# Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/102

 UNITED STATES 82 UNITED STATES

State or Territory Date of Act of
Organization
Total
Area
(Sq. Miles)

Territories, etc.:
District of Columbia
 ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}}$ Territory District
 July 16, 1790 Mar. 3, 1791 July 27, 1868 June 14, 1900

70
 District Territory
Hawaii
590,884
6,449

Total exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii   3,026,789
Total including Alaska and Hawaii  3,624,122

NONCONTIGUOUS TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES: DATES OF ACQUISITION AND ORGANIZATION, AND POPULATION AND AREA

Territory Date of
Acquisition or
Organization
Area
(Sq. Miles)
Population

Year Number

 ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}}$ Acquired Organized
 June 20, 1867 July 27, 1868 Apr. 11, 1899 July 7, 1898 June 14, 1900 Feb. 26, 1904 Apr. 11, 1899 Apr. 11, 1899 Mar. 8, 1900 Mar. 31, 1917
 ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}}$ 590,884
1919  65,062
 Guam Acquired
210   1919 14,969
Hawaii
 ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}}$ Acquired Organized
 ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}}$ 6,449
1919  226,938
 Panama Canal Zone Acquired
527   1918 21,707
 Philippine Islands Acquired
115,026   1919  9,101,427
 Porto Rico Acquired
3,435   1919 1,262,158
 Tutuila Group Acquired
77   1916 7,550
 Virgin Islands Acquired
132   1917 26,051

been the shore of an ancient sea. The most fertile part of this slope is between Long Island and the Potomac. The coast to the Mississippi is sandy throughout; from Long Island to North Carolina it is marshy only close to the sea, but farther S. the seaward half of the plain is covered with swamps. The Appalachians form the watershed between the rivers draining into the Atlantic and the tributaries to the Mississippi, though some of the former may be said to rise on the inland side of the mountains, and to force a passage through them to the sea. The principal rivers falling into the Atlantic are the Penobscot, Kennebec, Merrimac, Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac, Rappahannock, James, Roanoke, Pedee, Santee, Savannah, and Altamaha. The Chattahoochee and the Flint river joining form the Appalachicola; the Alabama and Tombigbee, the Mobile; these drain into the Gulf of Mexico E. of the Mississippi.

The great central plains and prairies between the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains are drained almost entirely by the Mississippi and its affluents, chief of which are the Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and Red river. The only other river of great importance flowing into the Gulf of Mexico is the great boundary river, the Rio Grande del Norte. The streams flowing N. are trifling, the principal being the Red river of the North, which flows into Lake Winnipeg. Almost the whole of the Mississippi basin consists of open, rolling prairies, while, on the other hand, almost all the country between the Appalachians and the Atlantic was originally more or less thickly wooded. Between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Alps, called Sierra Nevada, in California and Cascade Range farther N., lies a rainless region, mostly S. of lat. 45° N., with an average elevation of 5,000 feet above the ocean, great part of it communicating, not with the sea, but draining into salt lakes and marshes. Except where irrigated, this plateau is utterly unproductive. To the N. it is drained by the Columbia, with its tributary the Snake river, which forces its way through the Sierras to the Pacific; while in the S. portion the Colorado and its affluents, after flowing through frightful cañons 3,000 to 5,000 feet below the surface of the plateau for some 600 miles, forms a delta at the head of the Gulf of California. The Great Cañon of the Colorado is more than 300 miles long. Between the Sierras and the ocean stretches the comparatively narrow but rich and beautiful sea-coast known as the Pacific Slope, drained by the Columbia, the Klamath, the Sacramento, and the San Joaquin, along with numerous smaller streams. The “Great Divide,” or watershed, is in Montana and Wyoming, whence flow the Missouri, Columbia, and Colorado. In this wild region Congress set apart in February, 1872, the Yellowstone National Park, a tract 62 by 54 miles in extent (3,312 sq. miles) in the N. W. of Wyoming. The region, while mostly unfit for agriculture and mining, contains more natural marvels than can be found elsewhere. There