Merge a County

[jimrtex]

Like the "Move a County" thread but instead merge two (or more) counties.

I'd merge Loving and Winkler County, TX. And also Hopkins and Delta County.

Why Hopkins+Delta and not Lamar+Delta?

[jimrtex]

San Francisco and San Mateo because why not? They're both rich, obscenely liberal, and prone to earthquakes

In the earlier part of the past century there was a proposal to do that, but it was voted down. San Mateo county, or at least the northern part would have become a borough. This was not too long after the consolidation of New York City, and was modeled after that.

[jimrtex]

All of Delaware.

Specifically merge them all into Maryland.

Merge them back into Pennsylvania. They can keep their separate legislature.

[jimrtex]

AR: Calhoun (5368) and Bradley (11508). Calhoun is the least populated county and Bradley is the least visited among county hunters.

The only reference that I could find to "county hunters" was for hams trying to make two-way contact with each county. Is there another meaning?

[jimrtex]

AR: Calhoun (5368) and Bradley (11508). Calhoun is the least populated county and Bradley is the least visited among county hunters.

The only reference that I could find to "county hunters" was for hams trying to make two-way contact with each county. Is there another meaning?

That is the more conventional use of the term. County counters often share the same sites as the hams, so I was less precise than perhaps I should be.

Is 1781 a current count?  And is the Liz in Somerville, MA a relative?

[jimrtex]

The western mountain states don't have as many counties as the east, but there are some tiny ones tucked off the beaten path. Counties are colored based on my personal visits (green=yes, red=not yet) with populations from 2010.
CO: Mineral (712) and Hinsdale (843) are the 2nd and 3rd least populated counties. Both sit along the continental divide in the San Juan mountains. CO-149 connects the two counties.

The Continental Divide crosses Hinsdale County twice. A county commissioner from the southern part of the county has to travel through four counties (Mineral twice, since South Fork is in Del Norte) to attend commissioners meetings in Lake City. That is in summer. In winter it is six counties, through Durango and  Montrose. (it appears that C-149 is now open year round, so except for some closures the more circuitous route 6 hours, and 250 miles may not be needed).

WY: Crook (7083) and Weston (7208) are the 3rd and 4th least populated counties. Devils Tower and I-80 are in Crook, but Weston is off the main path on the west side of the Black Hills.

From Devils Tower you can loop down through Weston to see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse before going back up to Sturgis. Is your son old enough to ride?

[jimrtex]

TX: Kent (808) and Stonewall (1490). There are more counties in TX than in any other state and lots that are out of the way with few people. There are 18 counties with less than 2000. Of those there are 7 connected pairs of counties. Kent is one of the least visited of the small population counties, so its pair made my list.

Dallam and Hartley, since Dalhart is already the county seat of one, and the largest city in both.

[jimrtex]

The western mountain states don't have as many counties as the east, but there are some tiny ones tucked off the beaten path. Counties are colored based on my personal visits (green=yes, red=not yet) with populations from 2010.
CO: Mineral (712) and Hinsdale (843) are the 2nd and 3rd least populated counties. Both sit along the continental divide in the San Juan mountains. CO-149 connects the two counties.

The Continental Divide crosses Hinsdale County twice. A county commissioner from the southern part of the county has to travel through four counties (Mineral twice, since South Fork is in Del Norte) to attend commissioners meetings in Lake City. That is in summer. In winter it is six counties, through Durango and  Montrose. (it appears that C-149 is now open year round, so except for some closures the more circuitous route 6 hours, and 250 miles may not be needed).

Virtually no one lives in southern Hinsdale and no direct road from Lake city goes to any residences on the southern end. Both counties have most of their population in the northern parts along CO-149.

The trip was not hypothetical, though Mr. Google seems to have misplaced the story. I thought it interesting that a county commissioner could count nine counties just traveling to and from the county seat. I did find a story about Hinsdale County rejecting a joint land use plan with Lake City. I suspect that the county folks didn't like the big city folks imposing their ideas.

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Dallam and Hartley, since Dalhart is already the county seat of one, and the largest city in both.
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But I'd hate to break up the nice east-west lines of counties in that part of the state.
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Merge Oldham and Deaf Smith

[jimrtex]

Merging McCormick into Edgefield, Calhoun into Orangeburg, Hampton into Jasper, and Lee into Sumter also strike be me as good choices and that would get rid of all the counties that have less than half the population they'd need to be made as a brand new county today. (As a relic of when our House of Representatives was apportioned by counties and each county had one Senator, the requirement is that a new county must have 1/124 of the population of the State since we have 124 Representatives in the General Assembly.

All these would also have the advantage of eliminating all of our counties named after Confederates.

Isn't Calhoun named for John C Calhoun (US Vice President,  Secretary of State, Secretary of War, US Senator and Representative).

[jimrtex]

Here are the last of my picks for the Pacific states. Counties are colored based on my personal visits (green=yes, red=not yet) with populations from 2010.

AK: Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area (5,559) and Ketchikan Gateway Borough (13,477). The Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area is disconnected from the rest of the Unorganized Borough and in 2008 a big piece was added to Ketchikan to form the current borough. This merger would complete that process.

The reason Hyder was/is excluded from KGB is because there is no way to get between Ketchikan and Hyder except via Prince Rupert, BC. It would make more sense to use the Unorganized Borough as a single county equivalent, or use all of the model boroughs.