When I sent the URL of the purported federal enclaves, I was looking at the
"large" view that shows all four of them. I have since gotten to the shallow
bottom of Mississippi Sound. There are no federal enclaves at all!
The map depicting them was published in 1970 and shows the application of the
Submerged Lands Act's 3nm line, thus producing federal enclaves. Litigation
continued, however.
In 1985, the Supremes found that Mississippi Sound is entirely internal waters
on historic grounds. There were several arguments to support this notion, but
the clincher was that the Supremes themselves had extended the LAMS boundary all
the way across its western lobe in 1906.
There is a thoroughly illustrated 91-page treatise on the theories behind the
delimitation of seaward boundaries at
http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/shalowitz/Part_two.pdf . It is fascinating.
I, too, was amazed and amused by the projection of the ALMS boundary seaward
right through one of the supposed federal enclaves. I think this happened as
follows: The original map must have been drawn long ago, when the seas were
considered worthless oblivion. The cartographers simply projected the boundary
far enough to separate the two states' respective off-shore islands. Perhaps it
should have been said that the depiction of the boundary off-shore was for
unofficial reference only. Then, after the Submerged Lands Act, a new
generation of cartographers went to their drafting tables with compasses in hand
to draw all of the appropriate arcs. Since they probably didn't know where to
draw the ALMS boundary southward of the supposed federal enclave, they avoided
the issue by just leaving their predecessors' line where it was. "Blunder" is
the perfect word for it!
There are indeed no federal enclaves in Chandeleur Sound or any other Louisiana
waters. Louisiana's seaward boundary is entirely resolved by Supreme Court
decrees. It's a good thing, too, because the state is disappearing into the
Gulf of Mexico at the incredible rate of TWO ACRES PER HOUR! This results from
a combination of subsidence and erosion.
Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "m06079" <barbaria_longa@...>
To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 6:01 PM
Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Re: Four Color Maps
> --- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Lowell G. McManus"
> <mcmanus71496@m...> wrote:
> > Comments inserted below:
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "m06079" <barbaria_longa@h...>
> > To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
> > Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 12:21 PM
> > Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Re: Four Color Maps
> >
> >
> > > actually the usgs is quite inconsistent about showing the 3 mile
> > > limits
> > > & also about showing county & state lines in the sea
> > >
> > > it does close the mouths of chesapeake & delaware & new york &
> cape
> > > cod bays
> > > but not of florida bay
> > > despite the notorious shallowness of the latter
> >
> > Florida Bay is not internal waters (so say the Supremes), so it has
> no closing
> > line. It is subject only to the acrs of the three-league line from
> the mainland
> > and the Keys, as depicted nicely at http://tinyurl.com/yd62 .
> >
> > > it even shows a bit of the 3nm line within the otherwise
> undoubtedly
> > > internal waters of mississippi in mississippi sound
> > > yikes
> > > thats right
> > > a little enclave of federal waters within mississippi waters
> > > hard to believe
> >
> > The map at http://tinyurl.com/yd7a shows three such federal
> enclaves within
> > Mississippi waters and one more surrounded by Mississippi and
> Alabama waters!
>
> why thank you
> & since one good raise deserves another
> pan out one more level & you get 4 for the price of 3 or of 1
>
> yes thats 4 exclaves of american federal seas embedded in internal
> states waters folks
> 3 enclaved in mississippi & 1 divided by alms
> a division which in itself is of course impossible
> since
> if these internal federal seas are really federal & really real
> alms must be interrupted & parted by them into alus & msus
> & yikes
> must thus produce a pair of new almsus tripoints
> rather than merely being superimposed by these seas as shown
>
> for that much is certainly a blunder
> dont you agree
>
> as much as i would like to believe you have just brought home alive
> the long overlooked 86th & 87th american federal tripoints here
> i just cant go out & ring the liberty bell on them yet
>
>
> but do you believe your eyes in any of these cases
>
> then why shouldnt you expect the same regime to be applied to say
> pamlico sound or long island sound or even puget sound
> or any other sound or nonsound
>
> anyway i would love to know the ultimate disposition of this mess
> or even just any further steps in that direction
>
> >
> > > ...
> > > it shows almost none of the 3 mile limit in louisiana
> >
> > The Official Map of Louisiana 2000 ("Best Map" in 2001 Avenza-
> MAPublisher Map
> > Competition) does show the state's entire seaward boundary,
> marked "State
> > Waters" and "Federal Waters" on its two sides.
>
> nice map
>
> no holes in chandeleur sound i see
>
>
> The boundary is visible on a
> > low-resolution version at
> > http://www.avenza.com/MPcomp/2001/maps/GenPurp_Snead.jpg .
> >
> > > ...
> >
> > Lowell G. McManus
> > Leesville, Louisiana, USA
>
>
>
>
>
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