If West Dakota was a state

[King of Kensington]

If the Dakotas were split east/west instead of north/south, would West Dakota be considered part of the Midwest or the West?

On the one hand, it seems you need to have the Rockies to be in the West, on the other the landscape and rural population density is far more "Western."

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

If the Dakotas were split east/west instead of north/south, would West Dakota be considered part of the Midwest or the West?

On the one hand, it seems you need to have the Rockies to be in the West, on the other the landscape and rural population density is far more "Western."

Definitely part of the Mountain West. The Democratic primary showed that clearly.

[King of Kensington]

Certainly the Interior West in terms of rural population density:

https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/7000/7052/us_population_2005_lrg.jpg

[muon2]

The topography of the western Dakotas is like eastern MT and WY - more arid and with outcropped badlands. Like the areas to the west, mineral extraction is an important part of the western Dakotas. East of the Missouri river the land becomes wetter, flatter and better suited for cultivated crops and an agricultural economy. In the same way, western NE and the Sand Hills north of the Platte river also fit better with the western Dakotas as part of the West.

[Not a Partisan Hack ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)]

South Dakota is split into two by the Missouri river, so maybe we could have an east and west Dakota.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

The west begins WEST of the Continental divide.
(No, Denver is not Western.)

[TDAS04]

The West.  As an East Dakotan, I can tell you that it’s definitely cowboy country when you get west of the Missouri.

[TJ in Oregon]

IMO Bismarck, ND is very Midwestern still. But once you start to get much further west of that things change.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

What would be the capital and the biggest city in either Dakota?

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Without question a Western State. The industries of both states are defined by cattle ranching and oil, just like the rest of the inter-mountain west (Montana, Wyoming, Eastern Colorado)

The west begins WEST of the Continental divide.
(No, Denver is not Western.)

Disagree on both counts.

What would be the capital and the biggest city in either Dakota?

Rapid City, SD is definitively Western Dakota. Bismarck, ND is comparable in size but I can't say for sure where in the East/West divide it falls.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

West Dakota under 2010 Census numbers has 333119 people in it, which would make it by far the least populated state.

[jimrtex]

This division would have made more sense:



But the plains area of Montana and Wyoming would have been included in a state of Jefferson.

Move the boundary of Nebraska and Kansas west to the current Wyoming/Nebraska line, and extend Colorado Northward. Idaho would include the mountain areas of Montana, perhaps just extending the Wyoming-Idaho border northward. Utah picks up the southeastern corner of Wyoming making it a rectangle. Maybe move the Idaho border west.

[King of Kensington]

IMO Bismarck, ND is very Midwestern still. But once you start to get much further west of that things change.

Seems to line up with the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border to the north?

[politicallefty]

If the Dakotas were split East/West (as they probably should), Obama would have almost certainly won any realistic incarnation of East Dakota in 2008, no?

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

The west begins WEST of the Continental divide.
(No, Denver is not Western.)

Lol

[muon2]

The West.  As an East Dakotan, I can tell you that it’s definitely cowboy country when you get west of the Missouri.

In SD there's a clear divide at the river in terms of land and culture. If you drive on I-90 and stop along the way the difference between Midwestern and Western is fairly apparent. On I-94 in southern ND the river is a pretty good divide as well, a visit to Bismarck feels a lot like a visit to a city in MN, but Dickinson to the west is more like MT. On US 2 in ND, Minot seemed like the western limit of the Midwest when I visited there in 2015. Once I crossed the ridge of hills just west of Minot I was in the range and oil land of the West. In NE on US 20, that transition happens just west of O'Neill, but on I-80 along the Platte I can go all the way west to North Platte and still feel like I'm in the Midwest.