BRN 9-2 (uncompressed) - Flipbook - Page 45
Modern Surveys of the US Geological
Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) mapped
the United States. Naturalists and hikers know their
work. Those born prior to about 1980 grew up using
ÒquadsÓ, the quadrangle maps of various scales
produced by the agency. In this century, the use of
ÒquadsÓ by the more casual outdoors person is greatly
diminished, replaced by various ÒappsÓ. Many of
these apps are based, at least in part, on the
topographic data gathered by the USGS if not directly
on the quadrangle maps it published.
In this next section we focus on the comparison of
different editions of these maps and what that tells us
about changes in the natural history and topography
of our area and changes in the topics of interest to
mapmakers and users.
It is not hard to Þnd a quadrangle for an area at this
time. The United States is covered thoroughly. When
the mapping of the nation did start it was slow. It
involved a lot of work, a lot of personnel, and the
prioritization of areas to be surveyed. The 1928 index
to the surveys of Colorado and New Mexico is shown
at the right; the detail at the bottom is an enlargement
to show our area of interest. The areas in red are
topographic maps and geologic folios which had been
published. The named areas within red lines are
topographic maps which had been published. ThatÕs
it, no topographic maps for the Black Range. Note that
the railroad spur from Nutt to Lake Valley is still shown
as part of the railroad network.
DonÕt think that the maps of this era lacked
detail. The map of Canyon de Chelly
(1892) is shown below (Ò1Õ). For this and
other maps shown here ÒclickÓ on the link
icon within the map image to access a larger copy of
the material.
1
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