largest counties by land area

[Brickell]

metro... dou you have a source for this claim? I'd like to see how they present it. It's not like being the largest is especially good. Why make such a claim if it requires so many astericks?

[Spyder]

Australia's largest council (which I assume is the equivalent of a county) by area is East Pilbara in Western Australia. It covers an area of 378,333 square kilometres (146,075 square miles) and has a population of only 6,832.

[Aessotariq]

The only relevant reference I could find regarding Horry County's land mass claim was a small blip on their police department's page.

I asked for clarification from the county regarding the land mass claim. I got an e-mail reply on Friday:

I apologize for the error on our website.  Many years ago, Horry County was indeed the largest (in land mass) county east of the Mississippi River.  It has since changed.  I will forward your e-mail to our Webmaster to have that portion removed.

As of today, that reference has indeed been removed. Here is a cached version of what it used to say.

[colin]

I asked for clarification from the county regarding the land mass claim. I got an e-mail reply on Friday:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It seems strange that the size of a county would have changed anytime in the last hundred-or-so years, let alone in the last few years, especially on the east coast.

I'm guessing that they just didn't want to admit to their error.

[Aessotariq]

Your guess is as good as mine... State legislatures set county boundaries, so it's entirely possible that way back when, new counties were created out of the existing territory and the lines redrawn, and the county shrank in the process. Or other counties in other states were enlarged (less likely).

[waccamatt]

Maybe it was the largest land-mass county at the time South Carolina ratified the constitution, lol. We were the 8th state, btw.

[ironchapman]

It is still SC's largest, isn't it?

[Aessotariq]

yes