# Your geographical misconceptions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 30, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294 "2020-12-30T20:58:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 46
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/903 "2024-08-23T18:09:43Z")
Yeah, it may not be obvious. [Close by here is the divide](https://maps.app.goo.gl/1SCeyNWewcJmgerr8) between the Pembina River which goes to the Arctic Ocean (via the Athabasca, Slave and Mackenzie rivers), and Hoople Lake which is the headwaters of the Sturgeon Rive which goes into the North Saskatchewan and eventually Hudson Bay. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/904 "2024-12-10T12:30:30Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Turns out, the Joad’s farm was way the hell east, almost in Arkansas. Kind of not the “no man’s land” part of the state Some years ago I happened to fly over Oklahoma and totally surprised by how green and moist the eastern third of the state looked. Some places even looked swampy. There are actually alligators in SE Oklahoma, near the Arkansas border. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/905 "2024-12-10T13:21:52Z")
As far as I could find out, they are indeed two separate cities with distinct governments. I don’t know of any city that lies in two states but has one city government. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/906 "2024-12-10T13:40:23Z")
That kind of depends on what is meant by “two separate cities” and/or “one big city divided in two by state lines”. There are lots of places that are “two separate cities” in terms of government but are “one big city divided in two” when it comes to living daily life. This happens all the time in border areas but when the two cities have different names, there’s no confusion about whether it’s a single city or not. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/907 "2024-12-10T14:17:00Z")
Reading this thread back, the earlier comments about landmarks of _disappointing size_ are sort of weird. I mean, if the landmark is called the ‘very tall tower’ or something, and you get there and it’s actually _not very tall_, the disappointment would be entirely justified, but a general expectation to have been impressed by the _size_ attribute of a sculpture or painting or landmark or monument, when it’s not billed as just being a big thing, is just… odd. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/908 "2024-12-10T15:47:22Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I don’t know of any city that lies in two states but has one city government. The city of Lloydminster is one entity incorporated by both Alberta and Saskatchewan. I believe the Saskatchewan side observes Daylight Savings Time even though the rest of the province does not (kind of like how West Wendover is the only tiny part of Nevada that is on Mountain Time). ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/910 "2026-07-08T12:50:07Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Some years ago I happened to fly over Oklahoma and totally surprised by how green and moist the eastern third of the state looked. Some places even looked swampy. There are actually alligators in SE Oklahoma, near the Arkansas border. I’ve been stationed in Lawton OK a few times (in SW OK, where Fort Sill is the main artillery training site for the Army and Marines). Western Oklahoma is like the Texas Panhandle: generally flat, dry, dull, boring. However the relief in Eastern Oklahoma, east of OKC, is beautiful: rolling hills, and green foliage on red dirt. More like Arkansas and less like the Texas Panhandle. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/911 "2026-07-08T13:21:36Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Rome, Hamburg, London, and Antwerp, were all at one time capitals of great naval powers or were naval trading cities, so they must have a great naval port right on the ocean, right? This reminded me of something: the third largest naval base in the world is located in southern Indiana (Crane). ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/912 "2026-07-08T14:13:21Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > This reminded me of something: the third largest naval base in the world is located in southern Indiana (Crane). By geographic area, sure. But most of it is empty rural land! ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/913 "2026-07-08T15:48:46Z")
It was kind of the same thing to me the first time I was in Kansas: I expected the landscape to be flat, barren, with parched, foot-high grass/straw. I was pleasantly surprised to find it green, lushly so, with lots of trees, and quite hilly. Ignorance fought. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2026, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/914 "2026-07-08T16:19:41Z")
IMHO, the classic [“New Yorker’s view of the world”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_of_the_World_from_9th_Avenue) in real life happened when a staffer in my company’s New York City office called the head of the St. Louis office and asked him to send a staffer to Decatur, Illinois to take a photo of someone for an assignment. My boss - a New Yorker himself (Lawn Guyland though, not Manhattan) argued that it would take almost five hours just to drive to Decatur and back, and our staff had better things to do. The New York staffer insisted it would be easy “because I’m looking at a map and Decatur is right next to St. Louis” (it’s actually 136 miles.) Finally my boss .dropped into his best Lawn Guyland accent and growled, “I’ll send someone to Decatur if you send someone to Penn Station, put them on the train and have them go to f—ing Philly and pick up a cheesesteak, bring it back to the office and send it to me, because that’ll take just about the same amount of time Got it?” and hung up on her. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/915 "2026-07-08T16:43:09Z")
One of my professors in college (a recent Israeli immigrant) thought it was a sly joke on Bertolt Brecht’s part to set _The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui_ in “the docklands of Chicago,” seeing as Chicago is in a landlocked state in the middle of the continent… ---
**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:** [July 8, 2026, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/916 "2026-07-08T17:44:31Z")
You know thar Chicago is one of the major ports on the Great Lakes, right? (although Duluth-Superior is bigger and busier). The Great Lakes are full of ports (and docks). They even do a fair amount of ship-building. > **[10 Major Ports On The Great Lakes](https://www.marineinsight.com/ports-on-the-great-lakes/)** > > Marine Insight - The maritime industry guide. > **[List of ports on the Great Lakes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ports_on_the_Great_Lakes)** > > Below is a list of ports in the Great Lakes region, which includes Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Ontario, and Lake Superior, as well as the smaller Lake St. Clair. When submarine S-49 toured the Great Lakes in 1933-1938, it stayed in Great Lakes ports the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/917 "2026-07-08T17:45:28Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You know thar Chicago is one of the major ports on the Great Lakes, right? I do! My professor did not. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/918 "2026-07-08T17:57:32Z")
FWIW, these guys famously had no clue about Chicago geography either. The “East side of Chicago” is rather too damp to support much criminal activity. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/w2OFubG0dPo/hqdefault.jpg "Paper Lace The night Chicago Died.New Video Edit") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2OFubG0dPo) ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/919 "2026-07-08T18:01:09Z")
There is an actual neighborhood in Chicago called East Side, maybe they had a bad time there 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/920 "2026-07-08T18:05:49Z")
They were Brits. Had never set foot in the USA, had no clue about geography. Just knew a smidgen about the infamous 1920s bootleggers and ran with their catchy tune and made-up lyrics about a made-up police/gangster war in a made-up neighborhood. See **[The Night Chicago Died - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Chicago_Died)** for more. It’s actually kind of a cute tale. Dammit Jim, we’re musicians, not geographers! Not historians neither! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/921 "2026-07-08T18:30:17Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > The New York staffer insisted it would be easy “because I’m looking at a map and Decatur is right next to St. Louis” (it’s actually 136 miles.) Finally my boss .dropped into his best Lawn Guyland accent and growled, “I’ll send someone to Decatur if you send someone to Penn Station, put them on the train and have them go to f—ing Philly and pick up a cheesesteak, bring it back to the office and send it to me, because that’ll take just about the same amount of time Got it?” and hung up on her. At work- Oakland CA- we had some visitors from Alabama. They thought they could just drive to Disneyland after work. We explained things- its about 400 miles. They did drive to look at the Golden gate Bridge however. (which I do not understand- it is a bridge, dammit). > [@LSLGuy](#): > > The “East side of Chicago” is rather too damp to support much criminal activity. Even if not named as such, any town with more than one building has a north, south, west and east sides. From the Wiki article- > The song’s events supposedly take place “on the East Side of Chicago”. Chicago has three commonly referred-to regions: the North Side, the West Side and the South Side. There is no East Side, as [Lake Michigan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Michigan "Lake Michigan") is immediately east of Downtown Chicago. In this case it would be the eastern part of Downtown. However the shoot out occurred more to the west . ---
**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:** [July 9, 2026, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/922 "2026-07-09T02:21:37Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The “East side of Chicago” is rather too damp to support much criminal activity. To be pedantic, couldn’t everything east of State Street be considered “the East side of Chicago?” ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/923 "2026-07-09T02:41:08Z")
How very far east the Americas skew as you head south from Washington DC. Especially once you get to South America, it is just so much further east than I thought it was going to be. The West Cost of South America is in the same time zone as NYC. That just blew my mind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294.md?page=45) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294.md?page=47)