Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 January 1882 — A GRAND DOMAIN. [ARTICLE]

A GRAND DOMAIN.

The Corrected Figures, Showing the Area of the United State*. [Washington Telegram to the Chicago Times.] Mr. Henry Gannett, the geographer of the tenth census, has just issued a bulletin giving the areas of the several States and Territories by counties. The information furnished is given with greater detail, and presumably with far greater accuracy, than in any of the previous census reports or other publications which have pretended to give it, and I have no doubt the general public, even that part of it which finds it convenient to get along without a great deal of really exact information, will find much of it interesting. There are few people, I take it, who have any very definite idea of the comparative size of the several States, Territories and districts of this glorious country of ours, and doubtless a good many tolerably well-informed persons will be surprised to see how small some of our big States really are when compared With our little Territories. For example, it majr astonish some to learn that Idaho is nearly as large as New York and Pennsylvania, and that we haven't a Territory in the world, save one, that isn’t bigger than New England. Ohio doesn’t begin to be half as big as Wyoming, and Illinois would be lost in either Dakota or Montana, while the thirteen original States together are less than a third larger than Texas. For the gurpose of showing the order in which the tates and Territories stand, when judged by their size, I have transposed Mr. Gannett’s table, with the following result:

States and Territories.

Gross Area. Total Water Surface. Total Land Surface.

1 Texas... 265,778 8,490 262,290 2. California 158,360 2,380 155,980 8. Dakota.. 149,100 1,400 147,700 4. Montana 146,080 770 145,310 5. New Mexico 122,580 120 122,460 6. Arizona. 113,020 100 112,920 7. Nevada..... 110,700 960 109,740 8. Colorado 103,925 280 103,645 9 Wyoming 97,890 315 97,575 10. Oregon 96,080 1,470 94,560 11. Utah. 84,970 2,780 82,190 12. Idaho 84,800 510 84,290 13. Minpeaota 83,365 4,160 79,205 14. Kansas 82,080 150 81,700 15. Nebraska 76,855 670 76,185 16. Missouri 69,405 680 68,735 17. Washington Ter 69,180 2,300 66,880 18. Indian Territory 64,690 600 64,090 19. Georgia 59,475 495 58,980 20. Michigan 58,915 1,485 57,480 21. Florida 58,680 4,440 54,240 22. Illinois 56,650 650 56,000 23. Wisconsin 56,040 1,590 54,450 24. lowa 56,025 550 53,475 25. Arkansas 53,850 805 53,045 26. Alabama 52,250 710 51,540 27. North Carolina. 52,250 3,370 48,580 28. New Yorkl 49,970 1,550 46,020 29. Louisiana 48,720 3,300 45,420 30. Mississippi 46,810 470 46.340 81. Pennsylvania. 45,215 230 44,985 32. Virlglnia 42,450 2,325 40,125 83. Tennessee 42,050 800 41,750 84. Ohio 41,060 800 40,760 85. Kentucky..... 40,400 400 40,000 86. Indiana 36,360 440 85 910 37. Maine. 83,040 3;145 29,895 88. South Carolina., 30,570 400 30,170 39. West Virginia 24,780 135 24,645 40. Maryland 12,210 2,350 9,860 41. Vermont. 9,565 430 9,135 42. New Hampshire 9,305 300 9, 1 05 43. Massachusetts 8,315 275 8,040 44. New Jersey 7,815 360 7,455 45. Connecticut... 4,990 145 4,855 46. Delaware 2,050 90 1,960 47. Rhode Island 1,250 165 1,089 District of Columbia.. 70 10 60 Unorganized territory 5,740 5,740 Delaware bay.. 620 620 Raritan and Lower New York bay 100 100 *■ Total area..... 3,025,600 55,600 2,970,000

The total area of the United States as reported by the census of 1850 was 2,980,959 square miles. The census of 1860 made it 8,026,494, and that of 1870, which included the newly-acquired territory of Alaska, some 577,599 square miles, gave it at 8,603,884. The figures for the States, and such of the Territories as still retained the same boundaries, are the same for 1870 as 1850, indicatihg that no new computation was made for either the eighth or ninth census, and a foot note appended to the table of areas in the report for 1870 states that the increase of the total area of 1860 over 1850 represents the territory acquired from Mexico, known as the Gadsden purchase. Another note says that “the land surface of the United States, 8,608,884 square miles, when increased by the water surface of the great lakes and rivers, brings the total ares Of the United States up to 4,000,000 square miles. But this, according to Mr. Gannett, who is a very careful calculator, is quite wide of the mark, since, without counting Alaska, he is only able to make it 3,025.6U0 square miles, which, minus the principal lakes, rivers and ponds, leaves us 2,970,000 square miles of fairly dry land. This ought to be enough to satisfy anybody, and UnclejSam will probably be able to content himself with it, unless the Clayton-Bulwer treaty is abrogated, in which event the Lord only knows what he’ll do. But a careful study of these figures,more than anything else, will tend to convince one that there is indeed a world of country out West. In the ten prairie States, Ohio. Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, lowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, there are 616,775 square miles, only 10,818 of which are “ water lots.” There are, therefore, 605,940 square miles of more or less productive soil in this region, on the cultivated portion of which, in the year 1880, according to the reckoning of Mr. Robert P. Porter, of the Census Bureau, there was raised 326,720,466 bushels of wheat, 1,283,865,107 bushels of corn, 70,167,982 pounds of tobacco, nearly 6,000,000 horses, more than 8,000,000 cattle, over 12,000,000 sheep, and about 16,000.000 hogs. The total production of cereals of all kinds in these ten States, according to the same responsible authority, was 1,907,848,923 bushels, or more than two-thirds of the product of the entire country. These same States produced in 1880 1,912,839 tons of iron and stee], worth in the aggregate ♦76,983,686. The progress of manufacturing industries of all kinds injthese ten States during the last thirty years, is almost beyond belief. In 1850 there were 3,162 manufacturing establishments of all kinds in Illinois; in 1880 there were 19,095. which turned out a manufactured product worth ♦339.274,109. Wisconsin in 1850 had l,26%faetones of. all kinds, in 1880 she had 57,083, and turned out manufactured articles worth ♦104,239,340. The progress of manufactures in all these States has been equally rapid.