By Jerry Riley

The United States; why does it look the way it does? Why are some states BIG, while others are are very small? Why are some shaped and others appear to be ripped along the edges? Were boundaries drawn according to politics (as we would probably do now)? According to the History Channel, most were more basic.

First, we have water, the Great Lakes, which represented transportation and commerce. Way back in history, beach front property was valuable. Then, for water transportation, today, for tourism. Every state that could, wanted a piece of the Great Lakes, so surrounding state shapes conformed to the water as much as possible.
Money was a factor. The original 13 states were huge. Ohio was on the original West Coast. It became the first of the new states. Most stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. Our new Government was poor, but, unlike today, didn’t exist on credit. The original states agreed to sell off parts of their states to new settlers, creating new territories and, ultimately, with Congressional approval, became new states.
Chicago owes its shape to the Great Lakes, transportation, the Mississippi River and the Asian Jumping Fish! Railroads also had an impact! Chicago is both a seaport and a rail head, one of the largest in the country.
In 1883, railroads created time zones so they could have a standardized schedule for the trains to operate on and people could know when to meet trains at the depot. Why are time zones ragged? Well, that might be another column. As water transportation helped form some states, railroad transportation helped form some of the western states. Without the need for beach front property, the edges got smother and the shapes more orderly. Again, there was some politics had a hand in where the railroads went.
And where towns sprang up, or died out.

Jerry Riley is an occasional commentator for the News Bulletin. He is a retired telecommunications supervisor.