WI_ U.S state with natural borders

What shape would the OTL U.S map have if the states followed natural borders (ex: Rivers, Mountains, Valleys) to define its borders instead of the straight lines that shaped the majority of the U.S states in OTL....
 
Then we have far less equality of states.

Have you read/heard of How The States Got Their Shapes? Great book on the subject. I recommend it for any ATL mapmaker that wants a US of a different size.

Even the states that do use natural borders use those borders (and not other nearby ones) for specific reasons as defined by the previous states and international restrictions. And occasionally it's political, but more often than not it's for reasons of equality.
 
Aren't the straight lines parallels of latitude and lines of longtitude in most cases? I've seen an animation on the web somewhere showing the development.
 
The thing is in the West their's not alot o natural features you ca use without creating states that are either the size of New England States (which would have really small populations mostly) or really huge ones that'd be the size of Texas , if not larger.

In the East, well many states DO use natural features; the Missippi river forms large parts of the borders of 6 states, the Ohio 3, the Missouri river 2 and the Red river forms over half of Texas's northern border, likewise a good chunk of the Louisiana-Texas border is a lake (the sole natural lake in Texas) and the Mid-Atlantic states use the Appalachians as part of their borders.
 
Rivers were so important for trade early on...railroads minimised that n made long. Lat. Simple for making treatys...jmo
 
Rivers were so important for trade early on...railroads minimised that n made long. Lat. Simple for making treatys...jmo

Nobody is going to make a border on a railroad, though. That's just bizarre and unorthodox.

Besides, railroads would still be straight lines, in most cases.
 
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