would be state-builders and forgotten corners of geography, with wit and humor. Some of these attempts were very serious, some no more than pranks. Here are two examples:

The colonists who followed Daniel Boone through the Cumberland Gap in the 1770s called their coloney "Transylvania" (wich means "through the woods" and has nothing to do with vampires). After the start of the Revolutionary War, representatives went to the Continental Congress seeking recognition, but Virginia, who claimed most of that land, would hear nothing of it. Later, the area was rearranged into Kentucky and Tennessee.



Many new states have been proposed by carving up or rearranging already existing states. Often because residents of a region feel neglected by the rest of the state government. Folks in norther California often feel ignored and underappreciated by the rest of the state. The same goes for southern Oregon. In 1941 a new state, Jefferson (to keep Washington company?), was proposed. A cabal attempted to declare independence on December 4... but were overshadowed by the events of December 7.



For more samples, visit the author's website.

Wearing Maps

Looking for a piece of fabric with a map on it? Who doesn't want to wear a shirt made of out map fabric?

From the The True Up blog:


From J & O Fabrics:


From Geography Matters:


From Warm Biscuit:


A former associate of mine made this shirt for me from some map fabric she found:


#288

Inflated Views

From the New York Times, December 8, 2001: On March 29, 1976, a simple, pastel map of New York City appeared on the cover of The New Yorker. Drawn from the perspective of a low-flying bird looking west from Ninth Avenue, you could see the world receding from the city: the Hudson River, New Jersey, Kansas City, then the Pacific Ocean and Japan. It was Saul Steinberg's famous "View of the World from Ninth Avenue," a drawing reproduced and imitated countless times. Every city wanted a version of its own. Steinberg once said that if he had gotten the proper royalties, "I could have retired on this painting." This inflated view of one's own importance is not the first time such a map has been created. Here is another look at New York in relation to the rest of the country, by Daniel K. Wallingford, in 1937; A New Yorker's Idea of the United States of America:

© The Saul Steinberg Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Cover reproduced with permission of The New Yorker magazine. All rights reserved. per Sheila Schwartz, Executive Director, The Saul Steinberg Foundation

Not to be outdone, here is a view from California:



As mentioned here before, Texas is in love with its geographic shape. They also like to tell us how everything is bigger in Texas. Below are two postcards from my collection that illustrate that infatuation:





And finally, on this postcard, Alabama, for reasons unclear, have an inflated view of themselves:

Maps and Puzzles at National Geographic

Marilyn at Intelligent Travel also sent some info about new fun features available from National Geographic Magazine online:

Map of the Day, offers map-related news and historical events for each day of the year pulled from the Society's archives. This one caught my eye. It is a hand drawn map of Sutter's Creek, by John Marshall, locating his discovery of gold on January 24, 1848:



For additional fun, play with a map jigsaw puzzle from their atlas:

Mount Tamalpais State Park - Trail Map Bandana

From my map ephemera collection: This is a trail map from Mount Tamalpais State Park in California, just north of San Francisco and the Golden Gate. The park offers "6,300 acres of redwood groves, oak woodlands, grassland slopes, chaparral and rocky ridges. Offering spectacular views of the nearby Pacific and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area, from its ridges, slopes and the 2,571-foot high, East Peak."

The trail map is printed on a cotton bandana. The value is that even if it rains, your map will still be readable! Unfortunately, I have never been there. This map was given to me by a friend.

Coincidentally, just as I was preparing to post this image, I saw this post from our friends at Contours: the National Geographic Maps blog.

Nat Geo Maps to Launch National Trails Database



"TOPO!® Explorer, launching in May, will present users with detailed topographic maps, aerial photography, a hybrid map made from the two, and an extensive, freely browsable, online database of trail descriptions, recommendations and unique points of interest."

A handy tool for hikers and backpackers.

Going to California Dreamin'

Spent my days with a woman unkind,
Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine.
Made up my mind to make a new start,
Going to california with an
aching in my heart.





California, Here I Come
Right back where I started from
where bowers of flowers
bloom in the spring
each morning at dawning
birdies sing at everything



Welcome to the hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year, you can find it here




All the leaves are brown
And the sky is grey
I've been for a walk
On a winter's day

I'd be safe and warm
If I was in L.A
California Dreamin'
On such a winter's day














Seems it never rains in Southern California
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California
But girl, don't they warn ya
It pours man it pours.





Why all the California lyrics? No particular reason. I just wanted to display my collection of California map postcards, and I really haven't much to say about them.

California has another distinctive shap, and the state is so large, and has so many interesting things happening in it, postcard publishers probably have a hard time deciding what to highlight.