FIGURE 35.-Highest and lowest points in the conterminous United States. Both in California and only 86 miles apart. A, Mount Whitney, 14,495 feet above sea level. View from a point 3 miles northwest. B, Death Valley, lowest altitude determined to date, 282 feet below sea level.

FIGURE 36.-Dead Sea, Israel and Jordan, altitude 1,286 feet below sea level, lowest point of dry land on earth. Photograph, courtesy of Embassy of Israel.

FIGURE 37.-Mount Everest, Himalaya Mountains, altitude 29,028 feet above sea level, highest point on earth. Photograph, courtesy of Embassy of India. FACTS OF GEOGRAPHIC INTEREST CONCERNING U.S. TERRITORY

The table below (table 8) lists extreme points in the cardinal directions, considering first the 50 States, then the continental United States, and finally the conterminous 48 States.

The southernmost point in U.S. territory is Rose Island of the Samoan group-almost exactly 1,000 miles south of the Equator.

Point Barrow, the extreme north point of Alaska, is nearly 5,000 miles north of the Equator. (See fig. 8.)

TABLE 8.-Points of extreme latitude and longitude of the United States

Alaska with its islands extends from 130° W., past the 180° line to 1722°E., or 5712° of longitude. The difference in time (3 hr, 50 min) between these two extremes is greater than that between New York and San Francisco.

The following distances in statute miles are computed to mean sea level: (a) West Quoddy Head, Maine, along the parallel to the Pacific Ocean, 2,807 miles; (b) the south point of Texas due north to the 49th parallel, 1,598 miles; (c) West Quoddy Head, Maine, to Cape Wrangell, Alaska, 4,839 miles; (d) West Quoddy Head, Maine, to Kure Island, Hawaii, 5,788 miles; (e) Mangrove Point, Fla., to Cape Wrangell, Alaska, 5,496 miles; (f) Mangrove Point, Fla., to Kure Island, Hawaii, 5,848 miles. The length of the northern boundary, excluding Alaska, is 3,987 miles; the Canadian-Alaskan boundary, 1,538 miles; and the Mexican boundary from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, approximately 1,933 miles.

The geographic positions of the following points are of interest: Latitude (N.) Longitude (W.)

The two points farthest apart in the conterminous 48 States are West Quoddy Head, Maine, and Point Arena, Calif. The distance between them is 2,897 miles. From a point 10 miles south of Brunswick, Ga., to a point 12 miles south of San Diego, the distance is 2,088 miles, which is the shortest distance between two points, one on the Atlantic and one on the Pacific.

The highest point in North America is Mount McKinley, in Alaska, 20,320 feet above sea level (frontispiece).

The highest point within the conterminous 48 States is Mount Whitney-14,495 feet above sea level. The lowest point of dry land is in Death Valley-282 feet below sea level. These two points, both in California, are only 86 miles apart. (See fig. 35.)

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