The maps selected for this collection were chosen for quality, age and location details.  Early railroads are clearly shown on each of the featured maps.  Lines that were absent on the map of 1886 may be found on the later maps as they were developed.  Early roads and trails that connected the sites are not shown.

Place names originated for many reasons: a man, a tree, mines, streams, military camps, land formations, etc.  Many early-named locations were changed, moved or discontinued.  Some historians have a difference of opinion concerning names and their exact locations.  The readers should be reminded of the handicaps the early surveyors encountered.  Equipment and cartographic knowledge were primitive.  Therefore, errors occurred.