Road Maps

Before the advent of the automobile, the average American citizen traveled only within a range of 25 miles from home by horse and buggy. Trips that extended beyond the area that could be traveled in one day were done by train. By the end of the 19th century, cartographers were working on maps showing important natural features such as mountains, rivers, and major cities. The roads traveled by automobile enthusiasts had yet to be marked and were given no means of systematic identification.

The popularity of the automobile proved to have great economic potential for several different sectors of American life. The business sector, selling tires, oil, and steel, along with the hospitality industry - hotels and restaurants - proved to benefit from the automobile boom. It was soon realized that a good road map would make for a more enjoyable trip which, in turn, would increase the likelihood of customers willing to spend more on automobiles and automobile accessories.

There were several different types of descriptive guidebooks created during the automobile boom of the early 20th century. These guidebooks gave detailed verbal instructions for directions between given destinations. One such book, the Automobile Blue Book, was first issued in 1901 in conjunction with American Automobile Club of America. In the guidebook, directions to and from a destination were written in simple and concise terms and provided instructions for the most efficient route. The Rand McNally company issued its first road map in 1904. During this time, it was popular to publish small road maps with photographs of important intersections and guideposts.  Another example of guidebooks was The WPA Guide to 1930s North Dakota. This guidebook was compiled and written by the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration for the state of North Dakota. It detailed “tours” across the state notating the amount of paved roads, the topography and the geography along the route. Mileage markers between each destination point were displayed as well as the altitude and the population. Significant events, tourist information, and historical facts about the area were also detailed in the guide. Side tours, those splintering off from main highways, were addressed in separate sections. President Franklin Roosevelt endorsed the WPA Guidebooks stating:

In 1921, the North Dakota State Good Roads Association estimated $100,000 went out of state each year for the creation of highway maps. To help remedy the situation, the North Dakota State Good Roads Association appointed R.L. Whitcomb as State Traveling Secretary. His vast experience with cartography made him a candidate to help secure the implementation of a system of logs detailing the tourist trails throughout the state.  In addition, the State Good Roads Association hired draftsmen from North Dakota to prepare the maps, the work of North Dakota printers to print the maps, and the North Dakota Good Roads Association to distribute the maps. Along with the maps, accurate highway logs were included to inform tourists of points of interest along the route, railroad crossings and mileage markers. Profits made through the sale of state maps were used to campaign for a statewide system of highways.

In 1925, the same year US Highways became designated by numbers rather than names, the North Dakota State Highway Department started annually issuing a comprehensive map in two colors that showed the state highway system. These maps showed the stages of improvement along the state highways. The maps gave route numbers and proved to be in great demand by the traveling public and those in the automobile industry such as service stations, automobile garages and dealerships.

As printing techniques improved, accuracy of the road map was enhanced. Cover art became a sign of the times and maps illustrated change in the traveling public through the years. As the automobile represented national freedoms, and utilitarian uses, the road map offered a glimpse into the automobile lives of American citizens. Road maps, and the artwork that corresponded with each map, tracked the use of the automobile in the lives of Americans. Free road maps became a central component of oil company marketing programs: entice customers by promoting themselves as friendly, service-oriented businesses, with people to help travelers plan their trips throughout the United States. It is estimated that before World War II, nearly 150 million road maps were distributed annually at gas stations. Free road maps continued to be given out at service stations until the early 1970s when the Arab oil embargo caused oil companies to cut the service to its patrons.

During the boom of highway construction, detour maps were needed to pass traffic around road construction with as little inconvenience as possible. Secretary J. J. Ermatinger of the State Highway Department was instructed to issue detour maps every two weeks. These maps would show, in a general way, where detours would be encountered on state highways. Detours were to be on nearby county or township roads where practical. A special road would be built along the side of the state highway under construction where county or township roads were impractical. Where detours were provided along the route, the points would be displayed in red; where construction work was being done, where traffic would pass through construction without a detour, the points would be displayed in green. The detour maps were distributed to hotels and tourist information bureaus where they would be displayed and distributed with ease.

In 1961, in order to attract and prolong tourists’ stays in North Dakota, legislation was passed which made the State Highway commissioner responsible for the preparation of road maps and the dissemination of information concerning highways and tourism. The travel department was created for the job of tourism, and a budget was set which would not exceed one hundred twenty five thousand dollars in any biennium. JM Hawley was named the first travel director.

In today’s technological world, more advanced forms of cartography have come to be a central component in the world of map making. Travel maps, showing such things as road construction and road conditions, state tourism maps, and GIS maps are available through the North Dakota Department of Transportation website.The state of North Dakota now has a Global Information System viewer from which one can view interactive road conditions, road construction and traffic information maps.