I agree with Ryan's assessment ("T" for telegraph office makes no sense as
a linear feature), but the book he pointed to is a US Army Field Manual,
not a USGS pub. And I'm not sure how much of the symbology would apply to
USGS topos?

But! See Plate 19 of "Topographic instructions of the United States
Geological Survey : Topographic mapping" [1928] at
https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/0788e/report.pdf

Telegraph or telephone line it is!

mf




On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 8:53 AM Ryan Mattke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> There is a whole book of USGS topographic symbols (from 1961) available:
> https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112070112047
>
> I see "Tel" for telegraph or telephone lines
> <https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112070112047?urlappend=%3Bseq=80>.
> There's a "T" listed for telegraph office
> <https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112070112047?urlappend=%3Bseq=98>,
> but that wouldn't make sense in a line like that.
>
> On Mon, Jan 20, 2020 at 10:04 PM David Hodnefield <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Howdy folks.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have a client who is trying to figure out what the symbol “T” means on
>> a USGS topographic map (see below).  The map is from 1940 and I don’t see
>> any interpretation of it on the USGS key of symbols (
>> https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/TopographicMapSymbols/topomapsymbols.pdf).  My
>> suspicion is a transmission or telephone line, but that’s only a guess.
>> Thanks for your help.
>>
>> [image: cid:image001.jpg@01D5CFBA.0C471770]
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> [image: cid:image002.jpg@01D2F71A.D4FBAE40]
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>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> Ryan Mattke
> Map & Geospatial Information Librarian
>
> Head, John R. Borchert Map Library <https://www.lib.umn.edu/borchert>
> Adjunct Faculty, MGIS Program <http://cla.umn.edu/mgis>
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> --
> --
> Ryan Mattke
> Map & Geospatial Information Librarian
>
> Head, John R. Borchert Map Library
> Adjunct Faculty, MGIS Program
>
> Phone: 612.624.5757
> Web: http://www.lib.umn.edu/borchert
> ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8816-9289
>


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