Nameless Range
Well-known member
The USGS provides us with the best maps out there and they are available through their National Map. What many don't know though, is that they also offer all their historical maps as well. American Tax dollars paid for a map made in 1885 too.
These maps are great. Map making has changed a ton, as have places, physiography, and place names. In Montana, depending on the map name and scale you are looking for, they have maps going back all the way to 1885. The really cool thing is these maps are geoPDFs, so you can use them on your GPS enabled smart phone and walk through(or float over) some historical country, like Lake Sewell, which is a much smaller and very different version of Canyon Ferry Lake today.
Or the Three Forks of the Missouri and the valley that goes with it. In 1888, before the scourge of the subdivision crept west from Bozeangeles.
The southern Missions in 1965.
Or Yellowstone Park in 1885, when Teddy Roosevelt was 27 years old.
These maps are great. Map making has changed a ton, as have places, physiography, and place names. In Montana, depending on the map name and scale you are looking for, they have maps going back all the way to 1885. The really cool thing is these maps are geoPDFs, so you can use them on your GPS enabled smart phone and walk through(or float over) some historical country, like Lake Sewell, which is a much smaller and very different version of Canyon Ferry Lake today.
Or the Three Forks of the Missouri and the valley that goes with it. In 1888, before the scourge of the subdivision crept west from Bozeangeles.
The southern Missions in 1965.
Or Yellowstone Park in 1885, when Teddy Roosevelt was 27 years old.
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