Where the Lines Cross: US Territories and More

The 50 states aren't all there is to the USA.  In this blog, we cover DC, the territories, and the country as a whole.

See my first blog for an explanation of what this is.

Washington, DC.  So many interesting landmarks and important sites around the city to visit.  Our point lands in...the Paul Laurence Dunbar apartment complex.  Wow.

American Samoa includes some very remote and uninhabited atolls that cause both the lines and the point to be nowhere near any of the inhabited islands.  The point ends up just northwest of Rose Atoll, which also happens to be the southernmost point of all US territory.

Excluding the two uninhabited atolls still puts the point in the middle of the ocean.

Now just doing the main island of Tutuila, we end up in the Eastern District.  Surprisingly, we actually manage to land within the city limits of Pago Pago, the territory's capital.  This is the only time in the entire US that we actually do that, although New Jersey was extremely close.

Wouldn't you know it, we're in the water again.  We actually end up right in the wake of a boat going by on Google Maps.

Removing offshore islands brings the point back onto land.  We end up in some trees just northwest of Dededo, the territory's most populated village.

Both the northernmost and westernmost point of NMI are on Farallón de Pájaros, an uninhabted island, causing the point to be in the ocean in the middle of nowhere.

Excluding the uninhabited Northern Islands Municipality still puts the point in the water, but this time it is right next to Aguijan, a small island with a population of 25.

Now only doing the main island of Saipan, the point finally manages to end up on land.  It ends up on the eastern coast of the island, specifically near a golf course in Talafofo.

The point lands in the eastern side of the Lares municipality.  The point isn't very interesting, just ending up in the trees in the middle of nowhere.

Removing offshore islands puts the new point in San Sebastián Municipality, right on the border of Moca Municipality.  The point ends up right in the middle of the road.

The point ends up in the middle of the sea once again.

Despite Saint Croix being by far the largest island, Saint Thomas contains the territory's capital city and is more populous (although not by much), therefore I'm considering it the "mainland" of the territory for these purposes.

The point lands in the settlement of Donoe.  It lands right near Cost.U.Less and the Humane Society.  What more could you want?

All the random little islands that the US decided belonged to it.  The northernmost point ends up in the Midway Islands, south on Jarvis Island, east on Navassa Island, and west on Wake Island.  The point predictably ends up in the ocean, near Hawaii and the Midway Islands.

There's something interesting to note here.  Because of the Earth's curvature and the very long distance between the easternmost and westernmost points, it comes surprisingly close to completely going around the north-south line and almost doesn't cross it, which is a very real possibility.  Gee, I sure hope that doesn't become an issue in the future...

Since Navassa Island is so far away from the rest of the islands and often not grouped together with them, I decided to find another point excluding it.

Doing this puts the easternmost point on Jarvis Island, very close to the southernmost point.  Not close enough to put the center point on land, though.

Next, I decided to find the center point for each of the individual territories.  Given that the territories are uninhabited, most of these are pretty uninteresting.

Now, for the country as a whole.  There are many different points to go over here.  First, all land controlled by the US, including territories.  The north-south line goes from Point Barrow, Alaska, to Rose Atoll, American Samoa while the west-east line goes from Point Udall, Guam, to Point Udall, US Virgin Islands.  The point predictably lands in the water, with the closest point on land being an islet off the coast of Umnak in the Aleutian Islands.

Now, let's remove external territories.  Strangely, Palmyra Atoll is incorporated land, meaning the constitution fully applies there just like in the 50 states and unlike any of the other territories.  Because of this, it is NOT an external territory and instead fully part of the United States, and therefore is the southernmost point of the United States.  In addition to this, the westernmost point is now Peaked Island, Alaska, and the easternmost point is Sail Rock, Maine.

This new point, surprisingly, actually ends up on land.  It is in the Unorganized Borough of Alaska, right near the Yukon River.  The closest settlements is the city of Nulato.

Next, we're removing Palmyra Atoll and only looking at the 50 states.  The southernmost point moves to Ka Lae, Hawaii.  The new point simply moves across the Yukon River, with the closest settlement now being the city of Galena.

We're now removing all islands, like we did with each state.  The easternmost point barely moves, now being West Quoddy Head, and the westernmost point is now the tip of the Seward Peninsula.  The southernmost point moves drastically, now being the tip of Cape Sable in Florida.

This gives a very interesting result.  Using my extremely accurate methods, I have determined that, if you exclude islands, the center of the United States is... Richards Island, Northwest Territories.  In the Canadian Arctic.  Seems legit.

The closest settlement is Tuktoyaktuk to the east, a small town on the Arctic Ocean.

Now, it's time to do just the Lower 48 states.  The northernmost point is now the Northwest Angle of Minnesota, and the westernmost point is the Boltedeh islands of Washington.  Let's see where the two lines cross...

...Oh.

Because the Earth is round, it is completely possible for a north-south line and an east-west line to completely bypass each other.  This can happen in the Northern Hemisphere if the easternmost and westernmost points are in the north, and in the Southern Hemisphere if they are in the south.  The two lines here are abour 63 miles (102km) apart at their nearest in Ontario.

And, for the final point of the United States, we have a somewhat anticlimactic ending.  After removing islands, the lines still don't cross.  The two lines are slightly closer together - about 62mi/100km - but other than that nothing changes.