The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1939-01-26
MAPS OF COUNTIES DUE
TO BE COMPLETED SOON
Work Fixes Boundaries OF State
Not Shown Heretofore

The State Highway Planning Sur
vey is working against a January 81
dead line to complete maps of the
minutest man-made and natural de-
tails.
Funds for the project, started Au-
gust, 1886, cease to be available on
January 81, and maps of two counties
Baltimore and Allegany-r to
be completed. C. P. Taylor, survey d.
rector, and William F. Childs, Jr.,
engineer in charge, said they ex-
pected to have the last two finished
before that day.
Contain Much Information
A joint undertaking of the State
Roads Commission and the United
States Department of Agriculture's
Bureau of Public Roads, the maps
show 18,417 miles of existing roads
and types of surfaces in the State, the
types Of culture which the roads
serve, the amount of traffic flow, roads
used by school busses, rural and star
mail delivery postmen.
Contours are not depicted, but the
maps show the number of houses on
each road, farm houses-both occu-
pied and vacant-amusem parks,
schools, cemeteries, picnic grounds,
factories, railroads, churches and nu-
merous other details.
An important by-product of the
maps is the fixing of boundaries of
the State and countless in accordance
with court decisions and agreements.
Taylor said the survey was the first
in twenty-five years, and since the
last one boundaries have been shifted
in several existing maps.
Maryland lost about one and half
square miles of Potomac River to
Virginia in the survey, as we'll as
about a mile of shore line. An award
in 1877 gave Maryland southern
boundary fixed by line drawn from
promontory to promontory on the Vir-
ginia side Of the Potomac River Tay-
Tor said old promontories had disap-
peared and had to be found again
after existing maps failed to define
ate the correct boundary in Virginia's
Stafford, Prince William and Fairfax
counties below Charles county in
Maryland.
Lost To West Virginia
Maryland lost another three
fourths Of a mile of water to West
Virginia at the southwest tip of the
State when the line drawn in accord
ance with Supreme Court decision
in 1909 which made the boundary at
the point where the north branch of
the Potomac River intersects a line
north from Fairfax Stone.
Allegany county obtained about one
mile of forest wilderness from Garrett
county at the Pennsylvania line, while
| Charles county received approx
mately 500 feet from st. Mary's coun-
ty by the finding of boundary mar
ker.
A similar survey has been COM
pleted by forty-five other States. New
York and Delaware are exceptions.
In each State, the survey was made
in accordance with a standard fur
nished by the Federal Bureau. While
State areas contain a wealth Of infor-
nation, military reservations are
shown only by boundaries without
roads, buildings or other improve
ments.
Three-fourths of the $2O4,0OO spent
on the survey in the two years up to
last September 80 was granted by the
Federal Roads Bureau. Since Septem-
Der, about $4,000 has been paid from
State Roads Commission funds.
In addition to preparing the maps,
the survey employed auditors to dis
cover how much has been spent on
roads in the State. A report is to be
made this month on their findings
while examining records of Isl units
which receive and disburse funds in
Maryland for roads.