Irwin Horowitz wrote a column appearing at the New West Network entitled Should We Move Boise to Pacific Time Zone? Boise is apparently pretty far west in the Central Mountain Time Zone — 11.2 degrees west of its meridian which is in excess of the 7.5 degrees off center which should more or less be the maximum. This results in later sunsets which in turn hinders the focus of Mr. Horowitz’s column, stargazing.
In particular, I always enjoy a bit of history, which Mr. Horowitz provides:
The origin of the longitude system (the Prime Meridian) was placed at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in England following an international conference addressing this issue in 1884. In an ideal world, 24 time zones would each be equally spaced around the planet at 15 degree intervals in longitude. Therefore, the relationship between the position of the Sun and local time would remain fairly close and times of sunrise and
sunset would be reasonable all year long.
. . .
In ancient times, the concept of a time zone was unnecessary. Wherever you were, you could always base your time on the local solar position, and if you traveled to a neighboring village or city, you would simply adjust to the new local time, as your travel time was always much greater than the difference in time between the two locations.
However, in the modern era, with the advent of faster modes of transportation such as cars, trains and airplanes, it became possible to travel to distant places at rates that were comparable to the shifting local solar time.
. . .
With the growing need to standardize train schedules in the late-19th century, President Grover Cleveland established the Interstate Commerce Commission, and authorized it with the power to regulate time zone boundaries in the United States. Its authority over time zones was transferred to the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) following the latter’s establishment in 1966.
Essentially, the need for synchronizing time across large areas of space came about because of our ability to communicate and travel at speeds faster than a run (e.g. the telegraph and the train.)
The weather was so pleasant on Election Day! I worked the polls in Indianapolis and was sitting outside chit-chatting with volunteers. Time zones came up and a quick experiment was done: it turns out “local noon” was at 1:39pm. That’s unnatural!
Boise would be really far west for the Central Time Zone, which may be why it is in the Mountain Time Zone, as mentioned in the last paragraph of the story. Idaho as it happens is one of those states with a north/south time zone divide, the north being in the Pacific time zone in synch with Spokane, Washington.
Also a small part of Oregon,bordering Idaho also observes MT,although we think of Oregon as being a PTZ state.This would seem to be a matter of keeping cultural , economic and commuting areas of OR-ID in one time zone. That’s a point well made that state borders,taken alone, are irrelevant as far as TZ borders are concerned.
Re: Mountain v. Central Time Zone – fixed. Thanks Paul.
Thanks for the article Doug. It is a well written and Mr. Horowitz has the history right. Idaho has the most screwed up time zones boundary in the country. It is such a mess only Lou could love it. Boise sunrises and sunsets are even later than Terre Haute’s. The boundary must have been set according to the terrain because it is very close to where the railroads placed it in 1883.
Lou- we have a very different perspective if you think state borders are irrelevant when placing zone boundaries. State and zone boundaries are both man-made. The closer they coincide the less confusing they are for everyone. It is better to place TZ boundaries at a state line than on a county line. For one thing TZ lines have an international significance and should not be placed to satisfy the whims of a county commissioner. No one has to guess what time it is for any location in Illinois or Ohio. The same should be true for any Indiana location.
What is truly irrelevant is the convenience of commerce clause. For one thing it is very ambiguous and no one really knows what it means. It is a carry over from the time when railroads were the major cargo carrier. Commerce should be a consideration but never the sole determinant.
I’d guess southern Idaho went with Mountain time due to close cultural and economic ties with Mountain Time Utah.
Jim B,
Why is it that the only time we hear about the sacred nature of state boundaries is when following them would put all of Indiana on Central Time?
Lou: I don’t know that state lines are sacred, but the time zone boundaries have to be placed somewhere, and in the US, state lines make some sort of sense. Political boundaries and time zone boundaries are artificial anyway, so why not have them coincide, when possible and *sensible*? Granted, having time zone lines follow state lines may not always be the best option in every circumstance. If state covers a huge land area, then it may make sense for more than one time zone to be observed in that state. Indiana doesn’t fall into that category. I don’t want all of us to be on Central time, however, because I think that DST is stupid, period. :)
I write that as a stateliner, living with other stateliners most of whom had no problem switching time zones as needed back in the day–all of two years ago– when most of Indiana was on EST year round.
State lines don’t make sense as time zone lines when they run through metropolitan areas. The counties in northwest Indiana are part of metro Chicago, and so it doesn’t make sense for those counties to be in a different time zone from Chicago. The counties in southeastern Indiana right across the river from Louisville are part of the Louisville metro area and so it doesn’t make sense for those counties to be a part of a different time zone. The most logical place to draw time zones is through rural areas, where they will inconvenience the fewest people. Drawing the time zone lines along Indiana’s state borders will inconvenience more people than drawing the lines where they are.
J0hn M
I couldn’t disagree with you more. Putting the time zone line on it’s eastern border would make perfect sense and most importantly would put Indiana in the time zone where it geographically belongs (central). If you think putting the whole state in one correct time zone would be more inconvenient than the hodgepodge mess that Daniels and his boys created ,I wanna try what your smokin’.
The counties that want to stay with Louisville for the “convenience of commerce” could always petition to do so. Given how they had been illegally doing this for years it probably wouldn’t take much to show the DOT. This is the way it should have been done in the first place when Mitchie shoved DST down our throats but the lobbyists, with their campaign cash, had other plans.
I heartily agree with Jim B about the bogus convenience of commerce crap. If c of c carries more weight than simple geography why aren’t Chicago ,LA, and NY on the same time. Why call them time zones? Call them economic zones. To hell with the sun and natural body rhythms. To hell with sleep altogether!
PS Did anybody see Lebron James’ amazing performance this morning er’ last night. What time did that spelling bee end 10:30? 11:00? The schoolkids and the 1st shift factory workers are just lovin’ Bait and Switch boy.