The Washington herald., 1913-08-03
Local Corporation Has Distinction Of Being the Only Com
mercial Organization IN the Country Reproducing
: Topographic Maps with Accuracy Based on
One Thousandth Part Of an Inch.

every line you reach. as you trace>slowiy
up the surface Of the map, you are rising
IS feet higher above the sea level You
are crawling abruptly up the side OF q
steep mountain; there. where the curve
of the line is less sharp, you are trudg-
ing over a rolling plain, where the hills
mount slowly.
On this coast here, where the lines are
SO close together, follow every twist and
turn Of the shore and the sea, now sharp
ly around a cape. again suddenly inward
with an estuary. they mean the depth in
feet of the land. A foot more, a foot
less, each line tells the man who can read
the conventional signs how the water
Mes there, and where the bar shelves on
into the depths that are measured by
fathoms.
Big Demand for Maps.
The business of which Mr.. Williams Is
president uses the lines for the same pur-
pose that Uncle Sam & Co. uses them.
The only difference Is that each firm has
Its individual customers. And there are
lots of these customers. Besides Uncle
Sam himself, who sub-lets contracts to
the new firm. there are governments.
States, counties, cities, townships, and
even private Corporations, that need such
accurate maps as only the !. 1.000-lines-to-
the-inch man can make. For drawing
the LOCO lines to the inch is only a char
acteristic, not the sum total Of what Mr..
williams and his co-workers do to make
a map. They do everything on the 1000
inch scale. Your razor blade is q very
thin affair; but IL the Topographic En-
craving Company has to make q map
twenty feet long on a mile-to-the-inch
scale, a discrepancy as broad and dull as
your razor blade at its very keenest will
look-well It won't look at ALL because
it-won't be there.
q Just as 1t is a law of physics that two
objects cannot occupy the same space at
the same time, SO a discrepancy and
real 1,0oo-inch map mustn't even be in the
same room together. They not only will
not mix-they will not even touch.
And how do they do all this? Easy
simplest thing in the world. All you need
is the materials and the tools and the
drawings to go by, and some experience
and talent. the gift. the knack. the-well.
whatever 1t is: you are born with It or
without it. just as you can wiggle your
ears If you happen to have been born
with that exquisite accomplishment.
Now. Mr.. Williams can engrave 1.00oth
part of an inch without a total depletion
Of his physical or mental powers. But
that does not at all mean that making >
map is an easy. swift task. 1t is rather
an involved process to make accurate
charts and maps. To begin with, each
color in a map calls for an individual
plate-like the foods at some restaurant.
First Step in Process.
The process of map-making begins, first
Of all, with the engineers and their help
ers in the field, where they survey an
area of land known as a quadrangle. No
matter whether a city, State. or a ma
ton, the engineers go out in a number of
parties.
First comes the primary triangulation
party, which establishes prominent points
all over the area from which all measure
nents of distance and direction may be
taken. Then other parties go out and
take measurements. and make calcula-
tons enough to darken the face of the
earth IL they were writ on the worlds
hard surface.
These measurements and calculations
are adjusted and plotted ever so accu-
-ately on a heavy drawing board, known
as a plane table sheet, which has previ-
ously had the degrees Of latitude and lon
situde established consistent with the
scale of the map, whether l mile to the
nch or 500 miles to the inch.
The topographer then takes his instru-
nents and through observations. calcula-
ions, and numerous scientific methods
le very carefully and accurately plots and
iraws the most minute details on this
Dlane table sheet.
When all these measurements and data
ire written and drawn into an engineers
representation of the area, that repre-
is given to the Topographic
folks for reproduction, and
hey start the 1,000-to-the-inch process
hat is at once delight to any man who
likes a keen eye and a strong, firm. and
lelicate hand.
The people in that firm know what to |
make out of that engineers drawing.
Here are lines and figures in brown that
tand for the contours. showing how the |
and rises and sinks: blue lines and fig