Wallace Line to the west of the Philippines. Wallace's studies in Indonesia demonstrated the emerging theory of evolution, at about the same time as Joseph Dalton Hooker and Asa Gray published essays also supporting Darwin's hypothesis. Understanding of the biogeography of the region centers on the relationship of ancient sea levels to the continental shelves. Wallace's Line is visible geographically when the continental shelf contours are examined; it can be seen as a deep-water channel that marks the southeastern edge of the Sunda Shelf which links Borneo, Bali, Java, and Sumatra underwater to the mainland of southeastern Asia. Australia is likewise connected
Rochester and State Line Railroad was incorporated, chartered on 6 October to construct a railroad from Rochester to the Pennsylvania state line. Allen was elected vice-president of the new company. In the same year, the first surveys were made, by William Wallace, who had done the same thing for the Scottsville and LeRoy Railroad thirty-five years earlier. George Slocum writes in 1906: "The Rochester and State Line Railroad in its inception was a Wheatland institution. At one period in its early history its officers, the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and four of the nine directors, were residents of Wheatland. D. D. S. Brown, Oliver Allen