Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-10-31
HOW MAPS ARE nanr
Dots and Lines and Crooked May. z,,.x
Require Months o. skilled Labs,r.


Dots and Lines and Crooked MAJ. -.
Require Months o. skilled Iabs,r.
=, The story Of dos--a fortune IN a Hair
LINES the making Of a map. Dot
stories FIJI row Of walnut cases: tie
"reminiscences Of dotted lines occ,,nv
thousands Of pigeonholes; 4 librarv Il
crooked marks b piled TO the ceiling ~ a
fve story block On Monroe street, Ii a
the largest map house In the world ana
for twelve years has printed .n1f, f,f,e
maps week-624, 900, 600 pieces AZ linen
paper covered with dots. lines and
crooked marks.
Fortune hes in the ACCURACY ~ tl,e. r;,,s..
and stories In the locations Of the dots
Maps are as necessary to real estate ran
as title deeds. and nearly as much d.
Ponds on their accuracy.
a map - plain, simple thing that tells
Us vanished tale at glance. How il Il
madef Until about the time Of the great
nre maps wereengraved on stone. copper
on steel The process was very slow.
tedious and expensive. The plates soon
wore out and maps cost about as much as
q SHEET Of gold About 1870 Buffalo
man invented the process OF MAKING
maps on wax. 1t revoIntionized mar,
making, and now maps are az cornn,or,
and nearly as cheap as newspapers.
The mapmaker works in a room, whose
temperature cannot run belox 90 dees.
Few noen work at it longer than four
years. though years Of apprenticeship Are
required TO make them expert. The heat
becomes uncomfortable in tine end and they
go INTO some other employment.
Preparatory to making the original
plate melted beeswax and some harden
ing ingredient are poured on highly
polished metal table. For fine work the
wax b as thin as piece of paper. hut For
the coarser kind the waxen sheet 8 an
eighth Of an inch thick. Rough peu ard
ink drawings OF the work to be done are
given the Operators. Tbev dray a. -, -
lines with sharp pointed instruments by
the aid of straight edges. The dotted
lines indicating county or township boun-
diaries are made with little wheels. ON
whose narrow edge are cut the peculiarly
designed lines. All crooked lines are
made by hand and require am artists eve.
The names Of towns. rivers. countries
and the like are impressed in the way
with type letter by letter. Every inn
preston must cut through the wax to the
polished steel plate beneath. for the man
Is made face down. When all The lines
and letters are in the wax is placed under
a 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 solu.
ton. The copper in the solution covers
the black lead and forms a hard plate
which is called the original. The wax il
then peeled off and the printing surface
is presented The thin copper plate il
backed up with type metal and the plate
is ready for use. Iii usually preserved.
however. for the making of stereotype
plates from which the actual printing is
done.
In the preparation of the etchincs
great care is required to keep the wax at
the proper temperature, as degree too
low would make it hard to work and a
degree too high would melt it and prob
ably destroy it. Often many hundred
thousand maps of the same pattern ara
ordered and from twenty to FOXY platss
are made from the original. If the mas
are small 30 many of these plates as can
be used conveniently are placed side by
side on the presses and a sheet of mans
is printed at each impression. The ordi-
nary advertising real estate map is fin