Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-26
By FREDERICK
J.

les are marked Dy LHelr coats OF arms
and a tiny view of the city over the
shield. Each Of these views is no
larger than a 25-cent piece. Yet the
are distinctive. The different countries
are marked by pictures of the rulers
sitting on canopied thrones. The ap-
parel of the kings and the colors and
style in which they are drawn are
strongly suggestive of the royalty on a
modern deck of playing cards.
This was a mar Of 1859. n more col
orful and ~fanciful affair than our cur
rent maps with their dots for cities
and wavy lines for mountains. Yet
this map is scarcely considered old by
cartography experts. A map made
after 1850 is comparatively modern.
This is logical when you consider that
the Romans made charts in planning
their roads, and that records of maps
go back several centuries before
Christ. Some of the most interesting
maps in the Library of Congress. to
Americans, at least, are not Did by this
standard.
A rare and unique map of this coun-
try is one showing the names proposed
by jefferson for new states. in 1854.
What is now the north central and
northwestern part of the United States
was beginning to open up. and Jetfer--
son proposed an ordinance to parcel
it off and name it. He suggested in
his a.dinance such names as S%ylvania,
AssenAippia. Polypotania. Cherrone-
sus, Metropotamia. Michiganla. Sara
toga, P~elisipia. "Illinoia and Washing
ton. Most of these anne were never
taken seriously. One critic said of
them. Such a mixture of Greek. Latin.
English and Indian perhaps was never
seen before" But the next year a
publisher printed a ting pocket almanac
containing a picture of the map as
Jefferson wanted it.
Division Saves Billions
Showing the public its entertaining
exhibits is not, of course, the main
function of the map division. Mr.. Phil
lips has in his charge one of the larg-
est collections Of maps in the world,
and the material is put to important
uses. He says that his division mas
saved the government billions of dol
lars.
When the United States was bar
gaining for Alaska. the boundary nne
was in dispute. and maps from the IL
brary showed the original line to which
me hNSGldn itEiltoIS ny
other time. Mississippi and Louisiana
had acontroyersy over an island in the
iGuIf Of Mexico. 1t was an insignificant
island that no state would have thought
Of arguing over until it became known
as a fine place to catch terrapln. Li-
brary of Congress maps were sent for
to show old established boundaries.
Lately Newfoundland and Canada
have been disagreeing over their boun-
diary line and men were sent doWn to
Washington to study the map material
Of the finest collection in the western
world. These are a few random in
stances showing the use to which the
government maps are put.
Mans are sent out of the building only
for government use. The public can
consult the material in the library.
People out of the city often use the
map division, however. as a source of
information. They write to ask the
status of Danzig; how to pronounce
Relucbistan: and where to find Rusinia
TN the map. There is more interest in
maps now than there has been for some
time. and the division is kept busy.
tdaps of Siberia and Russia. which
we're rarely consulted before the war,
are now called for frequently.
The United States collection may be
somewhat smaller than those of several
European governments, but our map di-
vision dates back only to 1897. In %
years Mr.. Phillips has made it the
most perfectly organized mar collection
in the world. He had been in the Lii
brary of Congress when it was in the
Capitol building and he took charge of
the new division from the beginning.
He has catalogued it. written volumes
of descriptive indexes for reference
use. designed n convenient method of
keeping pamphlets for ready reference,
and a cheap method of hanging maps
from a rack on manila paper instead of
charging the government for expensive
mounts.
Exactly how many maps the collection
contains is unknown. Many maps are
made up of q number of separate sheets.
One set alone. the Sanborn maps Of
1000 cities and towns in the United
States, contains 1000 sheets. And
this series is only one item in the gov
eminent collection.
There are 5000 aliases. dating from
1856 to the present. 1t took four thick
volumes to describe and index these
aliases. 1t took another volume to list
the maps applicable to the World War.
This was printed in 1918. If it were
brought up to date il would probably be
several times as thick. New war maps
and revised mans of Europe are being