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The 1878 atlas map that made me dig out my old surveying notes
Picked up a beat up 1878 county atlas at a yard sale in Springfield for $5, mostly because the cover looked cool. Later that night I started comparing the old township lines to a modern GPS app, and something clicked. The old map showed a creek bend that the modern map just skips, so I figured it was a drawing mistake. But then I found my grandpa's handwritten survey notes from the 1960s, and he had the same bend marked with a note about a flood in '54. Turns out the creek actually moved, and the atlas was right for its time. Now I check old maps against aerial photos before I trust either one, and it's wild how much history hides in a simple line shift. Has anyone else found a spot where the old maps are more accurate than the new ones?
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brookebailey21d ago
The flood likely shifted the channel, not the creek itself moving on its own.
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