The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-10-31
HOW MAPS ARE MADE.
Dots and Lines and Crooked Marks That
Require Months of Skilled Labor.

Require Months of Skilled Labor.
The story of dot-a fortune in hair
ine-is the making of a map. Dot
stories fill row of walnut cases; the
"reminiscences of dotted lines occupy
thousands of pigeonholes; a library of
crooked marks is piled to the ceiling of
five story block on Monroe street. 1t is
the largest map house in the world, and
for twelve years has printed 1000. coo
maps week-624, 900, 900 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 de-
ponds 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 a Buffalo
man invented the process of making
maps on wax. 1t revolutionized map
making, and now maps are as common
and nearly as cheap as newspapers.
The mapmaker works in a room whose
temperature cannot run below 80 dogs.
Few men work at it longer than four
years, though years of apprenticeship are
required to make them expert. The heat
becomes uncomfortable in the 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 is as thin as piece of paper, but for
the cOarser kind the waxen sheet is an
eighth of an inch thick. Rough pen and
ink drawings of the work to be done are
given the operators. They draw the hair
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 an artists eye.
The names of towns, rivers, countries
and the like are impressed in the wax
with type letter by letter. Every i'm
preston plust 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 solu-
ton. The copper in the solution covers
h.
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 degree too
low would make it hard to work and
degree too high would melt it and prob
ably 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 ordi-
nary advertising real estate map is fin
ished wien it leaves the press. The bet
ter maps are sized and vanished The
larger ones are mounted on rollers and
wooden strips. This completes the me-
chanical process Of the making of map.
But this is the smallest part of map.
The unseen work, the preparation of the
original draft, represents the time, labor
and money expended. The story of the
dot is not woven in a day. Postoffice
towns are located by copies of papers in
the postofice department at Washing
ton; the chief engineers of the railroads
send profles of their lines; county sur
veyors make maps of their localities.
Where the government has made sur
veys the location of section, township
or county line 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 boundary line begins at stone
and runs to white oak tree, the trouble
begins. Good local maps are used in
these states. But in countries where no
government surveys have been made the
greatest difficulties are encountered
Chicago News.