Description

BACKGROUND: A large scale map showing the town of Nantucket and most of the island. Land topography is shown by contour lines.  The map coverage is truncated on at the west end near Madaket Harbor. The Nantucket Central R.R. is shown leading south from Nantucket to the shore line, then east along the s Atlantic shore to Siasconset.

PUBLICATION DETAILS: 17 inches high by 13 inches wide. . A 1940 reprint of a 1901 edition. This is a topographic map by the Department of the Interior, Geological Survey. A “Board of Surveys and Maps” oval stamp on the scale is dated 1940. In bottom margin: “Surveyed by reconnaissance methods” and “Surveyed in 1887 in cooperation with the State of Massachusetts.”

GANNET: Henry Gannett was the Chief Geographer; Marcus Baker was the Geographer in Charge;   and E. Clark was Assistant Topographer.  Gannet has been described as the “father of mapmaking in America.”   He was the chief geographer for the United States Geological Survey essentially from its founding in 1879 (formerly the Coast and Geodetic Survey) until 1902. 

CONDITION: Very good.