Wichita eagle., 1888-09-18
HOW MAPS ARE gMADE.
Dots and Lines and Crooked Marks Thai
Require Months of Labor.

Dots and Lines and Crooked Marks That
Require Months of Labor.
The story of dot-a fortune in q
hair-line--is the making Of a map.
Dot stories fill a row of walnut cases;
the "reminiscences of dotted lines occu-
Ply thousands Of pigeonholes; library
of crooked marks is piled to the cell
ing of fve-story block on Monroe
street. 1t is the largest map house in
the world, and for twelve years has
printed 1.000,000 maps week-624,-
100000 pieces of linen paper covered
with dots, lines and crooked marks.
Fortune lies in the accuracy of the
lines and stories in the locations of the
dots. Maps are as necessary to real
estate men as title deeds, and nearly
as much depends on their accuracy.
A map is a plain, simple thing that
tells its vanished tale at a glance.
How is it made? Until about the time
Of the great fire maps were engraved
on stone, copper or steel. The process
was very slow, tedious and expensive.
The plates soon wore out and maps
cost about as much as sheet of gold.
About 1870 Buffalo man invented the
process of making maps on wax. It
revolutiOnized map-making, and now
maps are as common and nearly as
cheap as newspapers.
The map-maker works in a room
whose temperature can not run below
ninety degrees. Few men work at it
longer than four years, though years
of apprenticeship are required to make
them expert. The heat becomes I'M
endurable in the end and they go into
some other employment.
Preparatory to making the original
plate melted beeswaX and some hard
ening ingredient are poured on a
highly polished metal table. For fine
work the wax is as thin as piece of
paper, but for the coarser kind the
waxen sheet is an eight of an inch
thick. Rough pen and ink drawings
of the work to be done are given the
operators. They draw the hair-lines
aid of straight-edges. The dotted lines
indicate county or township boundaries
are made with little wheels, on whose
narrow edge are cut the peculiarly de-
designed lines. All crooked lines are
made by hand and require an artists
eye. The names of towns, rivers,
countries and the like are impressed
in the wax in type letter by letter.
Every impression must cut through
the wax to the polished steel plate
beneath, for the map is made face
down. When all the lines and letters
are in, the wax is placed under cooler
temperature, which hardens it. The
wax is then covered with black lead
and the steel plate, with its waxen
coat, is suspended in an electrotyping
solution. The copper in the solution
covers the black lead and forms a hard
plate which is called the original. The
wax is then peeled off and the printing
surface is presented. The thin copper
plate is backed up with type metal
and the plate is ready for use. 1t is
usually preserved, however for the
making of stereotype plates from
which the actual printing is done.
In the preparation of the etchings
great care is required to keep the wax
at the proper temperature, as a de-
gree too low would make it hard to
work and a degree too high would
melt and probably destroy it. Often
many hundred thousand maps OF the
same pattern are ordered and from
twenty to forty plates are made from
the original. If the maps are small
so many of these plates as can be used
conveniently are placed side by side
on the presses and a sheet of maps is
printed at each impression. The Or
binary advertising real-estate map is
finished when it leaves the press. The
better maps are sized and vanished.
The larger ones are mounted on roll
ers and wooden strips This COM
pletes the mechanical process of the
making of a map.
But this is the smallest part of a
map. The unseen work. the prepare
ton of the original draft, represents
the time. labor and money expended.
The story of the dot is not woven in a
day. Post-ofice towns are located by
copies of papers in the Post-otfice De-
partment at Washington; the chief en-
gineers of the railroads send proflles
of their lines; county surveyors make
maps of their localities. Where the
Government has made surveys the 10
cation of a section. township or coun-
ty lire is easily made But the six
mile township system was not thought
OF until the Western reserve OF Ohio
was surveyed. In the older States,
where a boundary line begins at a
stone and runs to q white-oak tree.
the trouble begins Good local maps
are used in these States. But IN
countries where no Government sur
veys have been made the greatest
difficulties are encountered Chicago
NetrS