A Parallelogram With the Northeast Corner Nibbled Off

[W. Gray]

I believe it was William Allen White, the editor of the Emporia Gazette, who created the saying that Kansas was located in the exact center of the United States and is a parallelogram with the northeast corner nibbled off.

When Missouri was admitted to the Union in 1820, it was the largest state in land area with 66,560 square miles. It maintained the title of largest state for several years.

The largest state became even larger. Missouri is the only state that grew in size after admission to the Union.

In 1837, 3,149 square miles were added to the northwest of the Show Me state. That land was nibbled off, i.e, annexed, from northeast Kanzas.

That same year, Michigan became the largest state with 97,000 square miles of land area.

[patyrn]

It was probably because the current northeastern boundary between Kansas and Missouri is formed by the Missouri River.  There might have been some trading issues, etc. connected with the river.  Several states have rivers marking their boundaries, causing some unusual land patterns caused by the rivers bending on their own courses.  I am not sure what happens in the cases when the rivers form new routes..............................

[W. Gray]

The end result was to have the Missouri River serve as the border in the northwest Missouri area between Kanzas and Missouri. However, this was not the overriding factor.

The land in question was exceptionally fertile and settlers wanted the Indians in that area out and the land opened for their use. Some of these Indians had already been moved west from eastern states.

The Missouri Congressional representatives convinced Congress to purchase the land from the Indians and move the Indians across the Missouri River into Kanzas.

William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame oversaw the sale of the land and the removal of the Indians into Kanzas.

There was a question as to whether the annexation by Missouri was legal but President Martin Van Buren blessed the takeover, apparently as result of the state of Missouri responding favorably to Van Buren by sending state militia to fight in the Florida Seminole Indian Wars.

In those days, people and their lawyers apparently did not buck a presidential decision even if that decision was against the law. For instance, when the Cherokee Indians were moved by President Jackson to Kanzas (and Oklahoma), the Cherokees went to the Supreme Court and that court sided with them and told Jackson he had no legal basis to move them. Jackson said something to the effect that Chief Justice John Marshall had made his decision now let him enforce it. Jackson then told the Army to begin the move.  Under today's atmosphere, Jackson probably would not have been allowed to move the Cherokee and Missouri probably would not have been allowed to annex the extra land.

[W. Gray]

From Patyrn

I am not sure what happens in the cases when the rivers form new routes..............................

When I was working, I flew several times into the Omaha, Nebraska, airport on my way to Offutt AFB, which is south of Omaha.

In order to get to Offutt, I had to drive out of the state of Nebraska into the state of Iowa and back into the state of Nebraska before I hit the freeway for Offutt.

The Omaha Airport is located east of the state of Iowa (or a portion thereof)

[W. Gray]

To expand a little:

The town of Carter Lake, Iowa, is located west of the Mississippi River. The Omaha airport is west of the Mississippi but east of Carter Lake.

Carter Lake belongs to Pottawatomie County, Iowa; however, there is no bridge access from this part of Iowa to the Iowa on the east side of the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi River changed course in 1877 and left the Carter Lake portion of Iowa on its west side. Nebraska then claimed the area but Iowa fought the action. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1892 that the land belonged to Iowa.

The only way the Carter Lake residents can get to their courthouse at Council Bluffs is to go south through Nebraska to an Interstate and then crossover the river into Iowa. However, the trip is only seven miles.

[Dee Gee]

Waldo, I believe you are referring to the Missouri River not the Mississippi River.

[W. Gray]

Yes, you are correct.

Talk about old age...

I went right from talking about the the Missouri River to the Mississippi River just like that.

Even checked my maps to confirm what I was saying and still did not see my error.

[patyrn]

Waldo,

I'm not being picky, but would you go to Modify on your first post on this subject and correct the spelling of Parallelogram.  It just bugs me every time it appears.  No offense.......................

KRI

[patyrn]

I found it interesting in looking up information regarding this topic that the Missouri River is the longest river in the U.S.  It starts in Montana and empties into the larger (volume) and deeper Mississippi River at St. Louis.  With all the notoriety of the Mississippi, I had just assumed it was the longest river, so here we go, becoming very educated due to discussions on the Forum.  Thanks, Waldo, for the unique, thought-provoking topics you introduce to us. 

[W. Gray]

The Missouri-Mississippi River combination at 3,900 miles long is considered the fourth largest river in the world.

The Missouri River is 2,540 miles long and could have been much longer, except for the naming process.

Lewis and Clark covered the entire length going and coming mostly by walking. Although they had boats on the entire length of the river, they usually walked and eyeballed the land, one on each side, drawing maps, taking notes, etc. At some of the larger tributaries they ventured by land a few miles up those rivers taking notes, etc.

There is no source of the Missouri River, as such. The river begins in western Montana where the Jefferson and Madison rivers merge.

Of the two rivers forming the Missouri, the Jefferson is the larger and extends westward toward Idaho. Both Meriwether Lewis and William Clark felt it was not appropriate for them to call this stream the Missouri and they jointly named it Jefferson after the sitting president.

The Jefferson River is 77-miles long and begins where the Beaverhead River ends.

The 80-mile long Beaverhead River begins at a lake where the Red Rock River ends.

The 50 mile long Red Rock River begins almost at the Idaho border and its source is the location of the headwaters that flow into the Missouri.