THE AREAS OF THE UNITED STATES, THE STATES, AND THE 



TERRITORIES. 



By Henry Gannett. 



In 1881 the Census Office published in an extra bulletin tables show- 

 ing the areas of the United States and of the several States and Terri- 

 tories. The measurements and computations upon which these tables 

 were based were made with care, according to methods described in 

 the bulletin, and the results probably represented the areas as closely 

 as they could be determined from the maps and charts of that time. 

 In 1899 the General Land Office printed similar tables, which were 

 also prepared with great care and thoroughness. 



The tables presented in these two publications differ from each 

 other. Most of the differences are trifling, amounting to only a few 

 square miles or a small fraction of 1 per cent, being well within the 

 limits of error of the planimeter and of the maps used. Some of them, 

 however, are considerable, and a few are explained by the fact that 

 more recent maps, which changed the position of boundaries between 

 States, had been used by the Land Office, and its measurement was, 

 therefore, more nearly correct. Other discrepancies arose from differ- 

 ences in determining the cpast lines ; as an example of this, the Land 

 Office measurement of the State of Washington included half of the 

 Strait of Juan de Fuca, while that of the Census Office did not, involv- 

 ing a difference in area of 1,500 square miles. 



Realizing the desirability of the Government issuing but one state- 

 ment of areas of the States and Territories, the offices concerned, 

 through their representatives, Mr. Frank Bond, chief draftsman of the 

 General Land Office, Mr. C. S. Sloane, geographer of the Census Office, 

 and myself, representing the Geological Survey, have been at work 

 for several months in the endeavor to come to an agreement on these 

 figures, and in the course of our discussion many new measurements 

 have been made from the most recent and best maps. An agreement 

 has been reached, the results of which are set forth in the accompany- 

 ing table. 



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