Have I ever mentioned that I have a collection of vintage* maps of the City of Roses? Because I totally do.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho5t03LmJsoNyF8MobDDnmISOYFkxzsGY97x6PRSE4lqlU17WB4aLnAMZWwOLtIt92jgegqUbOcdj_KEZvKJJ4GGvS34DcICvRtp8V84t3Z-gcLN81GY3Wqi32R1FbxyKYWT78_w/s400/DSC_0098.jpg)
Also, of the Beaver State.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4G77Nzy6X0mntUJ59VSVFskZKRmDo632nIsEpVdK9WCvIdjCkIUkpxtFpFOXKfg33SDxfUJMcNIzmWz08t1O0ExWDNpKA6PIn21yc8lXa2oN6xGhPabBzDHo0ZaHQJZvlJaqDAw/s400/DSC_0099.jpg)
...as well as, to a much lesser extent, pretty much anyplace else.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmzD4bNLpMduOttWjgNI5d8tLVjm0X3Yzuciq55ZrXA5kkbAAxYDstY2IbyUr4CpI8WrllR7hpQ-vQMWXU7XksH6XZX_jk3yVb4OlxLcqdsyWeCcm2r8NecQMOfdvjNgQ479RkJQ/s400/DSC_0100.jpg)
Mrs.5000, who is awesome, even made me a special map box a few years back.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyjw0XaI5rbKeOj245fqah2JCvCGtLr7wCUOCfm4v6IpcHTkQVUsf9_P30CK8YBFadQz2cfyK9AzZpFNIfLUNt7X0JQbo6NsJSX6MYC5w-QMfnBUQ8teiz0v_y3_hil3kJesqOUQ/s400/DSC_0103.jpg)
It has all sorts of little map-appropriate pockets and compartments inside. Because Mrs.5000 is awesome!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Kt4ZoqKRpomaGmudRCcuXweCBKkBbZaIdEGJrZsmPPnfG1drQJ8AzJnOD2oQtgqtIHqEKCUX5Fas0brMOSzfdd-489l8UlBmXApb8joWM9Oi-Axf9hENo2EUNbZxpf59WtM4Xw/s400/DSC_0101+(2).jpg)
*"Vintage," at least when I'm using it, means "too old to be useful and not old enough to be valuable." I'm not really a fan of collecting things for the sake of their cash value, or that I need to worry about, and indeed if I suspected that anything in my map box was worth fifteen bucks I'd have it on Ebay in a heartbeat. I don't care about what condition they're in, either. I just like lookin' at them.
Acquisition: The newest addition to the collection is the 1956 Tidewater Oil Company OREGON-IDAHO MONTANA Road Map which I bought for a cool U.S. dollar while tagging along with a recent expedition to an antique shop.
This is awesome because, one, I've never even heard of the Tidewater Oil Company, and two, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana? What a weird group of states to lump on a single map! (Whereas Oregon and Washington, which both fill the same size rectangle at the same scale, are a common pairing.)
BeaverStaters of today can see lots of changes in a 54 year old map, on which Gresham, Tigard, and Beaverton are distinct towns a ways outside of Portland's built-up area. Hillsboro and Forest Grove don't even look like satellite towns. And although I suspect there are many Portlanders today who have never gone to Salem by any route except I-5, here is evidence of a world where the freeway was only a plan on the drawing board.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9OLyDpyYkZ-z-yXVOekBCT4lLPF9E1vQr_atzh-gWNdrlKnDR7RmVvIUp_P6893BfGN-QxXEfhl_2AB3xX3ifMZYNLKTMTiN7L4ty2ARliaRVHaooIr-N9UXl8SpkXDRfuYELlw/s400/OR-ID-MNT+detail+1.jpg)
Idaho and Montana get relatively short shrift from Tidewater Oil, wedged in at a coarse scale along with maps of the Mt. Hood Scenic Highway and Crater Lake. Indeed, Crater Lake National Park -- which features, as you may know, a lake in a crater -- gets almost as much space on the page as the Gem State.
Awesomeness.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6uMQbxGuEVo-g4fWExjrDe2MThcLE-SvDpbr3zWJ3VQwi1Tw7ng7vJZ9lW_Tuzi7ZVxKI8NLDGPu13MmySM4h4ESWdW_sMtENUFNQKkCRkfWxfkMiTOcym9qIBvzMyH2e6V140Q/s400/OR-ID-MNT+map.jpg)
BeaverStaters of today can see lots of changes in a 54 year old map, on which Gresham, Tigard, and Beaverton are distinct towns a ways outside of Portland's built-up area. Hillsboro and Forest Grove don't even look like satellite towns. And although I suspect there are many Portlanders today who have never gone to Salem by any route except I-5, here is evidence of a world where the freeway was only a plan on the drawing board.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9OLyDpyYkZ-z-yXVOekBCT4lLPF9E1vQr_atzh-gWNdrlKnDR7RmVvIUp_P6893BfGN-QxXEfhl_2AB3xX3ifMZYNLKTMTiN7L4ty2ARliaRVHaooIr-N9UXl8SpkXDRfuYELlw/s400/OR-ID-MNT+detail+1.jpg)
Idaho and Montana get relatively short shrift from Tidewater Oil, wedged in at a coarse scale along with maps of the Mt. Hood Scenic Highway and Crater Lake. Indeed, Crater Lake National Park -- which features, as you may know, a lake in a crater -- gets almost as much space on the page as the Gem State.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQoxfOP9mJjVR2cEiesbkWTS8cVK40uqiMtMrUt8nLllL_a86JncCZvA4rnkwRBSfJ7_CwCxWsBaD399ybSjh2W1gdS0dYmfq9KlkEohgTs7RCAwNL-J6jLnFCdrg8MQOUW-0hw/s400/OR-ID-MNT+detail+2.jpg)
2 comments:
I'm not surprised in the least that you have a vintage map collection and a lovely box to keep them in. In fact, I would be surprised if you DIDN'T.
I don't care about what condition they're in, either. I just like lookin' at them.
And that is one of the reasons that you can be my friend. I have a bunch of old, expired aviation charts, just because it's very cool to see what the airspace used to look like.
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