Real-world topographic maps, aerial photographs, and fire insurance maps

[jhugart]

Part of the research I've been doing for my future layout on copper mining in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan has involved looking at maps. So much of the old track is gone, in some cases the geography is different than it was 75 years ago or less.

In trying to find a way to access the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps (a great resource, they show the construction and placement of buildings in towns and cities, usually on an annual basis), I was directed to a company called Environmental Data Resources, Inc. Their web site is at http://www.edrnet.com/ and if you look at http://www.edrnet.com/reports/historical.html you can see some of what they offer that might be of use to the modeller of 20th century locations.

They have fire insurance maps from 1866 to almost the present day.

They have aerial photographs, one-per-decade, from the 1930s to the present.

They have topographic maps that date from the early 1900s to the present.

I think you can see how these would be of use to someone researching a prototype railroad or location. I'm waiting to hear from the regional account representative to find out what it will cost me as an individual to get some of this information. It could be terribly expensive; I don't know. But the opportunity seemed good enough to share with other modellers.

If anyone knows of other ways to get this information, please post!

[Anonymous]

i dont know of anywhere to find the older maps. but if anyone needs anything recent you can order topographic maps from www.usgs.gov and you can use Microsofts Terraserver at www.terraserver.microsoft.com to get recent aerial photographs. i have been spending the last 2 days printing aerial photos of the southern pacific line from West Colton yard to Indio. i am at Banning now. gonna use up a ton of ink and paper to get the whole line.

[ndbprr]

Try www.utahice.com. This guy has permission to sell Sanborn maps through the late 1920's I believe. He charges about $1.00 per map as I recall.

[Hillyard]

Our local library has Sanborn insurance maps of our town.
Have you tried that?

[jhugart]

I was trying to get information on a place outside of my own area, so local libraries wouldn't be much help. And I was also interested in historical topographical maps.

I've started a research request with this company, so I'll let you know the details of ordering stuff, and the quality of the product.

[orsonroy]

Every Sanborn map ever published is online, but with restricted access. Just about any good public or university library has acces to the digital Sanborn map collection, and you can access them that way, and print them out for a nominal fee. It's a whole lt easier than digging through the local history room!

[jrbarney]

As I and others have noted before, historical USGS quadrangle maps, primarily for the northeastern states, are available online at Maptech:
http://historical.maptech.com/index.cfm
Don't know if they plan to expand their collection to other states. That said, is there an equivalent resource for the Canadian provinces ?
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[SP4449]

A map style known as a Gazetteer is very detailed and is used by hikers, hunters, etc because of the wide scale and included information. CPS location points are also part of the current data included. Try this site www.delorme.com

I have a map of Nebraska that has a scale of 1:200,000; 1 inch = 31 miles; 65 individual pages cover the entire state. A wall chart of the state would be 12.25 feet long and 5.5 feet high. I love the gazetteer for the RR lines. I can locate spots where the local highways are close to the track so I can train watch.

[Anonymous]

If you are interested in the history of the Copper Country, try the Copper Country Historical Archives at Michigan Technological University in Houghton. Check their web site.

[nobullchitbids]

Many university libraries have older USGS quadrangle maps. Yale I know has many from 1950 -- just right for many modelers. I was able to get copies of several key locations on the U.P.: Ogden, Green River, Montpelier, Evanston, others.

[Anonymous]

I would suggest a web site known as michiganrailroads.com they have a wealth of information on railroads in michigan as well as a forum for disscussions for
lower,upper penisular's short lines and historical questions.

[ericboone]

jhugart,

I got copies of the Sanborn maps from the library at Michigan State. They have access to all the Michigan maps. I have several UP cities on my computer that were on the DSS&A (Marquette, Munising, Republic, Gwinn, Newbury, Baraga, Champion, Ishpeming, and Neguanee). I have nothing from the copper mining area, but they probably have maps from Houghton, Hancock, and Calumet.
When I was in highschool, I visited Houghton because was thinking about going to Michigan Tech. When I was there, I picked up a couple of books by Clarence J. Monette published by Welden H. Curtin, both of Lake Linden, from a local book store. He wrote many books about the local history of the area, which would be very useful to you. I picked up a book on the Mineral Range and a book on the Copper Range, ISBN 0-942363-42-6 and 0-942363-36-1 respectively. Many of his other books are about the other small towns and mines in the area.
Here is a good book list for you: http://www.copperrange.org/books.htm

Eric

[tomnoy3]

I just downloaded Google Earth. Its really nice. Just go to earth.google.com and download it to your desk top. Its a 10MB file so it shouldnt take too long.

-Tom

[mecovey]

Wow- the Google software is fantastic.. I just flew the B & O from Terra Alta to Rowelsburg

[West Coast S]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mecovey

Wow- the Google software is fantastic.. I just flew the B & O from Terra Alta to Rowelsburg

I flew my route as well, too bad it's several hundred feet under water[:(]

Dave

[Anonymous]

Sanborn has donated the insurance maps to the Library of Congress, who, along with Sanborn is scanning the maps so that they can be viewed in digital format on the LOC web site (see http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/1997/97-204.html). I worked for the company that donated the large format color scanner to the LOC in the mid 90s. Sanborn also acquired a couple of scanners for their map library in Connecticut and I did the training for them. I don't know how many are on line at this stage, but you should be able to view the ones that are. You should also be able to access a catalog to see if the maps exist over your area and what dates of coverage there are.