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UNITED STATES, THE CENSUS OF. 



An important part of the geographical work 

 of the census has been the revision of the areas 

 of the United States and the several States and 

 Territories prepared by Henry Gannett, the 

 geographer and special agent of the tenth cen- 

 sus. In transmitting his report to the Super- 

 intendent of the Census, Mr. Gannett said: 

 " The necessity for revising the figures which 

 have popularly passed as the areas of the States 

 presented itself early in the progress of my 

 geographical work in connection with the cen- 

 sus. Of several States a number of estimates 

 of area have been in use, differing from one 

 another by thousands of square miles, and none 

 of them, perhaps, traceable to any authentic 

 source. Many of the results were palpably 

 wrong, being so far from the truth that it is a 

 source of surprise that they were not corrected 

 before. The methods by which I have ob- 

 tained the areas are fully set forth in the body 

 of the bulletin. I may say, however, that 

 while most of the areas can be considered as 

 only approximations, yet they are as close ap- 

 proximations as the maps and the determina- 

 tions of geographical positions, of boundary- 

 lines, etc., will permit." 



There is not a State or Territory whose area 

 in the census returns of 1880 is not different 

 from that previously given. The total area of 

 the United States, as now revised, is about 800 

 square miles less than that heretofore fixed. 

 It was given in the census of 1870 at 3,026,494 

 square miles, exclusive of the 577,390 square 

 miles of Alaska, and it is now found to be 3,- 

 025,600. In fourteen States and five Territo- 

 ries the revised area is less than the old ; in the 

 rest it is greater. The difference is very con- 

 siderable in most cases, and is great in some. 

 The number of square miles in California is re- 

 duced from 188,981 to 158,360, in Texas from 

 274,356 to 265,780, in Tennessee from 45,600 

 to 42.050, in South Carolina from 34,000 to 

 30,570, in Pennsylvania from 46,000 to 45,215, 

 in Maine from 35,000 to 33,040, and in New 

 Jersey from 8,320 to 7,815. The area of Mas- 

 sachusetts has been increased from 7,800 to 

 8,315 square miles, New York from 47,000 to 

 49,170, Virginia from 38,348 to 42,450, Ken- 

 tucky from 37,680 to 40,400, Missouri from 65,- 

 350 to 69,415, Louisiana from 41,346 to 48,720, 

 Nevada from 104,125 to 110,700, and Wiscon- 

 sin from 53,924 to 56,040. The census-table of 



