Oregon Maps
This entry was originally written by Dwight A. Radford for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
Maps are essential in conducting onsite research, plotting mining claims, and in discovering cemeteries and towns. Several helpful maps are available for Oregon, including Ralph N. Preston's Historical Oregon: Overland Stage Routes, Old Military Roads, Indian Battle Grounds, Old Forts, Old Gold Mines (Portland, Ore.: Binford & Mort, 1978). This is an excellent collection of early Oregon maps beginning with the 1804 Lewis and Clark trail map to a present-day map of the state illustrating overland stage routes, old military roads, Indian battle grounds, old forts, and old mining areas.
A classic work now in its eighth edition is Philip L. Jackson and A. Jon Kimberling's Atlas of the Pacific Northwest (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 1993). A standard reference for Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, it includes 200 maps and graphs and eighteen essays on regional topics. Another excellent reference work that is also available on CD-ROM is James E. Meacham and Erik B. Steiner's Atlas of Oregon (Eugene, Ore.: University of Oregon Press, 2002).
Excellent local city and county maps can be obtained through the Oregon Department of Transportation, Transportation Development Division, Geographic Information Services Unit, 555 13th S. NE, Ste. 2, Salem, OR 97301-4178 www.odot.state.or.us/home.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has a catalog of its maps online at www.usgs.gov. The USGS office serving Oregon is at 1061 SE Cherry Blossom Dr., Portland, OR 97216.
Major libraries in Oregon have been designated by the USGS as map depository libraries. They include Southern Oregon State University in Ashland www.sou.edu/library; Central Oregon Community College in Bend www.cocc.edu/library; Oregon State University in Corvallis http://osulibrary.orst.edu; University of Oregon, in Eugene http://libweb.uoregon.edu/index.php; Pacific University in Forest Grove http://library.pacificu.edu; Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls www.oit.edu/index.html?method=lbry; Eastern Oregon State University in La Grande http://pierce.eou.edu; Linfield College in McMinnville www.linfield.edu/library; Western Oregon University in Monmouth www.wou.edu/provost/library; Lewis and Clark College in Portland http://library.lclark.edu; Portland State University in Portland www.lib.pdx.edu; Oregon Historical Society Library in Portland; and the Oregon State Library in Salem.
