Answers to Geography Quiz

ANSWERS TO GEOGRAPHY QUIZ

1. The Chenango County Seat is Norwich.

2. Grammar school students were expected to name the towns in order, beginning at the northwest corner and proceeding by tiers from west to east. In that order are: Lincklaen, Otselic, Smyrna, Sherburne, Columbus— Pitcher, Pharsalia, Plymouth, North Norwich, New Berlin—German, McDonough, Preston, Norwich—Smithville, Oxford, Guilford—Greene, Coventry, Bainbridge—Afton.

3. The county’s greatest length, north and south, is 40 miles. Its greatest width is 34 miles.

4. The Otselic, Chenango, and Susquehanna are the county’s major rivers. Did you name the Unadilla? I did. It forms the eastern boundary of the county and is noted as being a feeder to the Susquehanna.

5. The average killing frost (as calculated in 1882) is September 17th. We can expect to see the first robin on March 9th.

6. The climate of a place is determined by latitude, altitude, and distance from the sea. Chenango County’s latitude is in the 42nd degree. Its altitude ranges from 1,000 feet above sea level in the valleys to 1,800 in the hills. How far is the county from the sea? 200 miles in a straight line.

7. Greene’s first white settler was Stephen Ketchum, in 1792.

8. The town’s area in 1882 was 66 square miles, population 957. In the year 2000 it was listed as 78.7 square miles, population 5,729. (Did the town’s area increase, or was it recalculated? I don’t know.)

9. The Chenango River, Indian Creek (now Brook), Genegantslet Creek, and Page Brook were named as the town’s major river and streams.

10. Oh-oh. This question was posed, no answer given. I thought of three possibilities on my own. Then I checked Mrs. Cochrane’s books. The stone house on Route 12 near the Harbor Road was built in 1838 from stone left over from the Chenango Canal construction. She also mentions the Amos Gray stone house near Brisbin, “now gone,” she says. The old Robinson refrigerator building, sitting in Rich Boeltz’s field on County Route 2, was built in 1875 from stone quarried at the Whitmarsh Quarry. The quarry was located a mile or so north, where the Echo Lake outlet passes under County Route 2. And Zion Episcopal Church, nearly a contemporary of the students’ geography book, was constructed from Whitmarsh Quarry stone in 1886. The old Meade stone barn near the ballflats, now gone, was built with Oxford stone, Mrs. Cochrane says. Does anyone know of other stone buildings in the town—homes, farm buildings, churches? Please let Peg Ross know: [email protected] or PO Box 443, Greene.