Thursday, March 25, 2010

Lost States Revisited

Back in 2008 I was excited to tell you about a little book about states the might-have-been. Michael Trinklein's Lost States: Real Quests for American Statehood was a small but amusing soft-cover collection of maps and stories about almost-ran states like Franklin, Lincoln and Jefferson (why should Washington get all the love?). Alas, that book is now out of print (sure to become a collector's item). Fear not cartophiles, the author has a new edition of the book, expanded with new maps and new stories, in a beautiful hard cover from Quirk Books.*

Lost States: True Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania, and Other States That Never Made it



The cover unfolds into a map poster!

Among the stories told - the proposed State of Navajo:



While the intent was to give the people of the Navajo Nation greater representation, one of the biggest drawbacks would be the elimination of the Four Corners!

Some folks have different ideas on how to divide the Minnesota Territory:



Wiser heads prevailed. (What a barren wasteland West Dakota might have been...)

When rivers change their course, it sometimes takes decades for nations to sort out their borders, creating opportunity:



These stories and maps and more can be found in Lost States. I would love to scan and post more of these maps, but I'm sure Mr. Trinklein and his publisher would object... fortunately, they have started a new Lost States Blog to promote the book, reproducing more of the maps.



More videos from Lost States.

*Full disclosure, the publisher sent a review copy to me, but I would have most certainly purchased a copy if they had not.

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6 Comments:

At Thursday, March 25, 2010 , Blogger Brandon said...

I beg to differ with your assessment of W. Dakota: That's the pretty part! It's where you'll find the Black Hills and the Badlands. The eastern portion - here incorporated in Minnesota... prairie. Flat. Boring. Empty.

 
At Thursday, March 25, 2010 , Blogger Cartophiliac said...

Fair enough, Gusto. Probably an unfair description. However, the population of that region would probably not have been enough for statehood...

 
At Thursday, March 25, 2010 , Blogger Reticula said...

What a cool book. I'd like to look at it sometime.

 
At Saturday, March 27, 2010 , Blogger Michael5000 said...

Heh. The Starbucks shown as representing western Oregon is, judging from the vegetation and bare dirt, almost certainly from the "desert" (kind of) 2/3 from the state. I'd take even odds on Bend or Redmond.

Dude can pronounce both "Oregon" and "Willamette" correctly, though, so he's OK in my book.

 
At Saturday, March 27, 2010 , Blogger Brandon said...

Wait, what? How are you supposed to say them?

 
At Saturday, March 27, 2010 , Blogger Michael5000 said...

Just like the guy in the video says 'em.

"Oregon" has three syllables, more or less "or - uh - gun." Not "Ore-Gone."

Willamette has three syllables and rhymes with "damn it."

Extra Credit: "Couch" rhymes with "Pooch."

 

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