A CENTURY OF GEOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES. 225 
volumes that for years have, from the government printing 
office, been poured out over the country without stint or 
price—in these are set forth with elaborate minuteness the 
geographic work done by the United States. The particular 
fields investigated by boundary surveys, by the Coast Survey, 
by the General Land Office, by the Lake Survey, by the 
Pacific Railroad Surveys, by the Wilkes Exploring Expedi¬ 
tion, by the Rodgers Exploring Expedition, by the so-called 
Hayden, Wheeler, and Powell surveys, by the Northern 
Transcontinental survey, by various State surveys, topo¬ 
graphic and geologic, and by the U. S. Geological Survey— 
all these are duly recorded and published in scores of for¬ 
bidding black volumes. These volumes record the increase 
in geographic knowledge, but throw little light on its diffu¬ 
sion. For this we look to the text-books, to public addresses 
in Congress and out, to newspaper and magazine articles, and 
to public lectures. These reflect the general knowledge of 
the community as to geography. This phase of the subject 
shall be our theme. 
It is now one hundred and nine years since thirteen sov¬ 
ereign and independent states, loosely bound together in a 
confederation, agreed to form a “ more perfect union.” By 
a narrow majority and after protracted debate they ac¬ 
cepted the terms of an instrument which bound them in an 
indissoluble union. In April, 1789—one hundred and eight 
years ago—Washington was inaugurated. That we may 
clearly note our geographic progress since that event let us 
picture to ourselves in broad outline the geographic environ¬ 
ment of that time. 
The total area of the original thirteen states was 830,000 
square miles, an area a little larger than Alaska. The popu¬ 
lation was about 4,000,000, or a little more than that of 
Greater New York today. Of the whole area only about 30 
per cent contained ally population, and even within this area 
the people were gathered for the most part in a narrow fringe 
along the Atlantic seaboard. The largest city was New York, 
with a population of 33,000— i. e., it was about as large as the 
