This is a great collection for U.S. history presentations on development of the railroads, or on settlement of the west, in particular.
The Railroad maps represent an important historical record, illustrating the growth of travel and settlement as well as the development of industry and agriculture in the United States. They depict the development of cartographic style and technique, highlighting the achievement of early railroaders. Included in the collection are progress report surveys for individual lines, official government surveys, promotional maps, maps showing land grants and rights-of-way, and route guides published by commercial firms.
Heck, if nothing else, these make great backgrounds for PowerPoint presentations.
Bookmark the site — kids working on projects specific to a state or region should have a field day with these things.








I use these railroad maps when I teach Pacific Northwest history. It is one of several exceptional digital collections at the Library of Congress.
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This is great! Thanks for the link. I’ll have to send it to my dad.
These mapmakers achieved phenomenal accuracy, and they didn’t even have satellite photos or GPS. Just a lot of painstaking work.
I wonder if this would make the Moon hoaxers think differently about their arguments. Probably not. :-)
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