# Cities lined up in a row? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 15, 2019, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-lined-up-in-a-row/827780 "2019-01-15T03:44:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-lined-up-in-a-row/827780/41 "2019-01-22T18:22:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > In what sense is New Orleans “reasonably high ground”? You have to go uphill to get to the river! In southern Louisiana, reasonably high ground is any place where the water line is below your knees. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-lined-up-in-a-row/827780/42 "2019-01-22T21:25:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **sbunny8** : > > Finding a way to generate enough power to create the wormholes is left as an exercise for the student. No matter how I try, I always end up with too much. And I’m totally stealing that line you totally stole from Shakespeare. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-lined-up-in-a-row/827780/43 "2019-01-22T22:34:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Of course, all of these are only approximate. What’s _really_ astounding is that, if you take the city centers as surveyed to centimeter-level precision, Poughkeepsie, NY and Kalamazoo, MI lie _exactly_ on a straight line. Forgive me for asking the obvious, but if you take _any two_ and _only two_ points on a map, can’t you connect them with a straight line? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-lined-up-in-a-row/827780/44 "2019-01-22T23:34:15Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Forgive me for asking the obvious, but if you take _any two_ and _only two_ points on a map, can’t you connect them with a straight line? 😕 Any three whooshes make a plane! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-lined-up-in-a-row/827780/45 "2019-01-22T23:58:56Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Any three whooshes make a plane! Don’t you need wings? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-lined-up-in-a-row/827780/46 "2019-01-23T01:48:03Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Don’t you need wings? We all need Paul McCartney. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-lined-up-in-a-row/827780/47 "2019-01-23T02:29:05Z")
If you draw a line from Cincinnati OH to Cleveland OH, you’ll find Columbus really close to the line and near the middle. Now, Cinci is on the Ohio River, which was a major thoroughfare back when Ohio (the 15th state) was the old old old west. And Cleveland was a port on Lake Erie. Good reasons for them to be there. AND Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburg, and Philadelphia are pretty much in a straight line too. I suspect the location of Columbus (Franklinton) was placed on a map before any buildings were erected there. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-lined-up-in-a-row/827780/48 "2019-01-23T04:26:51Z")
Columbus was established specifically to be the capital of the state, and it was deliberately put in the middle of the state for convenience. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-lined-up-in-a-row/827780/49 "2019-01-23T13:21:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No matter how I try, I always end up with too much. > > And I’m totally stealing that line you totally stole from Shakespeare. Richard de Mille, in one of his books about Carlos Castaneda, adapted it best, in my opinion. In writing about people playing with psychedelic mushrooms, he observed that > [@](#): > > There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your Mycology ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-lined-up-in-a-row/827780/50 "2019-01-23T15:07:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > In southern Louisiana, reasonably high ground is any place where the water line is below your knees. Now lets not exaggerate… Around here reasonably high ground is anywhere that doesn’t squish when you walk on it during a drought. If it is dry during the height of summer, it is high enough to build on. 🙂 As for New Orleans proper-remember the French Quarter did not flood during Katrina (pretty much has never flooded). It is built on the old natural river bank. Anything away from the river was swamp up until the city decided to drain the swamp and build farms. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-lined-up-in-a-row/827780/51 "2019-01-23T18:40:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Columbus was established specifically to be the capital of the state, and it was deliberately put in the middle of the state for convenience. Columbia, South Carolina was sited where it is for the same reason. Something about capitals named after Colomb. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-lined-up-in-a-row/827780.md?page=2)