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The First Satellite Map of California (1851)
Big Think ^ | March 14, 2012 | Frank Jacobs

Posted on 11/09/2022 6:38:03 PM PST by SunkenCiv

[subtitle: The incredible (and indeed untrue) story of President Taylor's APE]

It’s 1849, and a Gold Rush is drawing thousands of American prospectors to California, which was snatched from Mexico only a year earlier. The lay of the land is still poorly surveyed, the risks and resources of the terrain as yet largely unknown.

So US President Zachary Taylor initiates a top secret government programme to speed-map the last piece in the puzzle of America’s Manifest Destiny...

Predating the launch of Sputnik by over a century, President Taylor’s task force, consisting of civil engineers and frontiersmen, constructs a rocket in the Californian wilderness, equips its payload with the most powerful camera known to humankind at the time – endowed with revolutionary colour-capturing capacity – and launches it skyward from the slopes of Mount Whitney.

The President’s Astro-Physical Expedition (APE) put California’s local flora to good use, hollowing out a redwood tree and stuffing it with gunpowder to create a giant firing tube. An incredible concatenation of good fortune conspires to bless Taylor’s APE with success: the redwood cannon does not disintegrate, the projectile survives its violent skyward thrust, and the camera mounted inside its body happens to be in the right angle for a shapshot of the mid-19th century Californian landscape.

Of course this is not what happened. But it’s a charming, steampunky backstory for this map, which purports to be a satellite image of California, taken in 1851. Both the map and the backstory were created by Mark Clark, a geographer who lives in California’s Central Valley [4] and is fascinated by its past aquatic history...

(Excerpt) Read more at bigthink.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: california; godsgravesglyphs; idesofmarch; lakecorcoran; steampunk; steampunked; zacharytaylor
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Strange Maps #557
Strange Maps #557

1 posted on 11/09/2022 6:38:03 PM PST by SunkenCiv
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Corcoran


2 posted on 11/09/2022 6:38:36 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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>

3 posted on 11/09/2022 6:42:36 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Didn’t know they satellites hovering around in space back in 1851. Now I know how far back those UFOs go.


4 posted on 11/09/2022 6:43:05 PM PST by LibFreeUSA
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To: SunkenCiv

Mono Lake would have been bigger and Lake Winnemucca would have been in this picture in 1851. Still, pretty cool!


5 posted on 11/09/2022 6:44:16 PM PST by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism. )
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To: SunkenCiv
“You could take a boat from Bakersfield to Stockton using the waterways as shown”,

At least its not blocking the path of that Bullet Train..........

6 posted on 11/09/2022 6:47:51 PM PST by G Larry ( When Leftists say "Population Control" it means Killing Billions, not "limiting growth".)
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To: SunkenCiv

Instead of a big marshy swamp/lake, we now have farmland. Farmland can feed a lot of folks.

And a whole lot less malaria and other swamp/marsh diseases.

What water issues CA has is mostly due to having to feed the bloat that is LA, and aggressively bad management by the water bosses in the state gov.


7 posted on 11/09/2022 6:47:58 PM PST by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: SunkenCiv
President Taylor’s task force, consisting of civil engineers and frontiersmen

When my son announced that he wanted to become a civil engineer, I told him I was glad, I had known many engineers who were never civil.

Great story. Reminds me of the line in the Liberty Valance movie, that when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

8 posted on 11/09/2022 6:48:53 PM PST by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: Grimmy

I think it would be more believable to use a time machine in the storyline than satellites.


9 posted on 11/09/2022 6:49:31 PM PST by George from New England
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To: SunkenCiv

“Lake Bakersfield” would have been an outdoor paradise.


10 posted on 11/09/2022 6:49:49 PM PST by broken_clock (Go Trump! Still praying.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Never heard of Lake Tulare before, and appreciate your post all the more. Modern Californians sure talk a lot about the environment, yet few have done so much to destroy it.


11 posted on 11/09/2022 6:49:54 PM PST by Chewbarkah
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To: LibFreeUSA

https://search.brave.com/search?q=1946+first+picture+from+space&source=desktop

https://www.google.com/search?q=1946+first+picture+from+space


12 posted on 11/09/2022 6:50:25 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Los Angeles and Riverside far too green, that was desert back then.


13 posted on 11/09/2022 6:51:24 PM PST by doorgunner69 (Let's go Brandon)
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To: SunkenCiv

I was trying to figure out how you would hollow out a giant redwood tree while keeping it intact, and how they timed the camera shutter and reduced blurring as the camera would be moving quickly even with a parachute.


14 posted on 11/09/2022 6:51:32 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (What was 35% of the Rep. Party is now 85%. And it’s too late to turn back—Mac Stipanovich )
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To: SunkenCiv

LOL But it’s a charming, steampunky backstory for this map, which purports to be a satellite image of California, taken in 1851


15 posted on 11/09/2022 6:51:48 PM PST by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: Chewbarkah

My pleasure.

https://freerepublic.com/tag/saltonsea/index


16 posted on 11/09/2022 6:52:24 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: MeganC
Mono Lake would have been bigger and Lake Winnemucca would have been in this picture in 1851. Still, pretty cool!

I live near Mono Lake it wasn't much bigger then than now. 40 feet or so deeper. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, yes.

17 posted on 11/09/2022 6:56:45 PM PST by Inyo-Mono
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To: SunkenCiv

At least in 1946 they airplanes.


18 posted on 11/09/2022 7:08:21 PM PST by LibFreeUSA
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To: SunkenCiv
Snatched from Mexico?

We obtained previous Meskin territories fair and square through war and payment of $15 million to settle all interest.

See: Treaty of Hildago.

19 posted on 11/09/2022 7:16:13 PM PST by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's for sure.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Lots of strike-slip faults. One day, there will be a big one. After their abortion vote yesterday, probably sooner than later. Throw in Lassen and Shasta.


20 posted on 11/09/2022 7:17:14 PM PST by crusty old prospector
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