Minnesota question

So what is the reason for that little pimple at the top of the state,north of Lake of the Woods? It isn't even accessible except by water or through Canada.

The Treaty of Paris, concluded between the United States and Great Britain at the end of the American Revolutionary War, stated that the boundary between U.S. territory and the British possessions to the north would run "...through the Lake of the Woods to the northwestern most point thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the river Mississippi..."

The parties did not suspect that the source of the Mississippi River, Lake Itasca (then unknown to European explorers), was south of that point. The entire Mississippi was too far south to be intersected by a line running west from the Lake of the Woods. The parties had used the Mitchell Map during the treaty negotiations; that map showed the Mississippi extending far to the north. In the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, the error was corrected by having the boundary run directly from the northwest point of the lake to the 49th parallel and then westward along it.

When a survey team led by David Thompson finally located the northwesternmost point of the lake and surveyed this north-south line, it was found to intersect other bays of the lake and therefore to form the boundary of a section of U.S. territory to its east, now known as the Northwest Angle.

Thank you, I was going to suggest a Google search, as I am not that good at typing! But I guess I could cut and paste!

I think...
It had something to do with the Louisianna Purchase and the mistaken belief in the early 1800s that the Mississippi river originated somewhere up there. Learned something about that in grade school but have forgotten it now.
For what it's worth, Minnesota does reach farther north than any of the other 48 states because of that bump.
Because of the style of map we usually use (Projection?) it does look like Maine, etc are farther north but that is not correct.

Fascinating.

Not something you'd explain in a hurry at the coffee shop then is it?

It's to make people like you ask questions.......works too!

Rick

In grade school we were taught that it was due to a surveyor's mistake. I guess Brian Dan's explanation is along those lines, but more complete. Interesting that they referenced the Mississippi but didn't know where it originated. I should post a pic of the start of the river- vacation pic of our kids walking across the start, at Lake Itasca. LOOOOng way from Northwest Angle.

Along these same thoughts, how many of you know that Carter Lake, Iowa is actually on the west side of the Missouri river. Accessible only by going into Nebraska first?

If I remember right, that happened when the river changed course slightly.

Same thing happened in far western Kentucky when the Mississippi changed course. There's a little piece there thats only accessible through Tennessee.

A portion of the State of Washington (called Point Roberts) can only be reached by road by driving through several miles of British Columbia. A small peninsula of BC extends below the 49th Parallel, which is the northern border of the western US.

Oh, and what city is due south of Detroit, Michigan? Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

I remember too,hearing about an island in the Mississippi where the people who live there have a drivers license from one state and their mailing address in another. If I remember right,the state capital was there at one time. Seems like it's Tennessee and Missouri. The Tennessee state capital was there at one time,but the whole town's gone now so the mail comes from Missouri or something like that. Having a senior moment on the details.

There is also a chunk of Nebraska on the Iowa side of the
river down near Nebraska City

I believe it is Illinois and Missouri. Not totaly sure about Missouri, could be Iowa, but they had the story on the PBS station "Illinois Adventure" a while back.

We have a "twin cities" situation here in my town, the two cities being separated by the Red River. Separate parishes (counties) as well. Through the decades the river has meandered, as it has a natural tendency to cut away its banks on the outer side of a loop. In time the inner side builds up with soil.

The two cities and parishes were established back in the 1840s with the center line of the river being the boundary. Now we have the same problem as others have described, with people living on one side of the river but being voters and taxpayers on the other. We even have a railroad bridge built back in 1916 that had a center pivot point in the middle of the river. It was intended to be able to allow the occasional riverboat to pass. Now, because of the meander of the river, the pivot pylon is well upon dry land. (It still functions as a railroad bridge, just not a swingable one.)

None of the confusion really mattered to anyone until a few years ago when the casino boats begun crowding in and setting up river berths. The taxing agencies got very interested; they finally hired a cartographer to sort it all out. Now we have one boat that's in our parish but on the other side of the river, and one that's just the opposite.

The confusion

Brian,
whats the source of your info?
very impressive response! Are you a historian?

Probably not what you're thinking of, but Island 26 (known locally as Shoaf's Island) is on the Arkansas side of the channel, but is in Tennessee. In low water, it's accessible by land from Arkansas. It's about 15 square miles iirc and used to have about 200 residents with a school, cotton gin, general store, etc. Not sure anyone lives there now........

Always learning daily on these forums and happy for that. As for the twin cities you have Lucas davenport and good for you.