How the States Got Their Shapes: History Channel Documentary Film With Brian Unger and Mark Stein

The assurance of water emerges as the original determinant in boundary-marking the oldest states. Its availability finds itself:

• absent from boundary-marking for Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming; and
• present in extending super-arid Nevada’s boundaries southeastward to include the Colorado River.

It generates continued controversy with Georgia claiming its 35th parallel boundary 1 mile (1.61 kilometer) further north into Tennessee and thereby considering the Tennessee River a water body of the fourth-admitted state, not the sixteenth.

But water holds greater sway in the eastern half of the United States of America, whose land patterns and use are determined by original private ownership. Boundary-marking in the largely government-owned western half contrastingly is influenced more by nature, politics, and transportation. 

As ratified per treaty with Mexico by the U.S. Senate on April 25, 1854, the Gadsden Purchase of 29,640 square miles (76,767.25 square kilometers) jimmies Arizona’s and New Mexico’s borders southward to make possible the Southern Pacific Railroad by building and connecting, from Louisiana to California:

• Central Pacific Railroad;
• Morgan’s Louisiana and Texas Railroad; and
• Texas and New Orleans Railroad.

Nature knits western boundaries as much as do bus, car, plane, train, and truck networks since fertile, mineral-rich land sustains California, Colorado, Dakotas, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Religion likewise leaves its mark westward with Brigham Young (June 1, 1801 – August 29, 1877) recognizing Utah as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ new homeland. 

Brian moves on through such potential border-breakers as:

• believers, non-believers;
• blue-collar, white-collar wearers;
• country-folks, urbanites;
• easterners, westerners;
• farmers, ranchers;
• hillbillies, rednecks;
• northerners, southerners; and
• poor, rich.

He notes four potentially separatist power grids:

• Maine;
• Rockies eastward;
• Rockies westward; and
• Texas.

He opts for unity in diversity since northern potatoes and southern seafood make Maine chowder super-delicious.

So How the States Got Their Shapes provides culturally enriching, educationally entertaining, and geo-historically enthralling insights into marking, minding, and modifying borders and cultures, thanks to:

• A&E Television Networks, LLC, distributor;
• Paul Cabana, History Channel executive producer;
• Ann Carroll, Sean Gallagher, Abby Greensfelder, Greg Smith, Half Yard Productions, LLC, executive producers;
• David Konschnik, director;
• Mark Stein, author; and
• Brian Unger, host. 

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Among shapes tackled in "How the States Got Their Shapes" is the urban myth that attributes Boston's winding streets to colonial cow paths.
"Cow Paths"; fiberglass cow by E.G. (Gayle Shanley) Fitzsimmons of Russell, Massachusetts, for CowParade 2006. The international art event was inaugurated in Chicago in 1999; Boston was one of participating cities in CowParade 2006.
Plaza III Kansas City Steakhouse, Faneuil Hall Marketplace, 1 S. Market St., Government Center; Thursday, Aug. 10, 2006, 15:44:33: Cirofono, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/ciroduran/212274014/

"How the States Got Their Shapes" presents historical stately possibilities -- such as Adelsverein in Texas, Deseret in the southwest, and Forgottonia in Illinois -- as well as modern stately movements, such as the State of Jefferson.
Since 1941, counties in northern California and southern Oregon have sought statehood as the State of Jefferson, with Yreka as provisional capital.
a barn near Yreka, central Siskiyou County, northernmost California; Sunday, May 26, 2013, 12:22: Visitor7, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:State_of_Jefferson_Barn.jpg

Texas Interconnection, managed by Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), powers most of Texas as a separate power grid.
SPP (Southwest Power Pool) services uncovered parts of northwestern Texas. SERC (Southeastern Electric Reliability Council) and SPP are responsible for uncovered parts of eastern Texas.
The ERCOT grid encompasses approximately 75 percent of the land mass of Texas, according to ERCOT's website.: Claude (Bouchecl), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NERC-map-en.svg

"How The States Got Their Shapes" (1:40) ~ Trailer
Uploaded January 10, 2012, by goentertain to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzLPElmEAkE

Generally viewed as a tongue-in-cheek separatist movement, the Conch Republic encompasses Florida Keys and attracts tourists through annual weeklong Independence Day festivities on April 23; Office of Secretary General issues souvenir passports.
Conch Republic, nicknamed "A Sovereign State of Mind," was coaxed into existence on April 23, 1982, in response to US Border Patrol blockage of Florida Keys.
Office of Secretary General of Conch Republic, Key West, Florida: Steven Miller (Sam Howzit), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/6707838905/

GateHouse Media. "Cows Across Boston." Milford Daily News > Entertainment. Aug. 20, 2006.

• Available at: https://www.milforddailynews.com/story/entertainment/2006/08/20/cows-across-boston/41188918007/

Stein, Mark. 2008. How the States Got Their Shapes. New York, NY: Smithsonian/HarperCollins. 

Stein, Mark, 2011. How the States Got Their Shapes Too: The People Behind the Borderlines. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books.