nemo@rochester.UUCP (Wolfe) (07/29/85)
For a change of topic, can anyone explain what Minnesota is doing with
that little piece of "Canada". I mean, right there at top of Minnesota
at the juncture of Manitoba and Ontario provinces, on the (presumable
scenic) Lake of the Woods is a piece of the USofA about the size of
St. Petersburg, FL that is not connected to any part of the States. I
guess we also have part of the Lake of the Woods, but what are we doing
with this little colony above the 49th parallel? Did some of these
shy Norwegan farmers revert to atavistic adventurism and sally forth
in their Viking Longboats to conquer a chunk of our Northern Neighbor?
Were there already shy Norwegan farmers in the possesion of a critical
mass of lutkefisk (sp?) there when the Canada and the US divvied up the
continent?
( - You take 'em.
- No, no! You!
- They came there from your side.
- They look like your daddy!
- Hey, we'll throw in Isle Royale and the upper Michigan peninsula
if you'll take them.
- Well, OK. Just this once. But you owe me!
)
But seriously now ... does anyone know the history of this little quirk?
Ne (I'd rather be eating sweet corn, or something like it) mo
--
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Rochester, NY 14627scottb@iddic.UUCP (scott bigger) (08/01/85)
I'm not sure why this is in this newsgroup but here goes... In days of old and nights were cold, someone in the government decided boundaries were good things, keeps the country from leaking, give's reason for border patrol, immigration agents, show's folks what line to cross to become a draft dodger or a wet back, makes folks feel worldly when their walleye rig hits the opposing shore of the Rainy River. Surveyor's were hired, presumably after talking it all over with the Canadians, the Russians, and the British and who all else might have laid claim to land back then. He was told to start above Washington (or whatever it was called then) at the appropriate parallel with his map and compass and set forth to create (drum roll) a boundary. (Fan fair, kiss him good-by, mom.) And he did. All went well, a mountain here, a river there, the great plains with a lot of nothing but the promise of soddies, dugouts, and hockey players. Once in a while the Souix might have made him nervous but the old boundary was straight and true for about 1700 miles and then suddenly there's this big lake. In the woods. And it was getting dark. And threatening rain. Well, any way, the legend says he set out across this lake with what ever surveyors take with them to cross a lake not to mention a country and promptly got himself lost on the lake in the dark in the rain. He could either keep going across this lake that showed no promise of having a shore closer than Europe, or he could head due north to where he could see the light of some farmer's fire or oil lamp or some such. In the morning with directions he squared off this mistake, headed east, and found himself in charted territory again and called it quits. We got the Nortwest Angle, the folks up north didn't think it was worth the bother and our farmer with the fire became an American, all at the stroke of a pen. This is an obvious embelishment of something we learned in our wonderful Minnesota history class in Junior high in the little town of Crookston, Mn, about 10 years ago now I guess. It's a little long winded and jazzed up just cause I don't feel like doing real work yet this morning, but it's close enough to what we were lead to believe was the truth that you can probably believe it, too. If you really need to know the details, I'm sure somewhere in Washington, D.C. there are records you could dig out if you knew where to look. It's a lot more fun to tell this story though. Now all I gotta do is figure out when and where to catch PHC in Portland. Scott Bigger tektronix!iddic!scottb
GMP@psuvm.BITNET (08/02/85)
ACTUALLY IT WENT LIKE THIS:
NORWEGIAN: YOU TAKE IT, IT MAKES MOSQUITOS.
CANADIAN: NO, YOU TAKE IT FOR WHAT YOU DID TO NIAGARA DURING THE WAR OF 1812.
NORWEGIAN: DON T MATTER TO ME. I DON T HAVE TO GO THERE.
AND THAT S THE TRUTH.
cb@hlwpc.UUCP (Carl Blesch) (08/02/85)
> > For a change of topic, can anyone explain what Minnesota is doing with > that little piece of "Canada". I mean, right there at top of Minnesota > at the juncture of Manitoba and Ontario provinces, on the (presumable > scenic) Lake of the Woods is a piece of the USofA about the size of > St. Petersburg, FL that is not connected to any part of the States. > > ... does anyone know the history of this little quirk? *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR GEOGRAPHICAL ODDITY *** I believe that chunk of land is called the "Northwest Angle," if I remember right from an old National Geographic. And I believe it's solid forest land. But I know nothing beyond that. I'd be interested, also, as a fan of geographical oddities. My favorite oddities - - Port Roberts (Vancouver readers -- do I have the name right?) - a penninsula of land south of Vancouver B.C. that sticks a bit below the 49th parallel, therefore belongs to the USA and state of Washington. Upper Michigan -- totally connected to Wisconsin and not at all touching lower Michigan -- Eastern mapmakers really get thrown by this. F'r instance, look at the Channel 5 (NY City) weather map -- no state line is drawn between Wisconsin and upper Michigan. Delmarva Penninsula -- the bottom tip of this penninsula is Virginia -- no land connection to "mainland" Virginia. What, this isn't net.geography? Oops, sorry. I got carried away. Carl Blesch
carolp@hpvcla.UUCP (carolp) (08/15/85)
> Now all I gotta do is figure out when and where to catch PHC in Portland.
KOAP, 91.5 FM @3 p.m. Saturdays
I've recently heard it Sunday evenings at 6 p.m., too (same station).
Carol Peterman
hplabs!hp-pcd!hpvcla!carolp