The Wombat File Is Yours to Keep: The Friday Quiz: Survey Says...

No time for the chit, nor for the chat. Here's today's head-hurter:

In 1870, the surveyor Verplanck Colvin came to the conclusion that one of the United State's most vital infrastructure elements -- now defunct -- was environmentally threatened. Legislation in 1885 and 1892 made his recommendations to prevent the threat law. The boundary established for Colvin's purpose encompassed 6 million square miles of territory, the largest legislative set-off of its kind, roughly the size of the state of Massachussetts.

What natural feature gives this area its name? Bonus: What was Colvin particularly interested in preserving?

First correct answer posted to comments wins a faded poster based on an obscure Roy Lichtenstein painting depicting Tintin's Captain Haddock suffering from delerium tremens and imagining himself covered with millipedes. No Googling, and no sex, no drugs, no wine, no women, no fun, no sin, no you -- no wonder it's dark! One guess per comment, but please comment as often as you like, cyclone ranger.

Comments

A defunct vital infrastructure element?

That does make my head hurt. I'm going to guess our boy Colvin was trying to protect ice, necessary for our ice industry.

The natural feature that gives the area its name is glacier.

And I REALLY want that Lichtenstein.

Posted by: boxjam | July 7, 2006 11:07 AM

Defunct vital infrastructure would just have to be canals, and it's only reasonable to make an easement bordering every canal of about 30 miles on either side.

I've got your picture...

Posted by: Jonathan | July 7, 2006 11:17 AM

Grand Canyon
a dam or mill somewhere

Posted by: Jonathan | July 7, 2006 11:20 AM

Rocky Mountains
cement mines

Nope. Here's a clue, by the way, in hopes of relieving some of the head-hurt: it isn't a federal set-aside.

Posted by: BT | July 7, 2006 11:27 AM

The vital infrastructure was Massachussetts.

Named for the natural feature of Massachussetts Indians.

Posted by: boxjam | July 7, 2006 11:46 AM

So it wasn't federal, or it wasn't a set-aside?

Posted by: boxjam | July 7, 2006 12:04 PM

Not federal.

Posted by: BT | July 7, 2006 12:11 PM

New Orleans

Posted by: james | July 7, 2006 12:17 PM

...delta

Posted by: james | July 7, 2006 12:18 PM

Is half a guess per entry verboten?

Posted by: james | July 7, 2006 12:19 PM

Nothing right yet. One person has been on the right track.

Posted by: BT | July 7, 2006 12:29 PM

Lake Erie
Erie Canal

Irie, mon.

Posted by: Jonathan | July 7, 2006 01:14 PM

I think you have a thing for surveyors with chains, Bill, which just happens to be a hobby of mine as well. Unfortunately that's about all I know about Colvin. Was it:
Catskills State Park, and excellent views?

Posted by: bootsy3000 | July 7, 2006 01:29 PM

James has gotten the bonus question, but no one has successfully answered the main question.

Surveyors in Chains was, of course, my favorite band in the 80s.

Posted by: BT | July 7, 2006 01:42 PM

So, Mississippi River? What's defunct about that?

Posted by: Jonathan | July 7, 2006 01:59 PM

Ack whoops. JONATHAN got the bonus question. The Erie Canal.

Posted by: BT | July 7, 2006 02:22 PM

Um, Lake Erie?

Posted by: bootsy3000 | July 7, 2006 03:05 PM

Nope.

Posted by: BT | July 7, 2006 03:25 PM

What natural feature gave this area its name...

I'm not getting it. Erie must be the Erie word for...wombat.

Posted by: boxjam | July 7, 2006 04:04 PM

Niagra Falls?

Posted by: bootsy3000 | July 7, 2006 06:06 PM

Not Lake Erie, and by protecting this we protect the canal...
The Erie Plain?

In case I don't get the chance later, I would be remiss if I didn't share what one learns in grade school growing up in Upstate New York:

(slow swing)
I've got a mule and her name is Sal,
15 miles on the Erie Canal.
She's a good old worker and a good old pal,
15 miles on the Erie Canal.
We've pulled some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay,
And we know every inch of the way,
From Albany to Buffalo.

(reset rhythm machine to "Speed Metal")
Low bridge, everybody down,
Low bridge for we're comin' to a town.
And you'll always know your neighbor
You'll always know your pal
If you've every navigated on...
The Erie Canal

Posted by: Jonathan | July 7, 2006 07:49 PM

The answer, my friends, is the Adirondack range of mountains, which give New York's Adirondack park (the largest state park in the U.S., thank you very much) its name.

By the way, you learn that song in grade school in lots of other places, too:

Get up there, Sal, here comes our lock
We'll make Rome by six o'clock
One more trip and back we'll go
Right back home to Buffalo...

Posted by: lewombat | July 9, 2006 10:33 PM

I'm still not getting it.

Setting aside the Adirondacks saved the Erie Canal?

Posted by: boxjam | July 10, 2006 12:28 PM

Apparently, yes.

Posted by: BT | July 10, 2006 01:22 PM

The Wombat File Is Yours to Keep

The Wombat File is a Delaying Tactic that May Save Your Life

The Friday Quiz: Survey Says...

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