Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-02-08
Busy Map Maker Also Runs Farm
WeIImun ChumberIin
Combines Acreage in
Waterford Project

AlIIlOuSII d COu1lULS DOyp WSIl-
man Chamberlin gave little
thought to farming until this last
year.
He grew up in the little. early
American town of Waterford, in
Loudoun County; attended Anti
och College at Yellow Springs,
Ohio, and later Joined the staff
of the National Geographic So
ciety in Washington. At the
National Geographic he has been
concerned with the art and tech
nique of cartography, or map
making.
A tall, quiet-spoken man. Mr.
Chamberlin was drawn into the
business of farming after the
death of his father. There were
two Chamberlin farms and a
small place owned by a friend,
and the obvious thing to do was
to put them together in a 260-
acre unit.
In this way. land that was do
ing little could be made to pro-
duce economically. A beef herd
could be assembled, and it was
estimated that a few thousand
dollars could be made each year.
At least it would pay the taxes,
and at the same time the land
GOULD Ioa ivroVNroIynd
Starts a Herd.
Mr.. Chamberlin has the be-
ginnings of a fine Hereford herd.
He bought group of heifers last
fall at the Virginia feeder calf
sale at Winchester, and a pure
bred bull, he calls oliver, from
the Oliveboy Farm at Berryville.
A few cows that had come from
various places, and II steers
make up the rest of the livestock.
Mr.. Chamberlin believes that
in a small beef cattle operation.
the emphasis has to be placed
on quality. He plans to Gull out
all animals that don't meet top
specifications, and in this way
develop a top herd. His calves
will be sold through the State
feeder calf sales.
In a way, Mr.. Chamberlin is
weekend farmer" Water
ford is nearly 40 miles from
Washington, and daily COM
muting doesn't leave much time
during the week for farming.
Is Pioneer COmmuter.
He was one of the pioneer
commuters in Virginia, too, and
can remember when it was a
daily adventure, particularly in
the winter, getting to and from
Washington.
Now there is a Waterford
commuter pool, which owns and
operates its special automobile.
and the efforts of getting to
work and home again have been
considerably reduced.
If MIR. Chamberlin makes as
good a farmer as he is a car
tographer, there will be some
records made on the Chamber
lin farms.
He is the inventor of the
Chamberlin Trimetric Projec-
ton method. which he perfected
in 1916. and is the author of a
book, The Round Earth on
Flat Paper" which has gone
into two editions and has sold
in the thousands.
In the Chamberlin projection
method. three points are Sc
lected. determined by the size
and shape of the map to be
drawn. These points are con-
nected by light curved lines,
which represent the great Cir
Giles or the shortest distances
between the three points.
Mapping Method Praised.
Dark, straight lines also con-
meet the three points, and meas
ure the true distance between
the three points. The distance
between these two triangle sides
represents the approximate dis
tortion from projecting a part
of the curved surface of the
globe on a fiat surface.
The Chamberlin projection
method is based on the survey
or's axiom that a point can be
definitely located by its distance
from three other points.
At the time of its perfection
1t drew the comment from Rear
Admiral L. o. Colbert, retired.
former director of the Coast and
Geodetic Survey. that although
the theory of the method is
simple. it had not. to his knowl-
edge, been applied to map pro-
lection.
There is another thing about
the Chamberlin farm. 1t is as
we'll mapped as any in the area.
There is an aerial map and a
regular line map showing the
shape and size of all fields.
You'll not get lost on the Cham
berlin acrec