Sometimes you have to look on the lower right below the neatline. If you see the color dots (green or brown or magenta), that means the color plate (we use to call the vegetation the "veggie" plate) has been printed. Sometimes the veggie plate was printed, sometimes not; depended on the project.

The contour brown/green color differences could have been the result of the GPO print runs and the printers not keeping track of the ink wells. Or different contractors.

I've seen some 7.5' quads that were mis-registered but those were supposed to be taken out of circulation when I worked at the USGS-ESIC years ago. You've got one that got through. Bad map--worthless from a cartographic standpoint.

Had the state cartographer like to show me some of the weirdest quads: a CA quad with one contour line (5' interval), a series of the Salton Sea and Lake Tahoe quads just in blue; same for the Great Salt Lake. USPLSS in mountains that had the straightest survey lines imaginable and all "recoverable" corners (contractor lied, never went out in the field). Go to the Hanford, WA quad circa 1980s. Railroad sidings, no buildings!

Best thing for you to do is read Maps for America, a book about the USGS mapping program published around the late 1980s or early 1990s. Do not know the ISBN number but was hardcover and green. My personal gift from my supervisor while I was at the Survey.

If you can contact your state cartographer, then that person should help you a lot.

Have fun!

On Thu, Jun 25, 2015 at 9:49 AM, Carlos Diaz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

I am working on a maps project inventorying 7.5 minute series topographic maps.


One oddity that I have seen from these maps is that they may have the same edition year and publishing year, but the look of the map is different.


For example, one map will have the green coloring that describes vegetation and the other will not. It only has the brown contour lines and no coloring describing vegetation. It also appears that the one with no coloring has better quality and newer paper than the one that does. Yet, there is nothing in the text that tells you that it is a reprint.


Another oddity


I have the following maps:


--Cascade Pass, Wash.: both are 1963 edition published in 1975


They both have the green coloring for vegetation and the brown contour lines. Yet one of them the color is more vivid and the brown contour lines are darker and stronger than the other one which has a lighter green and light brown contour lines. Am I to assume these are different printings?


Also Found:


Found a topo map of Bothell, Wash. (photorevised 1981 and published in 1981)  where the green color on the map is misaligned.


In the world of stamps (I am a stamp collector) any such error would make the stamp more valuable and everyone would fight to get their hands on one. I don't know if that is the same in the world of maps.


What do you do with such errors in mapping?


Any help you can give me would be most appreciated.



Carlos A. Diaz

Government Publications, Maps, and Microforms

James E. Brooks Library

Central Washington University

[log in to unmask]

509.963.1545









--
Maureen Kelley, PhD
Lecturer, Geography Department
San Jose State University