# Mapping Resources > Reference Material >  19th century US plat map iconography

## cdbrinker

Hi all,

I'm currently trying to build a detailed map of the western portion of Missouri including primarily the counties of Cooper, Saline, Pettis, Lafayette, Johnson, Jackson and Cass. In other words, from Kansas City east to nearly Jefferson City, south of the Missouri River. There are no good antebellum maps of Missouri with the detail I desire (1 mile = 1 inch). The best sources I can get my hands on are plat books from the late 19th century. These record the courses of water courses, roads, the positions of towns, extent of woodlands, and property lines. I believe they also include more information, but too subtly recorded for me to decipher. I am attaching examples of some of the icons I am coming across with ambiguous meaning. Any insights and interpretations are welcome!

    

I am particularly interested in distinguishing between bridges, fords, and ferries where roads cross water courses. Sometimes the roads obscure the river, sometimes the rivers cross the road, a few times I've seen rivers that simply interrupt the road altogether. Sometimes roads cross rivers with a 'bump'. I haven't undertaken an exhaustive survey, but I tend to notice *s near water courses, sometimes in the presence of an interrupted road, or a bumped road, or neither, sometimes major water courses, sometimes very minor ones. I cannot determine if there is an underlying logic to indicate specifically what is happening in these locations or if it simply a result of the individual preference of the cartographer.

 

Periodically, I find these slices. They are usually somewhat less than 90º of a circle, with radiating and bisecting lines as here on the left. They are sometimes sloppier, if indeed they are the same symbol, as per the image on the right. I also sometimes just find hash-marks, but can't seem to locate any at the moment.



This one is self-explanatory, but I include it as an example of the sometimes idiosyncratic features that a cartographer has chosen to record. In this case, one can imagine that in this instance he was thankful for a bit of shade on a hot day.

Any help is appreciated, especially if anyone has any experience with 19th century platbooks.

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## cdbrinker

I should specify that this is specifically a Civil War era map, ca. 1860-1865, hence the state of the sources.

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## Dan_zh

That is a grand project you are working on! As plat maps were made by the US General Land Surveyor's Office, you might find their keys and legends online. I found this article: https://info.courthousedirect.com/bl...ead-a-plat-map 

Cheers!

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## KMAlexander

> I tend to notice *s near water courses, sometimes in the presence of an interrupted road, or a bumped road, or neither, sometimes major water courses, sometimes very minor ones.


Hi! I work extensively with old maps (usually from the 17th and 18th century) for my brush sets.

In the example you provided above, I'd wager those spoked wheels are marking the presence of water mills. That's been a fairly common symbol for a few hundred years.

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## KMAlexander

I did manage to find this, which had some legends going back to the 1850s. It covers some of the differences between water crossings. (Level vs. railway vs. road over, etc.)

The slices/spiderweb objects are still a mystery to me right now. I'm going to keep researching and see if I can come up with anything.

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## KMAlexander

I keep coming back to this and I'm baffled.
I've yet to turn up anything else that resembles those spiderweb shapes. It's got me stumped!

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## rpglandmaps

thats realy odd symbol.. can you revese engineer it .. aka find one where you have good pre and post maps.. or photos or drawings of the time?

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## Tiana

Could it be indicating sections with trellis / lattice for growing hops or grapes or some other sort of crawling vegetation? I imagine going along on a horse, being like "what is this crisscross pattern?" and then coming to a large section of crisscross gardening. As beer was popular then as it is now, I imagine hops might have been quite a common yet distinct sight to mark on a map.

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## Falconius

They represent the presence of giant, hobbit eating, spiders.  Obviously. :p

I don't know, first I was thinking like a game feild but not in those locations, then maybe a cliff or a cave?

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## Wingshaw

In urban design we use symbols a little bit similar to those spiderwebs to indicate a key viewpoint or field of vision. Could that be possible for these, given the context?

Wingshaw

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## Rwhyte

Hey, I think we have an answer for the mysterious web-shaped symbols, Stone Quarries. Who knew?! And it looks like the rectangular crosshatch is for coal mine.


Found a legend for the plat maps at the State Historical Society of Missouri - Plat map of Cooper County 1877, at the bottom of pg.8
https://digital.shsmo.org/digital/co.../id/1594/rec/2

Hooray! but I still like the giant spider theory, it does seem like hobbit country there.

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## Falconius

Ah, awesome.  Makes a lot of sense now.  Thanks for telling us.

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## KMAlexander

YAY! Perfect. Excellent work.
I actually love the non-standardization of old maps. Makes for some really unique experiences.

I had been wondering if it wasn't some drainage ditch. Most of the legends I found rendered quarries differently.

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## KMAlexander

Some examples, just because I find this stuff really interesting...

Here's it more hatching, less defined.

Sand and Gravel puts are more pit-like here, (Four down, three across.):



Also these:



This was REALLY common and was a big reason why I was looking elsewhere. For a long time, I wondered if it wasn't some sort of hydrological symbol, like a french well, or something.



Shoulda done what Rwhyte did and went to the source. Excellent work.

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## DEWLine

"Hypsography"...my new word for today. Thank you for this as well.

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## kennystone

> "Hypsography"...my new word for today. Thank you for this as well.


I agree, this is really something new to me!

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