re: #38 Ferdinand

The 100th Meridian.
blogs.ei.columbia.edu

From the piece, published last year. I’ve always loved American geographical history stuff.

In 1878, American geologist and explorer John Wesley Powell drew an invisible line in the dirt—a long line. It was the 100th meridian west, the longitude he identified as the boundary between the humid eastern United States and the arid Western plains. Running south to north, the meridian cuts through eastern Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and the Canadian province of Manitoba on its way to the pole.
Powell, best known for exploring the Grand Canyon and other Western places, was wary of settlement in that often harsh region, and tried convincing Congress to lay out water and land-management districts crossing state lines to deal with environmental constraints. Western politicians hated the idea, fearing it might limit development and their own power, and it never went anywhere. It was not the first time politicians would ignore the advice of scientists.
Now, 140 years later, in two just-published papers, scientists examine how the 100th meridian has played out in history, and what the future may hold. They confirm that the divide has turned out to be real, as reflected by population and agriculture on opposite sides. They say also that the line appears to be slowly moving eastward, due to climate change, and that it will probably continue shifting in coming decades, expanding the arid climate of the western plains into what we think of as the Midwest. The implications for farming and other pursuits could be huge.